How Narrative Research is Transforming Consumer Insights

A new high-efficiency washing machine that uses less water and detergent just hit the market. It's a technological marvel! But then, puzzling reports start coming in. Customers are complaining their clothes don't feel clean. Some are even adding towels to their loads for extra friction. What's going on? This is where narrative research comes in, uncovering the stories behind consumer behavior that traditional market research often misses.

This real-life scenario, shared by Brett Townsend, SVP of Strategy at Quester and co-author of "Insights on the Brink," highlights a crucial gap in traditional market research. While surveys and focus groups might have shown initial enthusiasm for the eco-friendly features, they missed the underlying story of how consumers define "clean laundry."

But what is narrative research exactly? And how does one go about conducting it?

What is narrative research?

The narrative research method involves uncovering stories that consumers tell about brands or products. This comprehensive approach considers what's said, who is saying it, and where they're saying it, going beyond traditional market research. It looks at conversations from different sources like social media, forums, and interviews. This way, it doesn't depend on just one type of method.

"Narrative research is the largest unstructured, unmoderated focus group in the world," says Brett. "Millions of conversations happen daily about various topics in online forums."

For most companies, this offers an unmet need: a window into the honest, unfiltered conversations that shape consumer behavior. Companies can understand both the input (the stories and influences) and output (actions and decisions) of consumer behavior by accessing these discussions. This gives a fuller picture of the consumer journey, revealing the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that drive purchasing decisions.

Why the narrative research method matters

Online stories shape our views and decisions, including what we buy. Traditional market research often misses these influential stories. After all, surveys and focus groups have their limits. Participants might change their answers to make themselves look better. Not to mention, direct questions often miss subconscious motivations. Traditional methods only give us a snapshot in time, not ongoing trends.

Narrative research solves these problems by watching honest, unprompted conversations. This approach provides unfiltered insights from consumers talking freely. Researchers can spot trends early by monitoring ongoing discussions. Additionally, narrative research often reveals consumer problems and creative solutions companies hadn't considered. It adds context and emotional depth that numbers alone can't provide.

Narrative research examples

Narrative research reveals truths about consumers that other methods miss. The rise in popularity of Greek yogurt is a powerful example. Years before Greek yogurt became mainstream, narrative researchers found early conversations about consumers wanting yogurt with more protein and less sugar. At the time, Greek yogurt was mainly a European product, hard to find in U.S. stores.

When presented with these findings, a major yogurt company dismissed them, citing a lack of evidence in their traditional research. This was a costly mistake. A few years later, Chobani entered the market with Greek yogurt, rapidly growing it into a multi-billion dollar business. This left established yogurt brands scrambling to catch up.

The high-efficiency washing machine saga further illustrates the power of narrative research. These new top-loading machines were designed without the central agitator, requiring less water and detergent. While marketed as more efficient, analysis of online forums and social media discussions revealed a different consumer experience.

Users were posting that their clothes didn't feel or smell clean, an idea that was absent from traditional surveys. These organic conversations uncovered an unexpected behavior: consumers were adding towels to loads to create more friction, compensating for the missing agitator.

These examples show how narrative research uncovers what consumers do and why they do it. This deeper understanding helps create better solutions.

How to do narrative research

Narrative research needs advanced tools and expertise to work well. The process usually involves three steps: AI-powered data collection, language analysis, and human expert review. This mix of technology and human insight allows companies to process online conversations efficiently. It also captures subtle meanings and emotions that AI alone might miss.

This narrative research approach goes beyond simple social listening or social analytics. Instead of just noting what topics people are discussing or providing statistics about conversation percentages, narrative research aims to identify the storylines influencing behavior and attitudes.

Companies wanting to try narrative research should open themselves to new information sources. They should start with the question they want to answer. Then, they can consider all possible ways to find that answer, including new methods like narrative research.

The philosophy of getting deeper consumer insights at a quantitative scale is gaining traction in the market research industry. For instance, platforms like Remesh share this approach. Remesh uses artificial intelligence to facilitate large-scale conversations and gather qualitative data from large groups of people in real-time. Like narrative research, Remesh aims to combine the depth of qualitative research with the scale of quantitative methods. It enables researchers to ask open-ended questions to large audiences and quickly analyze the responses to uncover meaningful patterns and sentiments.

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The emergence of such platforms alongside narrative research methods demonstrates a growing trend in the consumer insights industry. There's an increasing focus on nuanced, scalable approaches that can capture the complexity of consumer thought and behavior.

AI's role in narrative research

AI plays a crucial role in narrative research but doesn't replace human insight. It handles routine tasks and analyzes large amounts of data, freeing up researchers to focus on understanding consumers as people.

AI is often viewed as the "boogeyman of this decade," comparable to how the internet was viewed in the 1990s. But while the internet has made research quicker, more efficient, and cheaper, AI is revolutionizing market research processes on an unprecedented scale.

However, AI lacks empathy, which is crucial in consumer insights. Insights professionals provide real value by being "consumer whisperers," interpreting data through the lens of human experience and emotion. This view counters fears that AI will replace human researchers. Instead, AI complements human skills, making research more efficient and thorough.

Researchers who view their job solely as analytics or methodologies may have concerns about AI. However, those who see their role as consumer-centric and focused on developing empathy-led solutions will find AI a helpful tool rather than a threat. The key is to use AI to handle data processing, allowing human researchers to focus on the empathetic interpretation of consumer behavior and needs.

Developing consumer empathy

Narrative research aims to cultivate deep consumer empathy - the ability to truly understand and share the feelings of your customers. It goes beyond surface-level data, exploring the honest conversations and real-life stories of consumers. By examining these authentic exchanges, researchers uncover the experiences, challenges, and desires that shape consumer behavior. 

Work with Frigidaire, an Electrolux brand, illustrates this approach. Instead of focusing solely on technology features, researchers used narrative techniques to understand consumers' daily routines and pain points. They asked consumers about their obstacles, issues at home, and morning routines.

A key finding was that many people check their phones first thing in the morning. This insight helped researchers understand how connected appliances—like a coffee maker that starts brewing as soon as your alarm goes off—can solve real consumer problems. These innovations were rooted in genuine consumer empathy, not just the desire to add technology for its own sake.

Consumer empathy can also come from direct observation, as another Electrolux example shows. The company had a practice of sending young product developers to observe employees' dinner routines in their homes. In one such visit, a product developer noticed an interesting "hack". The family was using cut-up paper grocery bags to protect their backsplash from cooking oil splatters. The developer had never seen this before and was intrigued. After the family explained their reasoning, this simple observation led to an innovation: a fold-down shield that could be raised to cover the back of the stove, protecting the wall from oil and other splatters.

The business case for narrative research

Understanding consumer narratives and building empathy can help businesses in a big way. It helps them spot trends early, come up with new ideas that solve real problems, and creates marketing that connects with consumers. Additionally, it helps spot and resolve potential issues early.

Stories have the power to drive real-world action. Companies can achieve positive business outcomes by understanding the narratives and perceptions shaping their products, brands, and industries.

The future of consumer insights

Companies need to understand their customers' deepest needs and desires. Traditional surveys and focus groups aren't enough anymore. New methods like narrative research offer a fresh approach. Instead of asking direct questions, researchers now listen to the stories customers are already telling.

"We're either on the brink of losing our influence or reasserting our value, and it's really up to us," Brett says. This idea is at the heart of his book, "Insights on the Brink."

"Insights on the Brink" offers practical advice for research professionals who want to stay current. It shows how to improve consumer research and adapt to changing customer behaviors. The book warns about the need for change while providing a roadmap to do it. It challenges professionals to question old methods and embrace new ways of understanding customers.

Conclusion

Narrative research opens up new possibilities for understanding consumers. It taps into authentic stories and conversations, revealing insights that go beyond traditional data. This approach develops true consumer empathy, spots new trends, and creates innovations that solve real problems.

Insights professionals can keep up with changing consumer attitudes and behaviors by combining AI-driven data collection with human empathy and analysis. This gives a more complete view of consumers, looking at not just what they do but why they do it.

Narrative research cuts through the noise to connect with what truly matters to consumers, focusing on providing real solutions to real problems, not just making products. Now, we're just waiting on narrative research to launch a machine that washes, dries, and folds clothes. Or is that too much to ask?

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