Fear is a negative emotional response to the presence of danger or threat. Speculative fear is a negative emotional response to the anticipation of danger or threat, which may or may not occur. Humans are hardwired to look for things to fear, forming a necessary part of our survival instinct from birth. 

The human response to danger or threat is flight, fight, or in extreme cases, immobility. However, people respond in several ways when trouble or threat is perceived only as a looming risk. Avoidance, hunkering down, freezing in place, and acting impulsively are responses to prolonged anxiousness caused by pending fearful situations.

While fear is ingrained in our nervous system, it can also be taught. Technology has dramatically changed the way people get information. Social media has become the primary source of news online, with more than 64 percent of internet users receiving breaking news from social media instead of traditional media.

These statistics may be a sign of modern times. Still, the challenge with most people getting their news on social media sites is concerning when coupled with the fact most people do not read past the headline, and the vast majority of headlines are negative. 

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Negative media coverage reports show that negative words such as “bad,” “worst,” and “never” are 30 percent more effective at catching people’s attention than positive words. Research studies also revealed that negative words improved the average click-through rate. Headlines with negative bias showed a 63 percent higher result when compared to positive ones. Most (59 percent) of all news article links shared on social networks aren’t clicked on, implying that most article shares are not read in their entirety. 

So, you’d be right if you think we live in an increasingly hostile world, and most news is bad news. We are increasingly exposed to negativity and fearful news, affecting our collective anxieties and behaviours.

Panic buying

When the Spanish flu arrived in Britain immediately after the First World War, people panicked and rushed to purchase quinine and other medications, leading to national shortages.

Since then, panic buying and hoarding have been observed during many crises. Panic buying is much more common in developed or industrialised countries where people expect they will always be able to access food and other essential items easily. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists observed that panic buying was associated with individuals with higher incomes, the presence of children in households, depression and death anxiety, and mistrust of others or paranoia.

Panic buying results from the perceived threat of the event and the perceived scarcity, fear of the unknown, and as a coping mechanism.

Retail therapy

Retail therapy is shopping primarily to improve the buyer’s mood or disposition. It is often a short-lived habit in people with depression or stress. 

Research has shown that shopping can help reinforce a sense of personal control and ease feelings of sadness.

In 2014 the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that retail therapy makes people happier immediately and can also fight lingering sadness. According to the study, the choices and outcomes inherent in the act of shopping can restore a feeling of personal control and autonomy. 

Another study by the University of Michigan showed that purchasing things you enjoy can be up to 40 times more effective at giving you a sense of control than not shopping. In this study, those who actually purchased items were also three times less sad compared to those who only browsed.

How brands can respond to environments of high fear and low trust

Listen to your customers. 

During times of financial stress, such as high inflation or recession, seek as much information as possible about your audience. 

Take a deep dive with multiple data streams to build a clear picture of behaviour and sentiment. It will likely be vastly different than it was a few months ago and will continue to change. Don’t leave questions out of your research about fear and perceived risk with your customers.

Words matter.

The world is changing faster than ever, with your buyers’ attention and priorities shifting quickly in response to stressful events. 

For brand marketers and product managers, understand that language that sounded good last month can mean something entirely different today.

Take action. 

With insights from your research, determine what your brand should do to address your customers’ wants, needs, and fears. Your target audience has expectations from brands during uncertain times. Discover what they are, and see if you can deliver while remaining authentic to your brand promise. 

Communicate authentically. 

Be bold and authentic when storytelling and communicate practical information to help reassure and educate your customers. Give your customers an added feeling of security and stability by providing in-depth information. Choose to be a voice of comfort, instilling confidence in your consumers and alleviating fears with the right message. 

Fear and anxiety aren’t going away anytime soon. Financial fear and stress can adversely affect buying behaviours, so it is essential to acknowledge these emotions and develop strategies to address them head-on. What was true of your target audience a few short months ago may not be true today. It all starts with an in-depth understanding of the perceived risks and barriers to purchase when it comes to your product or service. Great research is the first step for brands to develop compelling and compassionate messaging that helps customers feel empowered, confident, and comfortable with their purchase decisions during times of financial stress.

Kadence International helps leading brands make game-changing decisions. If you are looking for a research partner to help better understand your customers, we would love to help. Simply fill out our Request for a Proposal here.

The phrase “Never judge a book by its cover” does not apply to product packaging design. When package design is the only reference a consumer has, he is bound to go for the most appealing option. Years of market research have established that what’s outside the package is as important as what’s inside it. How else will a product stand out in a sea of competing brands? Yes, brand loyalty, ingredients, and other factors can make a difference, but in the end, most of it comes down to consumer psychology. 

In a store, the package design is the gateway to the product. Successful brands use psychology in their product design and packaging, driving sales and brand loyalty. Consumers often perceive a product’s function and worth based on its packaging and design.

Product packaging is primarily dictated by the target audience and what they want. For brands targeting a younger demographic, for instance, it is essential to add personalization and brighter colours and fonts that appeal to the youth. 

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This can change when catering to the same demographic in different countries. For instance, the environmental impact of packaging is a relatively less critical purchase factor for Japanese consumers, yet 80 percent of the respondents in India factor the environmental impact of packaging into their purchase decisions.

Understanding Consumer Psychology

Any buying decision involves consumers going through several cognitive stages when looking for a product actively. Their perceptions and opinions are based on what they see during this stage. After they select and purchase a product, they continue to evaluate their decision based on the product’s performance and experience. 

When a product’s perceived value is high, consumers are less impulsive than when the value is lower. This explains why over 70 percent of supermarket purchases are not planned. Shoppers in supermarkets and grocery stores rely primarily on the instinctive cues they get from package design as they browse stores. These help them make quick judgments about the product’s quality and value and can be why they add it to their carts (or not). 

Choosing the right colours

Research shows that colour is one of the first things our brains see when they come across a brand and is often the first thing that pulls consumers in. 

Do you feel calm in a blue room, and does yellow make you anxious?

Pablo Picasso once said, “Colors like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” Colour is known to change emotions, moods, and feelings dramatically. Colours can have different meanings from culture to culture, as the idea of colour is deeply rooted in our experiences. 

Colour psychology is a hot topic in marketing, branding, and graphic design because colours play a huge role in brand perception and image. 

When selecting colours, it is imperative to look into the cultural significance of each colour. This becomes necessary for brands planning international market entry, as different cultures have different connotations and emotions attached to specific colours. For instance, while green is a colour of prosperity in many Muslim nations, it is a colour associated with illness and death in some South American cultures. 

It is also essential to consider how your brand colours align with your brand and its identity. Other considerations are whether these colours stand out in a crowded marketplace and how they would work for those who are colourblind. 

Format and materials

The format or shape of the packaging is often based on whether the package will be used or discarded. In case it’s part of the product, like a milk carton, the quality, materials, and function are important considerations. For instance, a square or rectangular base is better so it can fit in the refrigerator more efficiently, and an easy-to-pour spout enhances convenience and functionality.

Packaging design depends on many other factors as well. For instance. a luxury product needs to be packaged in a way that reflects the high price of the product. In recent years, sustainability has also become a huge factor in selecting packaging materials, and an exciting product design may encourage consumers to post the packaging or unboxing online.

Typography and labels 

Typography is the art of placing text to make the copy clear, legible, and visually attractive. It utilises font style, size, and structure to evoke feelings and emotions and convey a message. It also helps balance the graphics on a package. 

The font styles and sizes you use on your packaging play a huge role in the overall design and how consumers perceive your brand. The logo, typography, and fonts allow your brand to stand out from the competition. The typography helps catch your target audience’s attention and conveys the brand’s messaging. It also helps establish consistency, a vital aspect of brand identity. 

For a successful packaging design that quickly moves the product off the shelves, brands need to know their target audience and stay abreast with the latest trends. The typesetting, fonts, and styles you use, just like the graphic and colour choices, are based on your target market —factors such as age, gender, language, culture, and preferences influence the typography of a product’s package design. 

By providing invaluable information regarding current market trends and the unique wants and needs of a brand’s consumer base, market research helps a brand develop its business and marketing strategy. Market research benefits many different facets of business, including product design and packaging. 

Brands need to have complete knowledge of consumer desires and the effect of specific product packaging on purchasing patterns and preferences. In market research, there are many different means for gathering this data, each with its own set of advantages. In most cases, it is best to use a combination of methodologies to understand the effectiveness of your packaging design and labels. 

Market research allows brands to tap into the psyche of their target markets to gain a deeper understanding of how a package design impacts purchasing decisions. 

This can be done in many ways by gathering data, each method with distinct advantages. 

Some common forms of gathering data:

1. Focus groups 

Market researchers often use focus groups and show them labels and packages to gauge their first reactions to the design, colours, typography, offers, and form. The focus group participants sample the product and look at the packaging and label to provide insights into what part of the packaging would influence their purchase decision. 

2. Interviews and discussions

Many brands conduct interviews with consumers as they browse competing products in a store setting. Questions like, “what made you add a product to your cart?” can uncover purchase decisions and the effectiveness of your product packaging. You may also interview employees from different departments who know the product well.

3. Surveys

Online surveys are a quick and easy way to conduct a survey. These can be carried out for in-store and online purchases on eCommerce sites and allow for anonymity, providing information and insights into purchase decisions and behaviour. A well-designed survey employs a rating scale and asks open-ended questions. 

4. Observation 

Market researchers often use direct observation by visiting the store and observing how the products on the shelf move. In this manner, it is possible to see how the placement of items in a store affects sales. It also allows brands to look closely at the competition to see what graphics, colours, and other visual elements affect purchase decisions. How would your product look in comparison to competing brands? Does it blend in or stand out? Does it stand out in a good way? Making frequent visits to stores can provide a window of opportunity and is a powerful way to conduct market research. 

Market research provides invaluable insights into market trends, consumer psychology, and behavior. It can help formulate the right business and marketing strategy for businesses, including package design. 

Package design research is more critical now than ever. In many cases, the retail package design is the only advertisement for the brand. The brand’s packaging has a few seconds to draw consumers to the product and evoke purchase intent. 

While brands use many quantitative and tried and tested package designs, they often tend to overlook the subjective side of research, which requires qualitative research methods and tools—knowing the “why” behind purchase decisions and consumer motivations can provide the essential piece in understanding the effectiveness of a new package design or redesign. 

Understanding your customers is key to business success. Learn how to make your products or services meet customer pain points along the customer journey.

Customers make or break businesses. Companies that meet buyers’ needs are more profitable, while those that don’t will lose buyers and may fail.

Even so, some businesses pay little to no attention to customers’ expectations. Instead, they chase trends or ideas from their top brass, assuming that they know what interests buyers. Companies that check on customer needs often don’t do so frequently enough to keep up with the rapidly changing world.

This guide is about understanding customer needs—what they are, why they matter, how to identify them, and how to use them to win more customers.

What are Customer Needs?

Simply put, customer needs are the physical or psychological factors that motivate a person to purchase a particular product or service. These can be as varied as the hundreds or millions of customers in your marketplace.

Physical motivators are anything that has a measurable or tangible cause. If a person is hungry, they’ll buy food. If they’re cold, they’ll buy a coat. If their car breaks down, they’ll have it repaired.

Psychological needs are emotional reasons for purchase, and they’re almost always more important than physical needs. Any food, coat, or repair shop would solve the problems above, so how does someone pick where to make their purchase?

Opinions, desires, and preferences shape most purchasing decisions. That’s why things like convenience, pricing, reliability, reputation, service, and values often lead customers to choose one company over the competition.

“Customer needs” are often called “pain points.” While not all marketing professionals agree that these terms are interchangeable, they are indeed similar. Customer pain points are specific problems that people need help solving. Pain points can happen all along the customer journey and can include any physical or psychological issues that stand in the way of their happiness, growth, or success.

No matter what term you use, understanding what motivates buyers in your marketplace is key to winning new business and keeping loyal customers.

Importance of Understanding Customer Needs

customer profiles

As the saying goes, the customer is king because they’re a company’s most valuable asset. Without a solid customer base, a business will eventually die.

Unfortunately, many sales and marketing leaders take for granted that they know what their customers need. These assumptions can be costly, resulting in lost business and lower customer retention rates.

Other organizations view customer feedback as criticism, which may have a negative connotation. Leaning into their critiques, however, allows you to flip problems into opportunities.

When a business takes the time to identify, anticipate, and meet customer needs regularly, it can expect to:

● Improve products/services: Understanding the motivations behind your prospective customers’ purchasing decisions will help you refine your offers. You can identify gaps in your offer stack or enhance existing offers with only limited development costs.

● Generate more sales: The better you know your customer base, the easier it will be to identify relevant marketing channels and cost-effectively promote targeted offers, increasing the likelihood of high-conversion sales.

● Deliver expected results: When you know what your customers need, you can plan appropriately to meet their expectations.

● Improve customer service: Customer service channels constantly evolve, so it’s imperative to keep up with customer preferences. Being available to customers where and when they prefer makes them feel valued and can give your company a distinct competitive edge.

● Boost customer retention: Anticipating, meeting, and even exceeding customers’ needs establishes trust and makes them feel valued and engaged in your business. This, in turn, creates loyal and repeat customers.

● Survive long term: Agile adaptation is key to long-term success in a fast-paced world where the customer needs frequently change. When your offers suit current needs, you’ll develop a reputation that attracts and retains more customers than the competition.

Managing Rapid Change

Another significant benefit of customer needs analysis is ensuring that your company keeps pace in a rapidly changing world.

One of the biggest challenges any company faces is remaining relevant to its target market in the modern world. Customer mindsets and behaviours change so quickly because they have more choice and opportunity than ever.

When consumers can easily switch to a new company with better products or services, it’s imperative to anticipate, predict, and plan for the future. Falling a step behind is a quick path to losing market share.

For example, the recent shift to mass homeworking and the international uptick in tech solutions to support the change has created entirely new pain points for millions of people.

In a short amount of time, the pandemic taught nearly everyone how to communicate online. Zoom has made tech-deficient industries like food service more accessible and shifted many consumers’ preferences from in-person or in-home to virtual options (even in once digital-resistant markets like Asia).

These types of changes have far-reaching tentacles that can affect consumer needs across a wide range of industries.

Avoid the temptation to use customer research as a tool for reflection. Instead, bring a wide-angle lens to work and examine what’s happening in your industry now and in the months and years ahead.

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How to Identify Customer Needs

Understanding your customers shouldn’t be a guessing game based on experience or hunches. To get inside your customer’s mindset, you need to learn who they are and exactly why they need your product or service. The best way to do this is by asking them directly.

A customer needs analysis helps determine a company’s position in its market or how it compares to the competition in meeting customer needs.The insights can be used to change offers, marketing, and customer service to deliver the best possible value.

The first step in this process is to conduct customer research to understand customer behaviour. You’ll use this information to create personas that provide a detailed description of your target audience.

There are several tried-and-true methods for gathering helpful customer feedback. While any one of them can be beneficial, you’ll get the most robust picture of customer needs by using more than one.

Conducting Customer Needs Research

The easiest way to identify your customers’ needs is to ask them. The goal of market research is to learn about your best customers’ backgrounds, what drives their purchasing decisions, their expectations for your product or service, and what challenges may prevent their satisfaction.

The most common tools for this type of research include:

1. Customer interviews

The most direct way to collect data is by having one-on-one conversations with existing customers. Interviews typically elicit the most detailed answers, but customers may be less forthcoming without the promise of anonymity.

2. Focus groups

Pulling together a small group of handpicked customers is a quick way to get more feedback. Hiring a market research firm allows participants to speak candidly. On the downside, individuals can sometimes become influenced by the opinions of others in the group.

3. Surveys

The fastest and most cost-effective method for gathering information from a large group of customers is a survey, typically using an online tool. On the downside, response rates tend to drop if the survey is too long or detailed, limiting how much information they provide.

With any of these methods, you’ll first need to craft questions that elicit the type of feedback you’re seeking. After gathering demographic information (age, marital status, location, occupation, etc.), it’s best to devise open-ended questions that allow the customer the freedom to say anything without outside influence.

A few examples of helpful market research questions include:

  • What specific problem were you trying to solve when you chose our product/service?
  • What made you choose us over a competitor?
  • How well does our product/service meet your needs?
  • What do you like most/least about our product/service?
  • What challenges have you encountered with our product/service?
  • What do you wish our product/service could do?
  • How would you rate your experience with us?
  • Would you recommend us to others (why/why not)?

Questions should primarily focus on your brand, competitors, and customers’ buying behaviour and mindset. This may also include asking broader questions about their overall values, interests, and opinions.

While nothing is quite as valuable as a customer’s own words, using social media listening or keyword research can provide valuable insights without speaking directly with a person.

Social media listening is the process of analyzing online conversations and trends related to your brand and to your industry as a whole. It goes beyond monitoring basic metrics like mentions and followers to consider the mood behind the data instead.

People frequently use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to candidly discuss products and services. Watching for real-time feedback about what they like and don’t like about your company or your competitors is a great way to identify opportunities for change or growth.

Keyword research looks at the popular keywords and terms related to your product or service that people type into search engines. For example, try typing an industry-related question into Google’s search bar and see what auto-suggestions pop up. This is a good glimpse into what problems your customers are trying to solve.

Also, use a tool like Moz Keyword Explorer or SEMrush to research words related to your offer and find similar keywords. Check the average search volume to determine what language your customers and prospects use to describe their needs.

Creating Customer Personas

target personnas

It’s a good idea to turn data you collect during customer research into a customer or buyer persona. This fictional representation of your ideal customer will ensure that every part of the customer experience is tailored to their needs.

Focus on your best, most loyal customers. What are the patterns and commonalities among them? What demographics do they share? What are their similar experiences, motivations, and opinions?

Distil all the data into one profile that includes the most common demographics and interests. Include answers to what needs, and pain points brought them to your solution, what considerations went into their purchasing decision, what objections they had, the competitors they considered, and what made them purchase from you.

If you serve multiple market segments or different types of customers, you may need more than one persona to address each group.

This fictional profile provides a simple, actionable snapshot of your prospective customers’ mindset and behaviours. It reveals the specific needs that drive them to choose you, a competitor, or no solution at all.

Customer personas typically include a fake name, stock photo, and beautiful design, but it’s unnecessary. Sharing the same information as a “customer needs statement” in a basic text document is also perfectly acceptable.

Either way, share the profile with your team to give everyone a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs. These profiles should guide everything from product development to prioritizing projects and marketing campaigns to customer service solutions.

Understanding Customer Behaviour

Good customer research should uncover the many factors influencing your ideal customers’ purchasing decisions. The best research is robust enough to determine how customer mindset and behaviours change at various points along the customer journey.

The strategic practice of detailing these changes is called journey mapping. The goal is to outline the exact steps that customers take as they move from awareness to research and consideration, purchase and delivery, and finally (hopefully) to loyalty and brand advocacy.

If your research sample is large enough, segment the results based on where participants fall along the journey map. This allows you to analyze how your customer’s mindset and behaviour changes over time.

Look for recurring trends or common roadblocks for each of the different stages. This added context can help you make more specific improvements to the entire customer experience.

How to Deliver on Customer Needs

Once you have all the necessary insights to identify your ideal customer and their needs along the buying journey, it’s time to put the information to good use.

First, review the research for any glaring problems that need a quick solution, especially anything driving customers away. Prioritize these issues and assign the appropriate staff to implement changes.

For example, if multiple customers expressed frustration about long wait times for answers to simple questions, you may decide to add a FAQ section or a live chat option to your website.

Customer research is about more than finding problems. Just as important is using the information to make proactive changes that allow your company to grow. Every part of your company can benefit from the insights of a customer needs analysis.

The key is to look for gaps between your business and customer needs. Finding innovative ways to reduce even minor gaps can make a significant difference in customer acquisition and retention.

Marketing

A customer needs analysis almost always offers insights for optimizing marketing efforts. The better you understand customer mindset and customer behaviour, the more effectively you can tweak your marketing messages.

Use the data to speak specifically to the needs of customers at every point along the journey map. Your research should tell you exactly what will motivate them to make a purchase.

In addition to understanding what content will resonate best with customers, you’ll also know their preferred social media or other marketing channels.

Offer development

Asking questions about what customers wish your product or service did can help you discover areas for improvement or create an entirely new offer.

Examining the data to determine a need before taking action dramatically improves the success rate of new product or service offers.

Also, when you repeatedly and consistently conduct customer needs research, you’ll be more likely to notice a shift in market trends early. This can help you be the first to address a burgeoning need and capture market share before the competition.

Customer service

Identifying the varying needs of customers along the journey map can help you better tailor good service solutions. It’s easier to capture questions, comments, and suggestions when you know the preferred social media channels.

Knowing where roadblocks tend to occur along your customer journey map also allows the customer service team to provide perfectly timed help. This includes upsell and cross-sell offers that solve the exact problem that your customers face.

Customer retention

Studies have shown that acquiring a new customer costs at least 5x more than retaining one. The best use of a customer needs analysis is to devise methods for reducing customer churn and creating repeat, loyal buyers and brand advocates.

Customers’ expectations include special recognition when they’re a “good customer,” according to Accenture. Use your research to ask about ways your customers would like to be acknowledged (handwritten notes, social media shoutouts, discounts, etc.).

You can also ask questions to test whether a referral program might be beneficial in growing your market share.

Ongoing Market Research

Ongoing market research

After making changes based on customer research, communicate them to your customer base. Share the story of how you identified customer pain points and the efforts you took to resolve them. It demonstrates that you care about customer experience, which builds trust and increases engagement with your brand.

It’s also essential to ask for customer feedback on how well those efforts meet their needs. This is an excellent opportunity to send another survey and collect more data.

Your research shouldn’t end there, however. It should never end. Build feedback loops into your business operation so that you are constantly revalidating your unique selling proposition (USP) and always striving to understand your customers’ needs.

Keep a pulse on how your customers feel with interviews, surveys, and social media polls. Also, frequently review metrics like conversion rate, acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value to track how well you’re meeting customer needs.

Some businesses may assign a dedicated team to collect customer insights, while others may prefer to add it to the responsibilities of existing departments. Either way, develop a system for discovering, analyzing, and delivering on customer needs.

By creating a repeatable process, you’ll shine a bright light on customer experience and stay one step ahead of the competition on addressing customer needs.

Conducting market research on an international scale is an increasingly common requirement. Global markets are more critical than ever, offering growth to businesses facing domestic stagnation or saturation. But international market research can be a challenge to get right. This article explores the top 5 challenges in international marketing research and our top tips for overcoming these.

What are the top challenges in international marketing research?

#1 International markets are incredibly diverse.

Some brands fail to appreciate the diversity within a region or country. You can only get an accurate picture of what people value and whether your products and services might succeed by rooting out the nuances of different geographical areas, cultures, and consumers.

#2 There can be a temptation to go too broad.

Linked to this, sometimes, when companies set out on international marketing research projects, they make the mistake of going too broad and trying to understand a region as a whole. Another error we see is firms commissioning research to target one market and then using this as a jumping-off point into others with “similar” attributes. This inevitably leads to costly mistakes as brands map their assumptions about one market onto another.

To avoid this, be clear on the emphasis of your research. Where are you looking to focus and why? Looking too broadly across a region of different markets, or exploring how an entire product range might perform, can cloud the picture.

# 3 Finding the right research partner.

The next big question is whether you have the research capabilities to conduct meaningful projects internationally. Most brands and their research partners can run domestic research projects with ease. But if you’re in the US or UK, say, going as far afield as Japan, India, or Germany requires different sensibilities and capabilities. The more international you get, the harder you must look for that kind of experience and expertise.

#4 Bringing together local and global expertise.

Misalignment is one of the biggest challenges in international market research. To overcome this, there must be a collaborative effort and a shared understanding of the mission, methodology, and insights. A research team at HQ might work with a local marketing team to understand how to position a product for success in an emerging market. But if the teams are siloed and don’t have a consistent understanding of the brief, their approach to researching the market and their findings might not help deliver on the challenge.

#5 Ensuring the project is realistic from the outset.

This is where all the other challenges in international market research come together: which markets, what purpose, the capabilities available, and the effectiveness of the output – all within a budget that makes sense. There will always be limits to what’s practical – and the last thing any client needs is to spend large sums testing international markets to no effect.

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Meeting the challenges in international marketing research – tips and tricks from our experience in the field.

Get the brief and the scope right.

The more you can nail down exactly what you need to know and about which markets, the better your international market research will be. The key here is to dismiss the idea that lessons from one market can be overlaid onto other markets. Your approach might not even work in the same region, much less globally. So ensuring the brief isn’t burdened with too many assumptions, and is very clear on objectives, is key.

For research into one new international market, the brief can be clear-cut. You’ve picked a new place to trade, and you probably have some specific questions. Will the branding work? Do we need to alter the packaging? Are there particular features we need to tweak? But as soon as you broaden the scope – to, say, three new markets covering a region – the nuances become more critical in the research brief.

One solution is to ask questions at every stage. Why these three markets? What are they like? What do we need to know about purchaser sentiment there? How will a research project change what we decide to do in each market? Companies that are open with their agencies on operational and marketing strategies – rather than prescribing research about the areas they know matter in their existing markets – will see more effective results.

Understand the cultural nuances you’ll face

Everyone knows instinctively that cultural differences are both a factor in conducting meaningful research internationally – and a major reason for doing that research in the first place. ‘Market immersion’ is a key concept, and that’s all about getting to grips with the cultural context. But local nuances within new markets can catch people out. 

In South Africa, for example, there are multiple cultural groups. Having local knowledge of how to tease those out is vital to breaking in South Africa.

That means one of our jobs as global research partners is challenging clients at the briefing stage to ensure these considerations are baked into the research approach and the analysis and interpretation of the results. The good news is that when you have research experts living and working in these markets as we do, cultural nuances are easier to plan around. We use this inside knowledge about people’s lives to help understand opinions, habits, and behaviors.

Don’t think language is just about translation.

Companies are often wise to the importance of understanding ‘culture’ and, as a result, adopt a cautious approach. But one mistake people make in international market research is to assume that ‘language’ is more straightforward – or that it’s just a question of running a survey or its results through Google Translate. But that’s never a good idea. It requires a much more nuanced approach. 

Language isn’t just what we say but how we say it. And local variations within international markets – think Swiss German or Quebecois French, but the list is endless – further complicate the issue. 

You’ll need the nuance: go regional.

Understanding local culture and language are essential in its own right. They’re also the gateway to getting out of the big cities and understanding the whole market. Tokyo is a true megacity – but it doesn’t reflect all of Japan. Paris is iconic – but its citizens have very different values to those in Marseilles, let alone rural France.

Here’s where you need to understand geography and supply chains. If you’re moving into a new international market in a limited way – or if the distribution is going to be impractical outside conurbations, say – then researching inside big city bubbles might work just fine. But for national penetration and in markets where businesses or consumers are more evenly distributed, understanding attitudes and behaviors across the country is a must.

For brands with an existing presence, existing assets on the ground are a hugely valuable resource for understanding these nuances. That could be local-office marketers or salespeople. Distributors and major customers can also offer insights. We love to work with chief marketing officers (CMOs) who have a helicopter view of a region and are clear about strategic objectives. But triangulating between them, their local marketing teams, and our local research teams in the field tends to generate better results.

Decide on the most effective methodology.

Another significant benefit of having local teams in place like ours is that they have expertise in the best methodologies to use in different markets. This is sometimes a subset of culture, but in other markets, it’s driven by the levels of technology adoption, geography, or working practices. Some examples:

  • In Indonesia, face-to-face research is considered the norm; telephone in-depth interviews tend to deliver a poor hit rate.
  • In Japan, groups respond better to moderators of the same gender, and people are more likely to undertake qual work at the weekends.
  • It’s not acceptable for researchers to interview women in the home one-on-one in Saudi Arabia. And across the Middle East – and many other regions – mixed-sex focus groups tend to be a no-no.

You can read about others in our guide to conducting online market research in Asia.

This is also why more open briefing processes can be valuable in international research. It’s too easy to apply a blanket methodology across a whole region and end up struggling to execute the research. Better to frame the key questions the organization needs to answer and tailor the research study to each key market.

Calibrate your responses.

Cultural and language shape the way you ask questions, and they’re huge factors in interpreting any research results, too. A keyword search on a crude translation of responses could mean missing crucial insights – or, worse, coming to incorrect conclusions.

And don’t think this only applies to qualitative, descriptive research where local idiom, slang, or cultural references might catch you out. International quantitative research also has to be calibrated by analysts with an appreciation for local nuance.

Respondents in some markets are more likely to agree with statements than others. For instance, you’re more likely to see people agree with statements in India than in Japan. Even the way you phrase questions – not just translate them, but the nuance in the question itself – will affect the consistency in scores you can achieve between different cultures.

That’s particularly important for big global brands with a very set idea about how they do their brand equity or NPS studies. The alternative is to develop a more organic approach so that the questions allow you to reflect local nuance. It might be as simple as using a four-point rather than a five-point scale in markets where respondents are most likely to sit on the fence.

Use market research as a tactical, not just strategic, lever.

It can be tempting to seek broad answers from international market research: “Will this product work in this market?” Or: “How should we tweak the service offering to meet this country’s needs?” These will help brands decide on strategic issues. But the more nuanced the approach, the more likely it is that the research will feed into local tactics for a brand, making its international investments work even harder.

That’s a common theme in research: properly granular insights ought to help with several decisions. It’s not just a ‘go/no-go’ binary, but research should inform everything from pricing to choice of distribution channel, support for local sales operations, to targeted advertising.

A new era for international research

We’ve moved on from an earlier era when global brands assumed continent-scale uniformity. Even if a business sees an opportunity in ‘Latin America,’ has an ‘Asian strategy’ or issues financial reports for ‘EMEA,’ serious decision-makers know they need to go, at the very least, to the country level for insights that will help their plans succeed. And they understand that it can be counter-productive to seek out ‘apples to apples’ comparisons between markets when a little nuance can go a long way.

More recently, one factor that’s complicated the picture is the global Covid-19 pandemic. Because so much commercial activity is managed remotely, there’s a temptation to run multi-market studies with a uniform online methodology. If everyone in the world is attending focus groups via the same videoconferencing app, what’s the difference?

The risk here is that the vast advantages of technological solutions are watered down in the hunt for low-cost, ‘big picture’ regional results. Online research can be conducted quickly and flexibly. And clients can immerse themselves in research projects more easily, gaining their own insights into consumer reactions on the other side of the world.

But research that is tailored, for example, to local respondents’ cultural norms will yield much better results. You can quickly adapt a methodology to a market when you have local research expertise and a clear idea of the brand’s mission. For instance, recognizing that in India, you’ll need to avoid any methodologies that rely on lengthy video inputs, and instead, combining text, image-based and short video tasks will get you the insights you need.

The most successful companies understand that an international project is more complex than handing a research agency a questionnaire and generating uniform results across every territory.

You know your product or service better than anyone. We know the right questions and methodologies to get you where you need to go. Our local teams understand the cultural norms, and good translations – culturally and linguistically – can bring it all together. Find out about the regions where we can conduct international market research or get in touch to speak to us about an international project

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When we look the impact of COVID-19 on the media industry it’s a mixed picture. Whilst some areas, like video streaming services, have thrived as a result of increased time at home, others have come to a complete standstill, such as OOH advertising and cinema. But which trends in media will persist?

In this article we explore 3 key areas of the media landscape:

  1. Linear TV
  2. Streaming services
  3. Advertising

The role of linear TV

Short-term changes

As people have been forced to spend time at home and routines have been upended, viewing of linear television has enjoyed a resurgence. According to the BBC, viewers were watching 44% more linear channels in May compared to this time last year, rising to 67% for young people. A trend that flies in the face of pre-pandemic viewing behaviour.

The rise of linear television in this period should really come as no surprise. It’s allowing for shared moments at a time when human connection is in short supply. Thinkbox observed a 30% increase in shared viewing in this period.

Content preferences have also shifted, reflecting the pandemic situation, with programmes that allow for nostalgia and escapism proving popular with viewers. 

Long-term trends

We expect the rise of linear TV to be short-lived. As a direct response to the lockdown, it’s unlikely that this behaviour will persist as the pandemic subsides. As economies reopen, and consumers given more freedom to socialise, we expect to see linear TV consumption patterns return to pre-pandemic levels, as the long-term trends we’ve seen towards VOD and SVOD continuing.

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Streaming

Short-term changes

Streaming providers have been one of few beneficiaries of the COVID-19 crisis. With more time on their hands at home, people are turning to paid online streaming services – and some for the very first time. A survey for the Consumer Technology Association carried out in March found that 26% of US consumers are using video streaming services for the first time. A combination of new users like these, and others that have added to their existing subscriptions are creating big returns for streaming giants. In the first quarter, Netflix more than doubled the number of new subscribers it had expected. Disney Plus is another success story. Just 8 months after launch, it has over 54 million subscribers globally. This puts it in touching distance of its 2024 target, a whole 4 years early.   

Medium and long term

In the long-term, it’s difficult to predict exactly how streaming will fare. One school of thought is that as the economic impact of the crisis hits consumers will re-evaluate their discretionary spending, and cut back, which could see subscriber numbers fall, particularly amongst those with multiple subscriptions.

Others argue that as consumers tighten the purse strings, they’ll be scaling back on more significant purchases. This could mean that spend on streaming services will be protected as a worthwhile investment, particularly if the focus on the home remains, with working from home continuing in the long term.

One trend that we expect to remain is the emphasis on shared viewing on demand. We’ve seen streaming providers innovating to meet this need with features like Netflix Party, that allow users in different locations to synchronise playback and communicate via a group chat. Meeting the desire for shared experiences but enabling different audiences in one household to watch what they like, we see this trend being important in future.

Another development to watch out in the medium-term is the future of film. During the pandemic Universal Pictures made some of its film releases available on demand on Comcast, Sky, Apple and Amazon for a one-off fee. With the emphasis on value for money and continued social distancing, will this be an attractive option to consumers in the medium, and a way to offset lost revenues from cinemas?

Advertising

Short term

The drop in advertising spending during the pandemic has been well documented. According to a report from Publicis, Q1 ad spend was down 15% in China and 9% across Europe, as companies sought to cut costs and postpone campaigns. And with this continuing in Q2 and into the second half of the year, the World Federation of Advertisers predicting a 31% decrease in investments across 2020.

In response to the pandemic the tone of ads has changed too, with many brands emphasising their contribution to the relief effort or how they’re supporting customers in this difficult time. In the short-term, we can’t expect an immediate return to pre-pandemic marketing strategies. Our recent research Brands Exposed research, with 4,000 consumers across 10 countries found that levels of worry around the pandemic influence how consumers respond to ads, with overt sales messaging being rejected by those that are most worried, in favour of more reassuring advertising. This indicates that in the short-term, brands will need to make a concerted effort to understand the sentiment of their customer base and position their ads accordingly.

Medium to long-term

Advertising has always had to shift in response to behavioural changes, and this will be no exception. A recent Goldman Sachs report predicts that “the crisis will only accelerate the secular shift in advertising budgets towards digital.”

In the medium and long-term, we expect to see brands funnelling more money into digital advertising, reflecting the increase in time that consumers are spending on digital channels. Social media usage is up 21% globally. It’s likely that advertisers will also look to move ad spend towards ad supported streaming services, at the expense of TV.

In the long-run, we also expect to brands continuing to place a sustained importance on responsibility and honesty, in response to rising consumer expectations, as suggested by our Brands Exposed research.

If you are anything like me, amidst the coronavirus and the global lockdown (even as some markets like Vietnam and Vienna are slowly returning to ‘normal’), you would be doing one of 3 things:

  1. Staying at home and minimizing social contact
  2. Trying to make home-based working happen while balancing all kinds of other personal life commitments
  3. Try to keep things light-hearted by looking at memes

While we all know that going back in time is not (yet) possible, brands can certainly try to move things forward by thinking about what they CAN do with the rest of the year. Dealing with uncertainty requires strategy and guidance, as detailed by our MD Phil Steggals in his recent article. That said, where do brands find guidance?

We at Kadence are big advocates of brands creating their own futures, rather than try to predict it. Earlier in the year, before the whole pandemic went global, we brought together trend watching experts from across our global boutique to identify four key trends that we believe will define the next 12 months, inspiring innovation across Asia, the US and Europe, that we outlined in this report.

While it may be still early in the year to review our own work (spoiler alert: we’re on the money!), we certainly think our identified trends are definitely relevant to the current times, and can guide brands to think about the rest of the year (and even beyond!)

First things first, a quick recap of the 4 trends:

  • The shift towards 360-degree wellness
  • The move from brand purpose to purposeful design
  • Consumers left craving connection
  • Personalisation reaching a new frontier as it moves offline

The shift towards 360-degree wellness: Trend vs. Manifestations

One of our key trends to watch for 2020 was the shift in how consumers are thinking about their wellbeing. We’re seeing consumers moving away from focusing purely on physical health and appearance, to now recognising the importance of their mental health too.

As an article discussing mental health issues in a recently re-opened Wuhan shows, this trend is definitely a strong one: Along with the countless new online fitness platforms that have sprung up over the past 6 weeks, the conversation is increasingly steering towards how people staying at home needs to pay attention to their mental health too. Already there are reports about how anxiety over job losses is impacting the American population, while closer to home, Singapore has decided to keep allied health services, such as psychology and social work, open because they are defined as ‘essential services’. Dealing with a global situation requires both physical and psychological strength, which is what this trend is all about.

What can my brand do with this in the #newnormal?

Regardless the industry you are in or the product/service that you offer, highlighting a mental benefit or creating one (within credible limits) will definitely benefit your brand’s standing with consumers, even after the situation improves – this trend is here to stay.

From brand purpose to purposeful design: Trend vs. Manifestations

Brand purpose is undoubtably one of the big trends of the past few years. We’ve seen ads against toxic masculinity, deforestation and discrimination, as brands have tried to convince consumers that they share their values and have a higher purpose than simply selling products. And with research from Havas Media showing that meaningful brands outperform the stock market by 134%, it’s easy to see why so many brands were quick to adopt this strategy.

But we’re starting to see a shift. As consumers begin calling these campaigns out for being all-talk and no action, companies are realising the need to move beyond surface-level brand purpose and to start embracing what we refer to as purposeful design, creating products and services which allow consumers to make the world a better place.

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There are numerous examples in this space that demonstrate how many big global brands actually ‘get’ it, and have quickly sprung into action in this global crisis: from Louis Vuitton (along with many other high-end luxury brands) producing pertinent medical supplies to Singapore gaming brand Razer pivoting from its core business to produce face masks, these show brands taking action on their beliefs, which can in turn inspire consumers to come forward and do their part as well.

What can my brand do with this in the #newnormal?

We want to believe that it should not take an international calamity for brands to be #woke and realize that ‘purposeful design’ should be at the heart of their operations from here on out. To be more specific, innovation in this space can fall into two categories – products and services which enables people to make a positive impact to the causes they care about and those which enable people to reduce their impact on the world around them. Regardless the product/service, is there a way that your brand can remain relevant in the #newnormal, and satisfy consumers increasing need for being better versions of themselves?

Consumers are left craving connection: Trend vs. Manifestations

This trend we identified focuses on consumers craving connection and a sense of belonging, in an increasingly divided and lonely world. People are now single for longer, meaning that more people are living alone, particularly in urban centres. A Washington Post wrote about how, in Japan, it’s predicted that 40% of households will be single person households by 2040. This trend is echoed in the West – in the US, half of young people aged 18 – 35 say they don’t have a steady romantic partner.

With global lockdowns in place, the way we work and socialize has been forcibly brought into the online world. Zoom meetings are becoming so frequent for work that ‘zoom fatigue’ is a real phenomenon, while social interactions online are a poor compromise because they literally lack the physicality that’s so much of a fundamental human need. These examples show how technological developments, hailed for their power to bring people together, have not always brought positive change, and are essentially stop-gap solutions for quality connections.

That said, though, connections made during this period inevitably become more ‘intimate’ as well (whether intended or not): bedrooms are shown to colleagues as background in work calls, while ‘bring your kid to work’ takes the reverse route because the child is very likely going to pop into the video camera during a conference session anytime. Even ‘live’ shows and music performances take on a ‘closer’ tonality as viewers are now given the chance to peep into a celebrity’s home! All these point to the possibility that consumers will demand not just more, but also better, connections in the post-COVID future.

What can my brand do with this in the #newnormal?

While there are experts who still feel that brands can still meaningfully enhance their customer experience digitally during the crisis, we would propose looking ahead and think about ‘connection’ in the broadest sense of the term, and see how both your brand can put that front and centre. This is not about ‘omnichannel’ or ‘O2O’; this is interrogating what kinds of meaningful connection your offering can provide your customers, as this pandemic leaves us with the realization that effective, rather than efficient, interactions are what they really crave.

Personalisation reaches a new frontier as it moves offline: Trend vs. Manifestations

We predicted that 2020 would see personalisation reach a new frontier as it increasingly starts to occupy offline, as well as online spaces, thanks to the proliferation of new technology.

We already see brands tapping into location and health data from smartphones and wearables to provide personalised products, services and marketing campaigns to consumers on the go. But the rise of facial recognition, and its integration into smart home technology, will take this to another level, making personalisation part of our homes, our shops, our day-to-day offline experiences.

While there aren’t any specific examples of how this trend manifests itself during the COVID situation, we are at least seeing some examples of brands and corporations speeding up the interfacing between offline and online, which may be a good start to push forth this trend. From major Hollywood blockbusters being released for online viewing faster than normal, to tech giants like Google and Facebook quickly updating/launching video chat functionalities to gain competitive edge, it shows brands can make necessary changes, if they want to.

What can my brand do with this in the #newnormal?

This advanced nature of this trend suggests that now’s as good a time as any to think about how your brand is really making sense of all that data to personalize not just messaging and comms, but also offline outreach/products and services that are relevant and pertinent to consumer needs (i.e. see above: Connections, Purposeful Design and 360-degrees Wellness), who may start to have expectations about brands embracing new technologies quicker, once the pandemic ends

We at Kadence are big advocates of brands creating their own futures, rather than try to predict it. Earlier in the year, before the whole pandemic went global, we brought together trend watching experts from across our global boutique to identify four key trends that we believe will define the next 12 months, inspiring innovation across Asia, the US and Europe, that we outlined in this report.

How should you position your advertising as consumers emerge from lockdown with new expectations of brands and a different lens on marketing?

Discover the key learnings from our proprietary study, Brands Exposed, with over 4,000 consumers across the UK, US and 8 Asian markets by watching the webinar below.

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As of the first week of March 2020, the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, is slightly over 80,000. This works out to be no more than 6 cases in 100,000 people. The probability is much lower in most other places, such as 3.38 cases in 100,000 people in Italy, 1.89 in 100,000 in Singapore, and 0.03 in 100,000 in the US.

Despite the low probability, many people are appearing to be more fearful than they should be, with an exaggerated perceived risk.

Panic buying happened within hours when the DORSCON level was raised to Orange in Singapore early last month. Canned food, rice, instant noodles, and even toilet papers were swept off the shelves that evening, with queues longer than we have ever seen in supermarkets. The same phenomenon hit the US, Germany, Italy and Indonesia this week, after more local cases were confirmed. Masks, sanitizers, and disinfectants are sold out, social events and activities are cancelled, and many instances of racism against people of Chinese ethnicity have been observed around the world.

Is this fear rational? It seems the fear is spreading faster, and affecting people’s lives to a larger extent, than the virus itself. Why is that?

The following five cognitive biases can explain most of these irrational behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak.

1.     Negativity bias – we have the tendency to pay more attention to bad things

Humans have a natural tendency to place more emphasis to negative things, such as remembering negative incidents more clearly, being more affected by criticisms than compliments, or feeling more emotional pain for a loss of $10 than happiness gained for the picking up $10.

“Good things last eight seconds…Bad things last three weeks.” – Linus van Pelt, Peanuts

During the COVID-19 outbreak, we tend to pay more attention to bad news (in part also due to news channels’ willingness to focus on negative news as well, following the same principle) – the number of new cases/deaths/infected patients in critical condition – much more than the number of recoveries. Some people actively search for information that scares themselves more, such as ‘evidence’ that shows masks are not effective in protecting you from the virus, reading up on past global pandemics, or even unknowingly landing on fake news which exacerbates the severity of the situation. All these contribute to the psychological fear of ‘Could it happen to me?’.

2.     Confirmation bias – we pay more attention to information that supports our belief

People are prone to believe what they want to believe, and actively look out for evidence to support their beliefs, while dismissing those that contradict. This confirmation bias is more prevalent in anxious individuals, which makes them perceive the world to be more dangerous than it is. For example, an anxious person is more likely to be more sensitive about what people think of him/her, and constantly look out for signs that show people do not like them, biasing towards negative words or actions.

We naturally seek information to protect ourselves, because the ‘unknown’ is more fearful than the ‘known’. If we think the situation is severe, we tend to focus on news that talks about the severity of the situation, which results in a self-fulfilling prophecy. With greater amount of information now being spread much more quickly over social media, the effects of this bias are a lot more pronounced. A cursory scroll through the Reddit thread on COVID-19 can quickly convince someone that it will bring about the end of the world! 

3.     Probability neglect – we have the tendency to disregard probability when making decisions

A potential outcome that is incredibly pleasant or terrifying is likely to affect our rational minds. We are more likely to be swayed by our emotions towards the potential outcome and pay less attention to the actual probability.

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Looking factually at the numbers of COVID-19, the probability of getting the virus is very low, and much lower than many other risks that we are accustomed to, such as the common flu or cold. Yet people are terrified and have extreme panic or preventive behaviours towards the situation. The fact that the virus is new, and that it can be fatal, could have added to the fear, clouding judgement. Many are avoiding malls, reducing dining out, cancelling travels. This effect extends into greater economic implications. The ‘unknown’ is playing with our feelings, and we react to the feelings, not probability, towards the risk. 

4.     Stereotyping – we tend to make unjustified generalisations

On 11 February, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official new name of the coronavirus to be COVID-19. According to WHO, they had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people.

This is not just a WHO naming guideline, but an important step to reduce negative stereotypes. During the early stages of the outbreak, there was hatred against Wuhan, or China, and this prejudice has even extended to all Chinese people outside of China. In many countries, many people also irrationally avoid visiting the Chinatown, or dining in Chinese restaurants, as if you visit a neighbourhood Chinese restaurant, you will get the virus, even if your neighbourhood is safe[ML1] [DG2] . Aside from how stereotyping individuals is in and off itself a negative social action, such perceptions can also lead to feelings of false assurance, that one is ‘immune’ to the virus, which in turn can result in behaviours that run counter to public health advisories.

5.     Illusory truth effect – it’s true if it’s repeated

 “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth” – people tend to believe what they constantly see or hear in the news, regardless of whether there is any evidence of its veracity. A recent study [ML3] [DG4] has shown this effect to be present even if people are familiar with the subject, as the repeated lies introduce doubt into their psyche.

This is one of the key reasons why “fake news” has been able to take hold during this outbreak – from quack sesame oil remedies to protect against the virus to misconceptions that packages from China are dangerous to handle. In Singapore, after the same few photos of panic buying being circulated via social media many times makes it a ‘nationwide phenomenon’. WHO and governments around the world have been actively trying to take back the narrative from these “fake news” sources, but the prevalence of social media and the ease of sharing such information to one’s friends and families will present an uphill challenge to combat them.

What it means for brands

Firstly, it is important to remember that cognitive biases exist in human beings, and consumer behaviours aren’t always rational. During the crisis, such behaviours are magnified, and the impact/ repercussions of these irrationalities become amplified.  you should consider what consumers are thinking, and how they are reacting. Understanding where the biasness is from, and how it manifests in thinking and actions, can help you decide on strategies what can potentially lead to behavioural changes.

Secondly, we also need to understand that relying on past information may not be able to help you accurately predict into the future, because people’s reaction to the same stimulus may have changed. For example, the last time DORSCON was raised to Orange in Singapore during the H1N1 crisis in 2019, there wasn’t ‘panic buying’ that led to the severe shortage of masks or sanitizers. Planning in the future, you can think about whether your brand will be perceived any differently once the outbreak is over – how would people’s mindset change because of the outbreak? What will people be looking out for, post- this crisis? Consider how you can address the post-crisis world, and find your competitive advantage.

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