Consumer Research Services – Delving into Consumer Psyche

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Consumer Research Services Delving into
Consumer Psyche

• As a researcher at Coral Research Services, my
  work involves understanding consumer psyche, need
  states and deriving insights based on their
  behavior and responses to stimuli. Thankfully, I
  receive a lot of exposure to the various research
  methodologies and training to help understand how
  to decode what I hear and see during the consumer
  interactions.

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Heres a bit about my tryst with consumer
research
The first time my curiosity about consumer
insight and consumer research was piqued, when I
worked on a dissertation as part of my
undergraduate course in marketing. The topic of
my study was Understanding the impact of
advertising on women psyche. As a student, I
randomly interviewed women in malls and came back
concluding that the impact was insignificant. Of
course, this was a rather unstandardized way of
researching, but then this small project
increased my curiosity. Indeed, what do consumers
think about all this communication directed to
them?.

• Here are some of my own observations while
  working at Coral Research
• The most popularly employed research methodology
  data gathering tools are Focused Group
  Discussions Depth Interviews. These
  interactions are ideal for generating consumer
  insights.
• In order to understand consumer buying behavior
  decision-making, Shop Observation, Mystery
  Shopping and Shop Alongs give a clear picture of
  consumer choice for products in retail outlets.
• I found that Consumer Immersions were
  commissioned by Brand managers those who wish
  to step into their users shoes, interviewing
  them in their natural surroundings.
• Workshops are best suited for idea generation or
  when product prototype evaluations need to be
  undertaken with consumers
• Vox pops are done in crowded places like markets,
  malls, outside cinema halls to take instant
  reaction of random people about certain topics. I
  personally believe that you get good spontaneous
  reactions if you ask them the right questions.

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Consumer Research Company
There may be many more research methodologies
that I have not been exposed to, which might
include digital, software and lot more, but the
bottom-line is that the right research
methodologies when coupled with insightful
analysis, has always helped clients to arrive at
actionable solutions for their marketing
problems.  Now the question is, why do companies
go for consumer research and invest so much
capital on it? The answer is that it provides a
solid base for creative ideas to target
consumers. This is contrary to an oft-held
assumption that consumer research kills creative
ideas. I do believe that research can provide
the marketer with a good sense of whether the
communication is able to deliver on the key
desired objectives or not, or whether the
proposed creative idea needs some fine-tuning to
be more effective. Mere creativity alone, is not
enough to woo a consumer if it is not backed
strongly by a relevant insight. And qualitative
research allows us to delve into the consumer
psyche and unearth these insights.
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www.coralresearch.in
Thank you