Jonathan Marek

Observing Consumers Beats Listening to Them

February 19, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Nate Bolt, co-founder and chief executive of user research firm Bolt Peters, argues that while tech entrepreneurs are encouraged to listen to potential customers, observing is a much better tool to see whether a new product will succeed in the market. What are the merits of observation versus listening in testing new products?      [more...]

I'm not exactly sure what he means by "self-reporting bias," but I think the largest effect here is that consumers just don't know how they will really behave until they get a chance to really behave. Sure, there is some bias in people saying the answer they think the researchers want to here (the classic problem with public health researchers asking people about their risky behaviors). But I think that is secondary. Most consumers have good intentions--they want to report how they will behave, but they just don't know.

Bottom line: real-world testing is the only way to truly understand what consumers will buy and use.