Six Ways to Integrate Behavioral Sciences Into Your Insights Practice

Why do consumers do what they do?

That’s the million dollar question marketers, strategists, and insights professionals wrestle with on a daily basis. If they could simply answer this for their brand, market research would cease to exist; this coveted answer has the ability to unlock the future of their pipeline.

Unlocking the future of their pipeline is where traditional consumer insights comes in. Researchers consult with brands and construct meaningful and actionable qualitative and quantitative methods to reveal the whole picture and help answer, “why consumers do what they do?”

However, we’re finding more and more that these traditional methods don’t always reveal the complete behavior of the person on the other side of the table or screen. Recent discoveries in psychology have shown that 95% of the thinking humans do is unconscious.

Today's insights professional has to dive deeper into not only what consumers think but how they think.

Traditional methods continue to provide critical input for brands in the right situations. The question is more about evolving from, "what we've always done" to "what should we do next based on new discoveries?"

As technology and data accessibility advance, it allows the industry to innovate and integrate new approaches. We can collect, store, and work with new types of data in real-time. Not to mention, new discoveries about human psychology and behavior reveal new truths that can help us create the future of a brand or market.

Behavioral science is an example of this new foundational understanding. The science of studying behavior has been around for more than a century, and the core ideas of behavioral science and behavioral economics took shape in the late 90s. Today's technology finally gives us a chance to leverage these theories and turn them into knowledge.

However, decades later our industry stands at a crossroads between the trusted, common methods we've used for so long and the new perspectives that just might unlock the answers your brand has been waiting for.

Behavioral science seems to be thrown around as a catch all these days. The answer to anything. But it's application in marketing research isn’t always so simple. It’s not a tool. It’s a mindset, a movement, and a discipline. The key tenants of behavioral science are theories that have emerged mostly through academic experimental designs.

It begs the question: How should consumer insights leverage behavioral science?

It's helpful to think about it this way:

Research is designed to study and predict the curve, while applying Behavioral Science is bending the curve.

The good news is that by leveraging what we know, behavioral science practices can help us better predict the curve and optimize the efficiencies of a brand's spending or experience design. Here are six ways that marketers, strategists, and insights teams can integrate behavioral sciences and behavioral design into their day-to-day practice:

1. Follow the research - As with many of today's modern insights solutions, they are adapted from the field of social sciences. Stay in tune with this research. It can highlight new approaches and enhance interpretation and activation of insights. Wisdom of the crowds question framing is a simple example of how theories turn into practices, while more involved work around a behavioral motivation framework is an example of something that may lead to new approaches or ways of interpreting results.
2. Explicit vs. Implicit (with embedded data) - With access to more data, it becomes our job to ask what data can be captured and then wade through it to determine its utility. Find ways to capture more implicit data - data not provided intentionally - to better understand your consumers' unconscious decision-making process.
3. Data fusion - Similar to above, leveraging more data can lead to better answers. Answers may not always be as they appear. Drive for deeper understanding and challenge existing constructs by examining attitudes, motivations, and real behaviors together.
4.  Simulation and experiments - Sometimes there's only one way to test how people's behavior will change in response to something new. Create a framework and process for your team to test new ideas iteratively.
5. Enhance collaboration with designers - Designers, and others who are closer to the application and activations with consumers, have a great understanding of what may influence behaviors. Enhance collaboration between insights teams and the makers and designers so the two groups can 'bend the curve' more easily together.
6. Focus on impact - Don’t stop at doing the research and coming up with recommendations. Study how the research transferred into action.? Determine the results of those actions and how closely they align with what the research suggested. Track the actions with the same rigor you use for the research itself.

Remember, human behavior is fluid, fuzzy, and multifaceted. Layer onto that the constant change from society, competitors, technology, and more. We must evolve the way we understand and predict in this world.

Behavioral science is an increasingly relevant discipline, because it's roots are anchored in making the fluid and fuzzy more understandable and predictable. But, it's not a north star for the industry either.

We should take advantage of any new knowledge that can enhance our ability to predict and prepare for the future. Knowing when to apply these tools is the first step in the process, and it’s a part of our job that matters greatly.

Look out for another article to discuss what situations are best for applying behavioral sciences.