

3 things marketers could (and should) learn from anthropologists

More from Mitchell Osak

Anthropologists -- who study humankind both in the past and present -- use a rigorous, non-presumptive method of doing research that could improve marketers ability to reach deep into the recesses of the human unconscious.

Many companies prioritize learning customer needs above any other marketing activity so that they can create better products and service experiences. Typically, marketers will use traditional qualitative techniques like focus groups, surveys and one-on-one interviews. Unfortunately, these tools often fail to generate breakthrough insights. Standard qualitative methods are good at telling firms what is happening but not the why it’s happening. To get to the root cause of a consumer’s actions, marketers need to explore the recesses of their mind to identify subconscious drivers of behaviour. Anthropology is a very effective way to do this.

Simply put, anthropology is the study of people and civilization, past and present. It incorporates teachings from a wide range of disciplines, from psychology and biology, to the humanities and sociology. Anthropology is increasingly being used by companies (Starbucks, Lego, Herman Miller and Nokia are pacesetters) to better understand latent consumer needs and as well as societal and religious influences on their behavior.

In action

The following example shows anthropology in practice. A firm in the spa industry engaged us to help redesign its customer experience and service offering for female patrons. The client wanted to address any unmet customer needs and better differentiate their customer experience. Conventional research techniques regularly produced muted feedback, which led to copycat store designs and products. We wanted to go deeper into the consumer’s subconscious to find unmet needs and drivers that triggers behaviour.

Freya Ingrid Morales/Bloomberg

To get there, we employed anthropology to probe fundamental beliefs and values around their body image and wellness as well cultural influences. For example, how do women define beauty?  What role does human touch play? And, how can a spa experience help satisfy a women’s intrinsic needs? Our findings upended conventional thinking and led to a revamping of how the facilities were designed and how the services and benefits were communicated, resulting in higher client retention, an enhanced brand image and increased rates of cross selling.

Conventional qualitative research techniques take people at their word. This can be risky for brands.  At their core, consumers are often irrational, driven by motives or external influences that are unseen even to themselves. Using anthropology as complementary research can produce a more holistic and penetrating view of the consumer in their real life condition. Likewise, anthropology’s rigorous, academic-driven methodology preempts the emergence of erroneous assumptions around a customers’ behaviour that could have been shaped by a firm’s culture, the bias of its managers, or increasingly, the large but imperfect data stream flowing in.

Anthropologist have a number of data-collection instruments at their disposal including artifact analysis, quotidian diaries, and observational studies. Importantly, practitioners approach their research without hypotheses, gather­ing large quantities of information in an open-ended way, with no preconceptions about what they will find. The collected data is raw, personal, and first­hand — not the incomplete or artificial version of reality that is generated by most market research tools.

Anthropology is particularly helpful in understanding the dynamic world of social media. “Companies are beginning to use anthropology to understand the stream of consciousness within social medial that flows with ‘here’s what I’m doing/thinking/wanting now,’” says Lynn Coles a leading marketer. “Anthropological research helps us better understand and inhabit the social communities to identify behavioral patterns as well as the emerging dialect within a particular community so we can better communicate with our target consumers.”

Basic approach

1. Frame the issue

Anthropology requires the marketer to frame the problem in human — not business — terms. Doing so gets to the core of how a customer experiences a service or product. For example, a business problem could be:  How can a wireless provider reduce churn? The corresponding anthropological issue would be: How do our customers experience our service, and why are they leaving?

2. Assemble the data

The raw data is codified in a form of carefully organized diaries, videos, photographs, field notes, and objects such as packages. Although this open-ended data collection casts a very wide net, it requires a disciplined and structured pro­cess that needs to be overseen by anthropologists skilled in research design and organization.

3. Find patterns, insights

The anthropologist then undertakes a careful analysis of the data to uncover themes or patterns. When organized in themes, a variety of insights will emerge about how a customer feels, their goals and what drives their actions.

Of course, traditional quantitative and qualitative research methods have their place and should remain part of a marketer’s analytical tool kit. However, anthropology will play an increasing role in uncovering the consumer’s subconscious needs as well as societal/religious behavioral drivers, areas that are largely impervious to standard qualitative techniques. Producing this holistic view will allow marketers to design more relevant products and services that deliver higher value.


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