Market research has always been linked to a certain commitment to reality, often more appropriate for a notary than a researcher.
This “reality” has been based on traditional methods of obtaining information that tend to rationalize consumer decision-making processes, extracting “insights” that have to do with behavior and thinking that are far removed from the unconscious processes of consumers.
Fortunately, this process is changing and we are increasingly giving more importance to what happens in the depths of our minds. It is essential to understand consumer latency in order to understand the consumer's purchasing decision process in a relevant way.
Gerald Zaltman already explained in his book “How Consumers Think” the ability to analyze metaphors as an element of questioning the mind. He expounded a revealing phrase by Richard E. Cytowic, “imagination is the soul of the mind and metaphor is its main food, the elaboration of metaphors is an imaginative form of rational thinking.”
I couldn't agree more with Zaltman, especially under the assumption of seeking a new approach to qualitative research that is more focused on disciplines that have been residual until now, such as neuroscience, linguistics, evolutionary psychology, cognitive science and anthropology, where abstract thought is expressed in the form of a metaphor.
Through appropriate stimuli and based on in-depth interviews, we must be able to extract deep thoughts and complex constructions from the associations that emerge within the analytical framework. This should provide us with powerful insights in the form of mental models and deep metaphors that are fundamental elements of the company's strategic work.
This mental model of metaphors should be used to identify new potential products, new strategic segments, new brand positioning elements or to improve the experience of existing products.
In his latest book, “Metaphoria,” Zaltman perfectly reasons the innovative methodologies to be implemented based on what he describes as 7 great metaphors that arise from conducting 12,000 in-depth interviews in 30 countries.
These 7 metaphors represent a new paradigm of “universal segmentation” that values the emotional effect over the rational, despite differences in age, sex, education, occupation, culture, etc. Two individuals can be the same universal metaphor in terms of consumer behavior regarding a product or service.
An individual may “belong” to more than one metaphor based on the different types of products or services he or she consumes or purchases.
The 7 metaphors included are:
Balance: Idea of equilibrium, adjustment, control of forces or things in the way they should be. “It is not fair that some people can eat everything without any problems and I cannot. It is not fair.”
Transformation: Involves changes in habits or status. “This flu has knocked me out.”
Journey: Consumers talk about many aspects of their lives as a journey. Life itself is one big journey. “It’s hurtling in the general direction, it’s escalated very quickly.”
Containers: They keep things in and out. They can protect us or trap us and can be positive or negative. They include physical, psychological and social states. “My breakup has locked me in at home.”
Connection: Encompasses feelings of belonging and exclusion. We express psychological belonging when we refer to my brand, my team, my Facebook. “Have you visited my MySpace?”
Resource: We need resources to survive. We would die without food or water. Our family and friends are resources that sustain us in difficult times. Products and services are also important resources. “Buying a car takes a lot of energy to make a decision.”
Control: We need to have control over our lives. When people “succumb” to serious illnesses they feel “powerless.”
We must be able to use innovative qualitative techniques to extract these “insights” that lead to the 7 metaphors in order to fully understand the consumer's purchasing decision process.
