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Frequently Asked Research Questions

What price points and promotion mechanics will drive the greatest volume of our products?

Products: 

Behavioral Conjoint + advanced analytics 

Method: 

For a global snacking company we created a simulated shopping environment, immersing respondents in the experience of choosing and buying from the supermarket shelf. This used our Behavioral Conjoint tool to automatically generate thousands of different promotional mechanics, price points and pack sizes, in order to find out which would be the most effective at driving demand. We integrated this with live sales data to calibrate the price elasticity, and advised the client on sales strategies which were used to achieve a 17% revenue increase the following year.

How can we make our TV ads more effective?

Products: 

System 3 + Simulated RCT

Method: 

We worked with leading charcoal brand Kingsford to test their ads using a System 3 narrative discovery approach. This uncovered the implicit story behind each ad, helping them craft the right creative message to unlock new market segments. We used an RCT to test the behavioral outcomes from each ad, by redirecting respondents to an e-commerce site after seeing the ad. We were able to measure a 20% sales uplift among customers who had seen the ad, directly proving the effectiveness of the ad even before it went into market.

What do customers really want from a new product in this category?

Products: 

System 3

Method: 

We used System 3 to help our food & drink client explore a familiar space – a market they were already in, but looking for new opportunities. We presented consumption scenarios to a nationally representative sample of respondents and recorded the stories they told. This produced a visualization of the category landscape, highlighting the biggest opportunities and revealing the messaging that could be used to activate them. Results were matched to the client’s existing segmentation and demand space model.

What does the next 5 years look like for my category?

Products: 

System 3 + narrative qual with experts + behavioral consulting

Method: 

A globally-renowned broadcaster wanted to project how digital media audiences would change in the next 5 years, and what people would want to watch. We started with expert interviews, formulating a framework for the issues and themes to explore. A behavioral science lens allowed us to generate hypotheses about how viewers might respond in each thematic area. The System 3 tool forecast specific opportunities and showed how the broadcaster’s brand would fit into the changing demands of viewers.

What are the best opportunities for us to launch a product into this new category?

Products: 

Narrative Qual + System 3

Method: 

A major snack manufacturer wanted to find out consumer perceptions of an emerging category with few existing products, in order to gain a lead in addressing the market. We interviewed 25 people across five potential usage segments, contrasting early adopter attitudes with those more conservative. The insights from this qualitative phase fed into the design of a System 3 survey of the category, to discover the attitudes and associations that consumers would start with, as a foundation before any brand campaigns were carried out. This is being used by the client to inform both product design and marketing to exploit the major opportunities in this space.

What do customers care most about key trending topics?

Products: 

System 3 + Behavioral Conjoint

Method: 

Our syndicated research reports on sustainability, value and other hot topics are designed to take the pulse – and hear the stories – of society on these important subjects. We start with a System 3 survey to gather stories, analyze mindsets and find the essential personas and the themes they care about. This tells us what is important, what language we can use to motivate people, and what their journey looks like.

What does the customer journey look like in this category?

Products: 

Narrative qual + System 3 + Behavioral Conjoint

Method: 

Pharmaceutical companies and hotel chains have used this approach to map out the key steps that customers take from initial awareness through to becoming a repeat customer. We interview customers who are currently undergoing each stage of the journey, to get their active impressions, emotions and planned next steps. We then use System 3 to measure the beliefs and stories hidden in the customer’s mind at each journey stage, based on their level of experience with the category and product. Finally we can use Behavioral Conjoint to measure conversion and identify the most effective messaging to move them along the journey.

How can we ensure people understand our communications and are not misled by their behavioral biases?

Products: 

FCA Consumer Duty Audit + Comprehension Test+ Simulated RCT + Narrative qual

Method: 

The Financial Conduct Authority requires UK financial services firms to proactively test their products and communications to help customers make good decisions. We help them by doing a Behavioral Audit of the customer journey, to identify any biases that could lead people into buying the wrong product. Then we run an online quant Comprehension Test to check whether the product’s financial documentation is easy to understand. We interview customers to build understanding of their needs, vulnerability and how they use the financial products to meet those needs. Finally we advise on how to update the documents and product designs, if necessary, and run a test to compare the product performance and customer outcomes before-and-after the change.

How much will people pay for each additional feature of our products?

Products: 

Behavioral Conjoint

Method: 

We have used this approach for electronic hardware manufacturers in the beauty space, hotel operators, media, and food & beverage companies. In each case, we design a replica of the consumer’s decision making environment (supermarket, e-commerce site or wherever they buy your product). We identify possible product features and how they can vary – pack size, price, add-ons, higher quality, longer lasting battery – whatever it might be. Our Behavioral Conjoint algorithm tests all of these variables in the simulated decision environment, monitoring which products customers look at, and which they ultimately choose to buy. The results feed into an online simulator allowing clients to project the performance of different product configurations and build the most profitable range of SKUs.

What are the barriers that stop customers buying more from us/engaging with us more?

Products: 

Behavioral Conjoint + System 3

Method: 

We use System 3 to collect stories about how customers use products in this category to solve their problems. These reveal the motivations of customers, how they perceive your product and what might stop them from adopting it. The System 3 exercise creates a map of the category, the products within it, and the customer needs that they satisfy. It typically generates 6-10 ‘barrier hypotheses’ – we then use Behavioral Conjoint to develop and test solutions that can overcome those barriers.

How can we make sure we’re providing the best service and value to our customers?

Products: 

Narrative qual + System 3

Method: 

Sometimes you know you provide a good service, but you need to quantify or measure how much value your customers get from it. This is especially true for financial services firms (under the new FCA Consumer Duty) but any company can benefit from learning whether it is providing good value and how to improve it. In these cases we recommend a therapeutic interview approach with customers, both existing and potential, to get their unbiased view of their needs and experiences. This can be followed by a quantitative System 3 survey to quantify the value they are getting, and benchmark it against the value they get from other products and services – even those in different categories.

How do we get our brand to stand out in its category?

Products: 

System 3

Method: 

First we map out the category: using a story hearing approach to gather customer anecdotes and narratives about how they buy and use products in the category. We also locate specific brands within the map, connecting them to the needs that customers believe they are best at solving. This process identifies open spaces: gaps in the category where customers have needs, but no brand is yet fulfilling them. These opportunities allow clients to plan new product launches, brand extensions or repositioning of existing brands to maximize opportunity.

Frequently Asked Research Questions

What price points and promotion mechanics will drive the greatest volume of our products?

Products: 

Behavioral Conjoint + advanced analytics 

Method: 

For a global snacking company we created a simulated shopping environment, immersing respondents in the experience of choosing and buying from the supermarket shelf. This used our Behavioral Conjoint tool to automatically generate thousands of different promotional mechanics, price points and pack sizes, in order to find out which would be the most effective at driving demand. We integrated this with live sales data to calibrate the price elasticity, and advised the client on sales strategies which were used to achieve a 17% revenue increase the following year.

How can we make our TV ads more effective?

Products: 

System 3 + Simulated RCT

Method: 

We worked with leading charcoal brand Kingsford to test their ads using a System 3 narrative discovery approach. This uncovered the implicit story behind each ad, helping them craft the right creative message to unlock new market segments. We used an RCT to test the behavioral outcomes from each ad, by redirecting respondents to an e-commerce site after seeing the ad. We were able to measure a 20% sales uplift among customers who had seen the ad, directly proving the effectiveness of the ad even before it went into market.

What do customers really want from a new product in this category?

Products: 

System 3

Method: 

We used System 3 to help our food & drink client explore a familiar space – a market they were already in, but looking for new opportunities. We presented consumption scenarios to a nationally representative sample of respondents and recorded the stories they told. This produced a visualization of the category landscape, highlighting the biggest opportunities and revealing the messaging that could be used to activate them. Results were matched to the client’s existing segmentation and demand space model.

What does the next 5 years look like for my category?

Products: 

System 3 + narrative qual with experts + behavioral consulting

Method: 

A globally-renowned broadcaster wanted to project how digital media audiences would change in the next 5 years, and what people would want to watch. We started with expert interviews, formulating a framework for the issues and themes to explore. A behavioral science lens allowed us to generate hypotheses about how viewers might respond in each thematic area. The System 3 tool forecast specific opportunities and showed how the broadcaster’s brand would fit into the changing demands of viewers.

What are the best opportunities for us to launch a product into this new category?

Products: 

Narrative Qual + System 3

Method: 

A major snack manufacturer wanted to find out consumer perceptions of an emerging category with few existing products, in order to gain a lead in addressing the market. We interviewed 25 people across five potential usage segments, contrasting early adopter attitudes with those more conservative. The insights from this qualitative phase fed into the design of a System 3 survey of the category, to discover the attitudes and associations that consumers would start with, as a foundation before any brand campaigns were carried out. This is being used by the client to inform both product design and marketing to exploit the major opportunities in this space.

What do customers care most about key trending topics?

Products: 

System 3 + Behavioral Conjoint

Method: 

Our syndicated research reports on sustainability, value and other hot topics are designed to take the pulse – and hear the stories – of society on these important subjects. We start with a System 3 survey to gather stories, analyze mindsets and find the essential personas and the themes they care about. This tells us what is important, what language we can use to motivate people, and what their journey looks like.

What does the customer journey look like in this category?

Products: 

Narrative qual + System 3 + Behavioral Conjoint

Method: 

Pharmaceutical companies and hotel chains have used this approach to map out the key steps that customers take from initial awareness through to becoming a repeat customer. We interview customers who are currently undergoing each stage of the journey, to get their active impressions, emotions and planned next steps. We then use System 3 to measure the beliefs and stories hidden in the customer’s mind at each journey stage, based on their level of experience with the category and product. Finally we can use Behavioral Conjoint to measure conversion and identify the most effective messaging to move them along the journey.

How can we ensure people understand our communications and are not misled by their behavioral biases?

Products: 

FCA Consumer Duty Audit + Comprehension Test+ Simulated RCT + Narrative qual

Method: 

The Financial Conduct Authority requires UK financial services firms to proactively test their products and communications to help customers make good decisions. We help them by doing a Behavioral Audit of the customer journey, to identify any biases that could lead people into buying the wrong product. Then we run an online quant Comprehension Test to check whether the product’s financial documentation is easy to understand. We interview customers to build understanding of their needs, vulnerability and how they use the financial products to meet those needs. Finally we advise on how to update the documents and product designs, if necessary, and run a test to compare the product performance and customer outcomes before-and-after the change.

How much will people pay for each additional feature of our products?

Products: 

Behavioral Conjoint

Method: 

We have used this approach for electronic hardware manufacturers in the beauty space, hotel operators, media, and food & beverage companies. In each case, we design a replica of the consumer’s decision making environment (supermarket, e-commerce site or wherever they buy your product). We identify possible product features and how they can vary – pack size, price, add-ons, higher quality, longer lasting battery – whatever it might be. Our Behavioral Conjoint algorithm tests all of these variables in the simulated decision environment, monitoring which products customers look at, and which they ultimately choose to buy. The results feed into an online simulator allowing clients to project the performance of different product configurations and build the most profitable range of SKUs.

What are the barriers that stop customers buying more from us/engaging with us more?

Products: 

Behavioral Conjoint + System 3

Method: 

We use System 3 to collect stories about how customers use products in this category to solve their problems. These reveal the motivations of customers, how they perceive your product and what might stop them from adopting it. The System 3 exercise creates a map of the category, the products within it, and the customer needs that they satisfy. It typically generates 6-10 ‘barrier hypotheses’ – we then use Behavioral Conjoint to develop and test solutions that can overcome those barriers.

How can we make sure we’re providing the best service and value to our customers?

Products: 

Narrative qual + System 3

Method: 

Sometimes you know you provide a good service, but you need to quantify or measure how much value your customers get from it. This is especially true for financial services firms (under the new FCA Consumer Duty) but any company can benefit from learning whether it is providing good value and how to improve it. In these cases we recommend a therapeutic interview approach with customers, both existing and potential, to get their unbiased view of their needs and experiences. This can be followed by a quantitative System 3 survey to quantify the value they are getting, and benchmark it against the value they get from other products and services – even those in different categories.

How do we get our brand to stand out in its category?

Products: 

System 3

Method: 

First we map out the category: using a story hearing approach to gather customer anecdotes and narratives about how they buy and use products in the category. We also locate specific brands within the map, connecting them to the needs that customers believe they are best at solving. This process identifies open spaces: gaps in the category where customers have needs, but no brand is yet fulfilling them. These opportunities allow clients to plan new product launches, brand extensions or repositioning of existing brands to maximize opportunity.