Projective Techniques
Sometimes directly asking people what motivates them to make a decision does not provide a truthful answer. People can consciously modify the truth for various reasons, or they are influenced by subconscious factors they are not aware of.
At Customer input Ltd we make use of advanced research techniques to get deeper insights into people’s inner thoughts and uncover the deep-rooted meaning people give to interactions with brands, products and services.
Subconscious Thinking and Emotions
Subconscious thinking consists in cognitive processes that influence behavior without us being aware of them. Most of the judgements we make in our daily lives are made subconsciously; they occur almost instantly without us having to rely on logic. Our socio-cultural values for example are so deeply rooted in our minds that they constantly influence how we see the world without consciously thinking about them.
Studies have shown that not only are our decisions influenced by subconscious thoughts, but that these can even be predictive of our decisions. In other words, we often have the illusion of conscious decision, but we are in fact influenced by subconscious factors.
Emotional Brand Decisions
While the choice of a brand is sometimes a rational one based purely on functional values, many decisions are emotional, and largely subconscious.
Understanding these subconscious drivers of behavior is important in connecting with consumers at a deeper level.
Gathering Deeper Insights
Asking people directly how they came to a decision will not always yield the truth; people may have conscious inhibitions to answer truthfully for fear of being judged, or because the topic is sensitive. But sometimes people don’t actually know. People may simply rationalize, explaining their behavior or choices in a way that makes sense to them but is not accurate because they were in fact influenced by subconscious factors.
To get to the bottom of things, indirect research methods must be used.
Projective Techniques
We make use of Projective Techniques, which consists in having people talk about something (their emotions, their values, etc.) through something else. This indirect questioning allows to circumvent inhibitions to answering and can also allow tapping into more subconscious thinking. We also make make customized experimental psychology exercises aimed at getting deeper insights into people’s true emotions and values. Some of the techniques available include:
- Thematic Apperception test
- Personification
- Implicit Association Test: Measuring rapid-response to stimuli before rational processing
- Word association: Association of one word or concept with another
- Masked survey questions design: Survey questions not directly mentioning the research object
