Immersion is not new. We’ve helped stakeholders get close to their customers for years; observation, co-creation, film, ethnography have been carefully crafted to deliver a more intuitive understanding of the consumer.
But we’re now seeing a renewed vigour and commitment to getting up close and personal with consumers.
A swathe of studies that enable vast numbers of the team to engage with consumers directly, human to human.
We’re depriving consumers and stakeholders of products and letting them buddy up and explore their responses together. Who knew how emotionally wedded we all were to eating salad! This sense of shared experience adds new layers to how we understand each other.
Plus….we’ve lived it ourselves, so we’re truly in the consumers world.
We’re also helping clients to observe consumer journeys in far more granularity than ever before, delving into all stages rather than just those that are easy to access! Previously we’d have listened to accounts of product experiences but now we’re involving large portions of organisations in programmes to watch and learn how consumers actually use their products.
We have Fashion clients who have huge teams observing how consumers rate their clothing versus competitors, accessing their experiences when choosing online, when trying on, when wearing and washing at home – listening to consumer feelings and understanding how & why product rating might change through the journey.
It’s amazing to see future product optimised, crafted around these nuanced needs and built to challenge all those little frustrations that stop shoppers ordering (and keeping) clothing.
We continue to wonder…
how close to those tiny decisions can we get? Are there ways to observe, participate and understand in even more detail? And how far will consumers let us in?
We see immersion as a moving feast….we will continue to dig deeper as long as we believe there might be more to find…
And more importantly, immersion is invaluable as long as we can continue making connections between stakeholders and consumers and, as long as this connection is the catalyst for improved products and services.
Anyway, not that it matters….We’ve having a lot of fun finding out!!