Application Of Deep Consumer Insights Approach In The Healthcare Market
Summary of the article.
Quick shifts of preferences due to actively changing consumer environment, the abundance and availability of information in the online space, leads to the need of engaging in direct dialogue with consumers on a deeper level. Now there occurs a need to find an answer to the question "why, " which often lies at the unconscious level of the consumer’s mind. Design-driven innovation is based on a deep understanding of consumer values and emotional drivers. With the advent of a new approach to the analysis of consumer behavior, the essence of the consumer himself is changing – he now becomes a co-designer, his role is transformed from passive to active. From now on companies are aiming at building an interactive dialogue with its consumer to gain more profound insights.
Deep consumer insights (DCI) approach, as opposed to traditional market research (TMR), allows to analyze the customer by using less quantitative but rather more sophisticated qualitative techniques, which do not limit the respondent in his reasoning, response time and answer format and thus allow to reach deeper layers of consumer emotional perception and indirect influences that are not obvious and cannot be predetermined. A shift from TMR to DCI implies a switch from reinforcing the findings and giving solutions towards the development of new opportunities, propositions, and innovative ideas. Under the DCI approach, there are developed individual designs and personalized scenarios, discussed not only current product usage experience but also the experience before and after. Afterward, there is explored the relevance of the design features towards the target audience.
Critical reflection
I mainly agree with most of the notions presented in the article. Based on modern developments around the topic I can observe that the trend towards switching from TMR to DCI is becoming more and more distinct. However, it’s crucial to mention that there is no switch from quantitative methods of research towards qualitative. Here, as I see it, the topic is more around transformation and the active development of qualitative research methods and yet not diminishing the importance and richness of quantitative approaches. So, the shift towards the DCI method is observed through the higher usage of available techniques for such kind of research. For example, having worked as a market researcher in the healthcare market, I can admit that the DCI methods in that field nowadays represent quite a broad spectrum. Thus, among patients’ audience, currently are largely spread home visits (ethnography), simple observations, individual online blogs, patient’s journeys case studies or storytelling, as well as patient’s diaries. DCI methods appear to be highly relevant to the healthcare market.
In particular, it may be crucial to define the various aspects of the patient’s experience of the disease, to seizure even slight variations within those experiences not only from the patients’ perspective but also patients’ relatives or investigate the importance of the treatment or disease experiences within patients’ everyday lives and impact on their life quality. “A patient with poor adherence to his diabetic regimen may face many day-to-day challenges that are not well understood by his physician, but that are more relevant to him than the physician’s imperative of achieving an ideal hemoglobin A1c level. ” Also, based on my experience, sensitive audiences and topics such as patients with rear or publicly judged health issues are better to analyze utilizing qualitative research using DCI approach. For example, netnography was proved to be used for exploring and analyzing such sensitive research topics as cosmetic surgery when women would prefer to disclose their deep fears, inner doubts in online space.
Furthermore, the appearance of new research techniques in recent years aimed at analyzing the consumer at a subconscious level only proves the need and importance of DCI approaches. The significance of the DCI is visible and the implementation of such market research method as neuromarketing in last years (a relevantly new technique using eye-tracker equipment, EEG, polygraph, fMRI aimed at getting deep emotional insights) only supports the article discussion. Neuromarketing provides valuable insights when it comes to product design and innovation, customer decision making, advertising or online experience. Memory, emotion, and attention are only some of the aspects to be analyzed with the help of neuromarketing technologies that can eventually lead to deeper consumer insights.
The trend towards implementing neuroscience and gaining the most profound subconscious insights is seen in mainstream market research giants. Thus, the Nielsen Corporation acquired Neurofocus, one of the first neuromarketing companies, in 2011, followed by Innerscope Research in 2015. Also, at the beginning of this year, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and neuroscience technology company NeuroTrend launched a neuromarketing consumer insights lab to provide deeper level consumer insights for advertisers regarding a deeper understanding of content consumption patterns of the users as well as what impact the context could have on ad effectiveness. Moreover, four further neuromarketing launches are to follow in the coming year within big Southeast Asian companies.
Application in my future career
One of the fields towards which I would most probably like to further pursue my career is market research in the healthcare sphere. There are two big main target audiences in healthcare market research – these are patients and doctors. When working with each of the groups I’ve learned that it is crucial to implement techniques aimed at obtaining respondents’ subconscious triggers and emotional drivers or barriers. With regards to the patient audience, the variety of sensitive topics which need to be investigated is vast. For example, there is a lot of research carried out to analyze a patient’s journey, emotions, lifestyle, and treatment experience among people with allergy, diabetes, hypogonadism or hemophilia to name just a few.
To build communication strategy for such patients is especially difficult since every key message or piece of information should be extremely cautious, relevant and highly ethical to earn the trust and understanding of a doctor and a patient. From the perspective of my professional background and experience that is the exact case where Deep consumer insight approach and implementation of sophisticated qualitative techniques is of high importance. These techniques are especially significant when it comes to investigating real patient’s compliance towards treatment, their diet habits (which may resonate with “socially expected answers” presented in focus-groups or big surveys), preferences of one medical product over another.
All these techniques would allow me as a researcher to get a real, spontaneous and, most importantly, an honest insight which, from my point of view, is the highest reward marketing research can give.
