10.11
What shoppers mean when they say they’re “unlikely to consider” your brand

Last week, as I was looking for a new writing app, I was inundated with product features I did not care about. I want to be a better writer. How would AI-generated paragraphs and integrations with Mailchimp and Zapier help me with that?

Eventually I found one. Inspired by the search (and a long time grudge) I sat down to draft an essay about a famous market research question. You're probably familiar with it. "How likely or unlikely are you to consider this brand the next time you shop?"

It's referred to as "Brand consideration." As a market researcher, I've had about 10,000 people over the years answer this question on behalf of brands. And I've always thought it was stupid.

Have you ever sat through an analyst presenting the results of a brand consideration question? They click to the next slide and the headline says, "57% of respondents are unlikely to consider our brand." You examine the chart below and wonder what the hell it all means. You think, "57%. Great. But now what?"

The "57%" is data without insight. If the warning icons on your car's dashboard alert you to a problem -- low washer fluid, an overheating engine – the result of a brand consideration question is like a dashboard with one icon for all potential problems. It turns on. There’s a problem. But what is it? Do I need to get more washer fluid or fix my engine?

The point is not to provide a complete catalog of the possible meanings of unlikely to consider. Surveys lack the cues you'd rely on to know that someone used 'bank' to mean monetary bank and not the land alongside a river, for instance. My thesis is that consideration matters but its value depends on identifying the psychological reason that pushed people to select unlikely to consider.

Sometimes unlikely to consider means we don't want to be seen using a product. The Segway, for instance, failed because riding it makes you look smug. Other times consideration is linked to trust. Last spring I worked with a salumi brand and showed that shoppers found their main value proposition appealing but not believable. So we built an FAQ section that addressed their top objections.

Unlikely to consider should always be filtered by how familiar someone is with the brand. If in a survey I check the box "I'm unlikely to consider this brand," what I mean will depend on whether or not I'm reacting to Corona Light ("I've had this beer and I think it tastes shitty") or a new beer brand ("I know what I like so why take a chance on something I might hate?")

For the Segway, people didn't want to violate a social norm. For the salumi brand, people didn't want to get ripped off. When I see Corona Light, I know I won’t like it and when I encounter a new beer brand risk aversion drives me toward the safe choice. Before the analyst moves on to the next slide it's worth pausing to ask, "Is there a sentence or two that would motivate some of the 57% of shoppers who say they are unlikely to consider to... reconsider?"

When I was looking for a writing app, I was looking for a platform that understood the trepidation any writer feels before they sit down to write. The headline on the homepage of the one I found -- the one I'm using right now -- was:

"You don't need another autocorrect. Write your first bad draft today."

When I read it, I nodded my head. Then I dragged my cursor to a button labeled "Sign up for a 14-day free trial."

And clicked.