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Methodologies

Methodologies

Perceptions & Attitudes

Framed as a video selfie talking head, Perceptions & Attitudes captures people’s facial expressions with a proximity closer than any other methodology can provide (literally, and arm’s length away).

The beauty of Perceptions & Attitudes is there is no moderator bias, and no possibility for group-think that can be common problem in focus groups.

Micro facial expressions, including eyebrow raises, mouth movements, involuntary twitches, voice intonation and more help establish their response authenticity and candor.

Given their comfort level with speaking into their own mobile devices or webcams, the following is a list of strategies for getting the best out of Perceptions & Attitudes:

    • Get personal: they are in their comfort zone, usually alone, and amazingly open to questions that probe deeply into their personal experience and/or feelings. We have asked people about chronic illness (delicately, of course), intimate wear (in relation to their body image), impotence (you’d be surprised how comfortable men are on the topic) and more; and are constantly inspired by how open people are via mobile video
    • Be provocative: ask them about their deepest fears, their greatest achievements, their trigger points for anger, injustice…even politics! Provoking – without insulting them, of course – helps elicit more emotionally-charged replies
    • Benchmark: ask them to compare and contrast things like brand associations, competing product perceptions, standards of customer service against the industry norms; or even the ideal
    • Be emotional: while some respondents are better than others at answering questions about emotion, don’t shy away from literally asking them about emotions surrounding a topic. We’ve even had brand loyalists write a love letter to a brand and read the letters on camera
    • Allow them to dream: one of our favorite questions is to have them suspend disbelief, and describe the ideal . By understanding the dream, you will be better able to gauge if/how you or your brand/product/service lives up to their ideal

Show & Tell

Show + Tell is a way to see into people home environments: pantry, closet, den, fridge, entertainment system, home office….you name it.

In our experience, having people show objects – or processes – and talk about them tends to not only authenticate them as users, but also makes them much more animated and articulate because they are touching objects, or pointing out parts of a journey.

We define Show + Tell as something that happens within or around the home (versus Retail + Events which can take place outside the home).

Show + Tell has been used for a wide range of projects including clothing (show us your favorite sports bras, and explain how brands and product features vary), cars (walk around your car and tell us about brand/features/ design), food (fridge dive to understand brand assortment; prepare meals to understand process), entertainment (TV and audio ecosystem), furniture (favorite room, biggest villain in the house), laundry journey, shaving experience, and kitchen (storage container lids).

To get the best out of Show + Tell:

    •  Be specific: ask them to show you their favorite X, or top 5 articles of Y (e.g. show us your 5 favorite handbags)
    • Walk-throughs: ask them to walk you through a process – laundry, for example, to understand the Before, During and After insights (sometimes breaking it out into multiple questions)
    •  Pan-arounds: or closet dives, or home entertainment ecosystems, have them pan over a variety of objects and explain what they are, why they have them and note brands (e.g. we had a big tech co whose designer wasn’t born in the US and wanted to understand what a college dorm room looked like)
    • Expect variable video: if you request consumers to show their laundry journey, for example, the video itself might be a little shaky as they pan around and explain things, or walk from room to room. We can mitigate AV issues with instructions, but lighting, sound and video quality may vary if they are asked to move from room to room while filming, from light to dark, or spinning the smartphone around to show something
    •  Involve a partner: for a study for baby wash basins, respondents had their partner hold their phone and record moments where both of their hands were occupied

Prompt & React

Getting consumers to respond to prompts can be accomplished on mindswarms digitally, or physically. Digitally, by attaching a link to a study, respondents can view PDFs, images, web sites, video, UX, UI…basically anything you want them to provide unvarnished reactions to. To date, we have prompted consumers with links to early stage concepts (designer sketches, advertising territories, brand positioning), work-in-progress (ads in development, taglines, potential product names) and finished assets (existing TV commercials, websites, digital products, print ads).

    • Similarly, we have sent product to people’s homes for a number of objectives:
    • Understand the out of box experience
    • Gather feedback on packaging
    • Get reactions to messaging and positioning
    • Conduct a home use test (prepare food; try out makeup, try on new prototype shoes) In terms of best practices for working with Prompt & React, the following is a loose set of guidelines:

In terms of best practices for working with Prompt & React, the following is a loose set of guidelines:

    • Keep it short: if a PDF that is attached contains too many pages, images or words, people will tune out
    •  Think about it as stimulus: sometimes, their literal reactions to the artifact aren’t as important as the reactions they elicit – what you’re really looking for is how the stimulus prompted them to reveal something interesting or new…so it doesn’t always have to be stimulus you are literally testing that elicits a great insight (for example, get them to respond to an article about their generation and explain how they feel)
    • Plan for shipping: if it’s an actual product you want sent to consumers, shipping will be your responsibility (not mindswarms’)
    •  Need 1 or two more

Missions & Events

A lot of retail experiences require no assistance on the shop floor (e.g. headphones, QSR). So hearing from consumers in a retail environment as they first enter the store, look for sections, search for products, compare competing options, evaluate packaging, look at signage, navigate the aisles, and ultimately choose a specific brand or product can be very insightful. Especially as more and more shopping and buying shifts online.

Retail & Events has been used to have consumers shop for e-readers at Big Box consumer electronics stores, do a walk-through of a car buying journey, sample food at QSR, do competitor store checks, shop a new category in a store, evaluate drive-thru menu boards, provide feedback on the inclusiveness of in-store marketing messaging and more

In terms of pro tips for Retail & Events:

    • It’s its own study: while we can – and do – include Perceptions + Attitudes, Show + Tell, and Prompt + React in one study, getting folks to go to retail requires a dedicated study devoted to the retail visit
    • Incentives need to be higher: we typically pay $50 for consumers to answer 10 questions, but if they need to travel to a retail store and/or buy something, we often sweeten the kitty to compensate them for their time, effort and travel
    •  Incentives need to be higher: we typically pay $50 for consumers to answer 10 questions, but if they need to travel to a retail store and/or buy something, we often sweeten the kitty to compensate them for their time, effort and travel
    • Studies can take longer than normal: we promise <7 days for US studies and <14 days for international, but if the study requires people to do a retail visit, we like to give them a little more time to complete, especially if weekends are the only time they might be able to fit in a destination trip to – say – a mall
By Tom Bassett
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4 Tips for Getting the Most out of Your mindswarms Video

ANALYZING VIDEO

4 Tips for Getting the Most out of Your mindswarms Video

What’s the best way to go through video responses and glean insights? Tom Bassett, founder of mindswarms, discusses best practices for extracting relevant data and weaving powerful stories to share within your organization.

Mobile video surveys provide powerful first-person accounts that speak customer truths. But how do you get the most from your data? Using his more than 20 years of experience working with companies like Microsoft (link to Microsoft interview), Virgin America (link to Virgin interview), and Nike, Tom Bassett shares 4 tips to help you effectively analyze your data and draw conclusions.

01. Reviewing Results

When analyzing your mobile video surveys, there are a couple of things to look for up. First, you’ll want to identify patterns and themes. What are people identifying with? What are the recurring problems or issues with the product, service, or experience? Come up with a list, aiming for no more than 5-10 patterns. Once you’ve identified these, it’s important to run them through your brand filter. Ask yourself: How are the insights related to my brand? Which are the most relevant for you (versus insights that are not related to my brand)?

During this stage, it’s also important to look for original insights – outliers. For example, what’s something you didn’t expect the respondents to say? What’s something unique you noticed, when seen through the eyes of the consumer? Since it’s very hard for brands to differentiate these days, the off-speed pitch is often where you find the interesting angles.

02. Organizing Results

Next, you’ll want to bracket your insights into two main buckets: problems and opportunities. This is a relevant way to share insights back internally at your organization. Senior leadership teams often want to help solve problems – but they also want to understand where the potential zones of opportunity are to help grow. Are the respondents articulating a problem or need that hasn’t been met? Have they mentioned a totally new idea? An expansion of idea?

03. Identifying Story

This is an important step because although it’s great to lots of insight, it’s essential to find a focal point. Ask yourself: What is the overarching story? How do you articulate this? Try to hone in and articulate one story. Philosophically, we like to see things through the eyes of consumes. For example, for a Nike project related to the SPARQ brand (which they ultimately acquired), the story was simple: “Kids would give their eye teeth for a 10th of a second at the combines.” Or for Yahoo Personals: “Women don’t want to let go of the idea that Fate played a role in finding the partner of their dreams.”. Once you determine THE story, you’ll want to come up with chapters, or building blocks that help build that story. Ask yourself: What are we trying to teach or tell people? What’s the big reveal? In simple terms, there is a beginning, middle and end. The middle is usually the reveal (the point of tension, the climax) while the beginning introduces it, and the end wraps it up.

04. Sharing Results

When you give your presentation to colleagues, use the video to really engage them! Video lifts heads, because there is sight and sound and motion. So, make sure to show video clips of respondents in order to get their attention. It’s worth it to put together a 2-3 minute series of clips in order to share the data in the most powerful way possible. But don’t use video to be a surrogate for PowerPoint; use video to tell a compelling story. Otherwise, if video just lists points as opposed to adding up to something singular, viewers will be confused. (One additional tidbit: we also like to sprinkle in single mindswarms clips throughout a debrief deck, to help keep things lively. These clips can be links to the study matrix, or videos can be downloaded and placed into the presentation).

By Tom Bassett
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How to Write Effective Mobile Video Survey Questions

ASKING QUESTIONS

How to Write Effective Mobile Video Survey Questions

The art of asking questions

In study after study, great research, creativity and innovation revolves around asking the right questions. Since the mindswarms methodology is unique, below is a set of best practices for ask question on the platform in order to reach the “unlock.”

Start broad, then get specific

We are big proponents of trying to understand consumers in the broadest possible context, including culturally. So beginning studies with a sense for how they think the culture of is changing is a great way to anchor their later insights within a cultural context; so much consumer behavior is shaped by much greater forces than product features.

Ask specifically vague questions

It’s tempting to go straight at an issue or a problem. But often times, it’s best to understand where THEY will take the story. So, for example, if you ask whether they like cars – or not – you will understand whether they like cars. But if you ask them to explain their relationship with cars, you’re never sure where they will take the story. And understanding the broader context of their automotive relationship may be much more insightful than a specific like/dislike question.

Ask very pointed questions

Seemingly contrary to asking specifically vague questions is to flip the script and be VERY direct and pointed. Sometimes even revealing the real question at hand can help consumers provide highly pointed responses.

Be provocative

Ask about shifts in behavior

Video is the most emotional medium, so embracing what it captures best by provoking (without, of course, insulting them) can be an effective tactic. Prompting them with statements, or published articles will allow them to react. For example, linking to Millennials to an article about their perceived attitudes and behaviors and asking respondents to weigh in on whether they agree or disagree can provide deeper levels of understanding.

Use polarizing questions

espondents are opinionated. Take advantage of their strong opinions by asking them what they love or what they hate, especially if an emotional response is what you’re looking for. For those who are less opinionated, forcing them to choose left/right or high/low – basically making them choose – helps clarify which side of the divide they are on.

Ask why

The thought processes behind the decisions that people make are perhaps even more important than the decision themselves. Have the respondents explain their perspective and why they do things. Asking “why” seems perhaps too elemental sometimes, but by asking the obvious why question, it can help unearth new ways of understanding consumers (e.g. why do you run? Why do you shop?

Get respondents into relevant space

The big advantage of using mobile video (and webcams) is that you can be in the respondent’s space. Have them bring you to the environment that makes the most sense for your mobile video survey. We have had respondents record from their kitchen, bathroom (for a shaving study), garage, pantry, bedroom (for a closet dive), den (for home entertainment studies).

Don’t cram 5 questions into 1

Imagine we toss you a tennis ball. Easy enough to catch, right? But what if we toss you three? Not so easy. Stick to one question (or tennis ball). At mindswarms, respondents have one minute to respond, and you have 200 characters to write your question. You don’t want respondents to spend the entire minute just listing off things or juggling their focus. A good stress test is to make sure you are only using one question mark – at most, two.

Tug at respondents’ emotions

The best insight comes when people talk about things that they really care about, whether it is something that they love or a secret pet peeve of theirs. Ask questions that aim at eliciting these emotions. To that end, for a pet food study, we had consumers introduce us to their pet in the first video; people projected voices, personalities and deep emotion in the first response. Similarly, for a study about Millennial women and cleaning, we had them hold up a photo of their mothers in the first reply, and it choked some of them up!

Use their language, not theirs

Use language that the respondents are comfortable with, and would use if they were talking to a friend. For instance, a respondent might not know what an “asset” is.

Allow for open-ended questions

We’ve found that respondents usually have some additional thoughts at the end of the survey that haven’t been addressed by any questions. Giving them the freedom to share these thoughts with you can lead to even more novel insights.

Refine on the fly

Time permitting, what we like to do is have the first few participants respond to see how they interpret the questions. Questions can be amended as the study progresses, so sometimes even slight alterations to questions can be help drill down to a deeper level.

Prepare for follow ups

Follow up questions can be asked on mindswarms in a number of ways: (1) obviously, more mindswarms question (2) tel or webcon interviews (3) in person ethnography, IDIs or focus groups.

Make sure your respondents explain why.

The thought processes behind the decisions that people make are perhaps even more important than the decision themselves. Have the respondents explain their perspective and why they do things.

Be creative

Put your respondents in hypothetical situations, use similes and metaphors, or ask a question that is completely “out there.” The more creative your question is, the more creative (and interesting) your responses will be.

By Tom Bassett
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5 ways to ask follow-ups on mindswarms

5 ways to ask follow-ups on mindswarms


The primary ways to follow up after a mindswarms study include:

    • Scheduling telephone interviews
    • Organizing Skype/Facetime/Hangouts interviews
    • Conducting in home ethnographies
    • Inviting participants to a focus group
    • Lastly, serving up more mindswarms questions
By Tom Bassett
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Get visceral and authentic reactions to new ad concepts

CONCEPT TESTING

Get visceral and authentic reactions to new ad concepts

Evaluate resonance, relevance and overall impressions of new concepts, platforms, messages, headlines, and taglines.

How the process works

    • Identify concepts, segments and prepare testing materials (e.g. existing campaign, platform, characters, music etc) for participant feedback
    • Work with our Research Managers to design concept testing protocol per segment
    • Use mindswarms remote video capture to gather participant reactions to concept desirability and willingness to pay across segments
    • Use additional inquiry methods to delve deeper into relevant unmet needs surrounding concepts
    • Invite participant to brainstorm ideas (explain or sketch) new or improved concepts

Methods used

    • Concept review and desirability feedback
    • Concept sorting from most to least desired
    • Feature set and content category sorting and prioritization
    • Willingness to pay inquiry to identify perceived concept value
    • Participatory brainstorming to surface concept improvements and new concepts

Timing and cost

    • Concept Testing studies can take from 1 to 5 days or more to complete, depending on study complexity
    • Typical projects involve 15+participants
    • Fees including screener development, study management, recruiting, hand-selecting the best candidates, QA of videos, respondent incentives, and transcripts @$500/person for US respondents, and $1,000/person for international markets
    • Fees for optional analysis start at $7,500 for a report on a 15 person study, and $12,500 for a 30 person study
    • Fees for optional edited video start at $5,000 for a 90-120 second highlight reel with title cards and music (B roll and motion graphics are extra)

Deliverable

15 participants each answer 10 questions using the video on their smartphone or laptop. That produces 150 x 1 minute video clips and corresponding transcripts (both Google Speech, and a parallel service that includes a human’s eyes to capture important nuances).

All delivered via a cloud-based link that is shareable, and assets that can be downloaded (videos in MP4 format) to be used to bring the insights to life for presentations, and highly engage audiences

Examples

A leading telco launched a new campaign platform, and was curious to understand (a) how the campaign resonated in the real world and (b) what could be done to it to extend its shelf life in the most meaningful ways to consumers. 30 consumers from across the country completed studies that linked them to the campaigns so they could provide their personal and genuine reactions to the platform, the individual ads, as well as the advertising elements (music, tone, characters and more).

The net result was that the client learned the platform was indeed resonant, but there were disconnects when the platform connected to generic product offerings they could obtain from competitors

By Tom Bassett
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Gather insightful research videos, fast, to win new business

THE PITCH

Gather insightful research videos, fast, to win new business

Rapidly gather compelling customer research videos for new business pitches that demonstrate insight and empathy for a client’s market, brand or product.

How the process works

    • Identify areas of inquiry for rapid exploration with our Project Management and Research teams
    • Work with our Research Managers to develop a fast turnaround study to surface relevant consumer values, perceptions, and behaviors
    • Use mindswarms remote video capture to gather perceptions to areas of inquiry
    • Capture emotions and reactions to new and/or existing consumer-facing materials
    • Conduct a broad inquiry to demonstrate the similarities and differences across markets
    • Collaborate with our analysts and video editors to bring insights to life

Timing and cost

    • Insights for new business pitches take from 1 to 5 days (or more) to complete, depending on study complexity
    • Typical projects involve 10+ participants
    • Fees including screener development, study management, recruiting, hand-selecting the best candidates, QA of videos, respondent incentives, and transcripts @$500/person for US respondents, and $1,000/person for international markets
    • Fees for optional analysis start at $7,500 for a report on a 15 person study, and $12,500 for a 30 person study
    • Fees for optional edited video start at $5,000 for a 90-120 second highlight reel with title cards and music (B roll and motion graphics are extra)

Deliverable

Deliverable Example: 10 participants each answer 10 questions using the video on their smartphone or laptop. That produces 100 x 1 minute video clips and corresponding transcripts (both Google Speech, and a parallel service that includes a human pass to capture important emotional, attitudinal or cultural nuances).

All delivered via a cloud-based link that is shareable, and assets that can be downloaded (videos in MP4 format) to be used to bring the insights to life for presentations, and highly engage audiences

Examples

Mindswarms has helped global agency networks to independent creative boutiques successfully pitch major national and global brands, as well as smaller, niche products. mindswarms has been used to get the conversations started in early chemistry-check meetings, inform and inspire creative briefings, develop and test creative and strategy materials, and help lead audience segmentation strategies

By Tom Bassett
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Uncover core brand perceptions

BRAND PERCEPTIONS

Uncover core brand perceptions

Gain insight into consumer brand perceptions to inform brand (re)positioning and increase brand valuation efforts.

How the process works

    • Identify market segments and relevant brand values to involve in the study
    • Work with our Research Managers to develop a research protocol to explore brand perceptions and relevant values across segments
    • Recruit participant segments (e.g. Loyalists, Occasionals, Lapsed)
    • Use mindswarms remote video capture to engage participants with brand visuals and concrete branded interactions that inspire in-depth and thoughtful responses
    • Optional: Synthesize findings into Brand Perceptions report
    • Optional: Edit a 90-120 second highlight reel of relevant clips

Methods used

    • Brand perceptions and values mapping by segment
    • Diary studies to capture participant encounters with brands and relevant values Value card sorting
    • Gather reflections and perception of the brand through asynchronous interviews
    • Brand gap mapping to perception and values map

Timing and cost

    • Brand Perceptions studies can take from 3-5 days or more to complete, depending on study complexity
    • Typical projects involve 20-30 participants
    • Fees including screener development, study management, recruiting, hand-selecting the best candidates, QA of videos, respondent incentives, and transcripts @$500/person for US respondents, and $1,000/person for international markets
    • Fees for optional analysis start at $7,500 for a report on a 15 person study, and $12,500 for a 30 person study
    • Fees for optional edited video start at $5,000 for a 90-120 second highlight reel with title cards and music (B roll and motion graphics are extra)

Deliverable

Deliverable Example: 25 participants each answer 10 questions using the video on their smartphone or laptop. That produces 250 x 1 minute video clips and corresponding transcripts (both Google Speech, and a parallel service that includes a human pass to capture important nuances).

All delivered via a cloud-based link that is shareable, and assets that can be downloaded (videos in MP4 format) to be used to bring the insights to life for presentations, and highly engage audiences. Accompanying report starting at $15,000

Examples

A leading home furnishings brand was looking to understand perceptions of its core brand values. One of the primary exercises we had Loyalists do was to write a love letter to the brand, and read it on camera. By having consumers write down their thoughts and read them, their deep-seated perceptions of the brand surfaced clearly, ultimately leading to an updated positioning strategy and ad campaign that helped them drive record sales and brand awareness

By Tom Bassett
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Help determine how – or if – to extend an existing ad campaign

CAMPAIGN EXTENSION

Help determine how - or if - to extend an existing ad campaign

Understand the core advertising equities, assets and characteristics of a current ad campaign in order to learn how best to evolve it.

How the process works

    • Identify concepts, segments and prepare testing materials (e.g. existing campaign, platform, characters, music etc) for participant feedback
    • Work with our Research Managers to design concept testing protocol per segment
    • Use mindswarms remote video capture to gather participant reactions to concept desirability and willingness to pay across segments

Methods used

    • Campaign messaging clarity and resonance check
    • Campaign element evaluation
    • Character likeability and relevance assessment
    • Spot by spot breakdown of elements: personality, tone, music, tempo
    • Future campaign ideation

Timing and cost

    • Campaign Extension studies can take from 3 to 5 days or more to complete depending on study complexity
    • Typical projects last 3 days and involves 15+participants
    • Fees including screener development, study management, recruiting, hand-selecting the best candidates, QA of videos, respondent incentives, and transcripts @$500/person for US respondents, and $1,000/person for international markets
    • Fees for optional analysis start at $7,500 for a report on a 15 person study, and $12,500 for a 30 person study
    • Fees for optional edited video start at $5,000 for a 90-120 second highlight reel with title cards and music (B roll and motion graphics are extra)

Deliverable

15 participants each answer 10 questions using the video on their smartphone or laptop. That produces 150 x 1 minute video clips and corresponding transcripts (both Google Speech, and a parallel service that includes a human’s eyes to capture important nuances).

All delivered via a cloud-based link that is shareable, and assets that can be downloaded (videos in MP4 format) to be used to bring the insights to life for presentations, and highly engage audiences

By Tom Bassett
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Is Athleisure The New Business Casual?

Is Athleisure The New Business Casual?

In our latest mindswarms mobile video study on the topic of athleisure wear, lululemon customers whom we found in our recruit openly shared that wearing their most comfortable apparel while working from home helps them do their best work.

And they’re ready to keep it going once they return to the office. Athleisure fans told us they’re ready to make their new ensembles a permanent part of their in-office wardrobe.

The Big Question

What happened when working professionals stopped going to the office in March? They put on their most comfortable clothes and felt even more productive.

For lululemon customers specifically, working from home means their customers are wearing the brand even more often.

For many athleisure customers, lululemon apparel has become a reliable work from home companion during COVID. Those we surveyed overwhelmingly said lululemon apparel provides a dependable and enduring source of comfort, fitting perfectly and offering just the right amount of low-key style to look professional on any video call.

Whether consumers are new to the brand during the pandemic or they’ve been wearing lululemon for years, they have one thing in common: they are wearing lululemon more than they ever did before.

Many say it’s because of the freedom working from home provides in their choice of fashion.

lululemon has also become the everything apparel to consumers. Whether work from home pros are fielding Zoom calls for work, caring for a newborn, running errands at the grocery store, or squeezing in their midday workout, they say lululemon is so versatile they can’t imagine buying anything else.

The Big Story

Because consumers perceive lululemon’s design as simple and sleek, they think it’s easy to dress it and make it work while they’re, well – working.

A quick styling of their hair, a long necklace, and a loose-fitting sweater usually do the trick to get them ready for the next video call.

lululemon customers don’t see their working relationship with the brand ending when they return to the office. They want to bring their new look back to the office because they feel like it allows them to reflect their personality.

They believe that when they’re comfortable, they do their best work. And when they pair their lululemon attire with the right accessories, consumers feel they can still keep their professional edge.

How Should Brands Respond?

While consumers are figuring out how to turn lululemon apparel into an acceptable part of their work wardrobe, they may not be turning to the brand for that advice or those accessories that they feel “dresses up” the brand.

How can lululemon and other athleisure brands become a part of that dressing up?

Many stated that even though they’re wearing lululemon more, they haven’t expanded the different types of products they’re buying from the brand. And some miss the in-store experience.

Is there a missed opportunity to introduce different products and shape the way lululemon is worn while working?

Want more human truths like this for your research? mindswarms is the fastest and most user-friendly way to bring the intimate consumer voice into the conversation. Connect with us to learn more.

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By Tom Bassett
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When A Crisis Hits, The Hair Goes First

When A Crisis Hits, The Hair Goes First

In our latest mobile video study, consumers universally admitted they were letting one aspect of their personal hygiene slip: their hair.

The Big Question

Whether it’s eyebrows, beards, or that unruly ‘do, consumers universally agreed that when it comes to a slip in their personal hygiene, it’s all about letting go of their hair grooming routines.

Consumers told us that since they’re not going out much and rarely see other people, they don’t see the point in putting time into styling their hair.

But there’s an emotional conflict for many. The decision to “let their hair down” has many consumers feeling frustrated, lazy, and even ashamed.

The Big Story

What’s one of the side effects of not getting out and being social? Lots of bad hair days.

Like the movie Groundhog Day, consumers feel like their days are blurring together and don’t have any reason to follow their traditional grooming habits or hairstyling routines.

They say that all has to do with not going out in public due to COVID.

In one consumer’s words, “If nobody is going to see me, then I’m not offending anyone. But if I have to go out, I’ll definitely shower. I don’t want to be seen in public if I haven’t showered.”

But this slip of personal hygiene is not without its emotional cost. Letting their hair go is not something consumers feel good about. Instead, there’s tension. On the one hand, they don’t see a reason to stay on top of it, while on the other, they feel like they’re slacking.

As one consumer put it, “It feels like I’m fighting laziness, and it’s frustrating.”

How Should Brands Respond?

Consumers are committed to things like keeping their hair long until it’s safer to get it cut, and letting their beard grow until they go back to work.

Brands should empathize with the tension consumers are facing between their commitments and the frustrations they cause.

Brands should also look for ways to honor the commitment to safety and laziness (yep, that’s part of it) that consumers have made.

How can brands help consumers get back to their routines in ways that keep them safe or don’t take much time?

Want more human truths like this for your research? mindswarms is the fastest ahttps://blog.blog.wp.mindswarms.com/contactnd most user-friendly way to bring the intimate consumer voice into the conversation. Connect with us to learn more.

By Tom Bassett