Are You Doing Research, or Just Looking for Confirmation?

One of the easiest traps in marketing is deciding what we think the answer is, then going looking for research to prove us right. It happens all the time. A new product idea gets everyone excited, a campaign concept gets senior approval, or a customer journey is redesigned because internally it feels cleaner and more logical.

The problem is that customers do not see the internal logic.

They do not care that your new system brings three databases together, makes reporting easier or gives the organisation one neat front door. They care whether they can find what they need, understand what to do next and complete the task without frustration.

That is where research becomes useful, but only if we are prepared for it to tell us something we do not want to hear.

Good research should not be designed to validate an idea. It should be designed to challenge it. Instead of asking, “Would you use this new app?”, ask how people currently solve the problem, what frustrates them, what they value, what alternatives they use and what would genuinely make them change their behaviour.

The wording matters too. If I show somebody a polished prototype, explain all the benefits and then ask whether they like it, I have already influenced the answer. People are also generally polite. They may tell you an idea sounds great because that is easier than explaining why they would never actually use it.

That does not mean creativity, instinct or experience should disappear from marketing. Some of the best ideas probably begin with somebody saying, “I think this could work.” There is nothing wrong with building a prototype, testing a concept or pursuing an idea you strongly believe in.

The mistake is treating that belief as evidence.

A better process is to have the idea, build enough of it to make it understandable, test it with the people who might actually use it, learn what you got wrong and improve it. Then repeat.

Research is not there to kill good ideas. It is there to stop us becoming so attached to our own ideas that we stop seeing them from the customer’s point of view.

And sometimes the most valuable piece of research is the answer you were hoping not to get.