In market research, the ‘laddering’ interview is often employed to find out consumers’ basic desires, and how they can be connected to a brand or campaign. It’s usually a one-on-one interview where the interviewer gets the respondent to keep answering a series of ‘why’ questions, to get them really freaked out. And also to get a comprehensive idea of their opinions; that’s important too. In my opinion, laddering is essential and often overlooked, and works a lot better than most focus group situations. Here’s what a typical scenario from a focus group sounds like:
Interviewer: “So, tell me, John...what makes you choose to wear ‘Parfum des plaisanteries’, the new fragrance from Craig Sherling?”
John: “Umm, well…it’s got a very musky smell, but it still smells fresh. Emm…I feel, like, quite free when I wear it…you know, like, I can talk, dance, and move around without any constraint.”
Now, let’s take what John has just said about this amazing new fragrance and translate it to how it may eventually become exposed in a laddering interview.
John: “I believe that my chances of getting laid will increase by wearing this fragrance”.
Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, John. It’s good to get the basic truth out. But does the laddering technique of simply asking ‘why’ questions always lead to an acceptable answer like this golden nugget? There’s a hell of a lot of (helluvalotta) potential for laddering to find out hidden information; you just have to focus on using your words carefully to find out more and more fundamental levels of psychological needs. For example, here’s a model of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) that was primarily created for therapists to uncover psychological stress among patients, but can easily be applied to laddering. At first it looks quite complicated, but the main aspect of it is to expand on everything the patient says, in order to help specify the source of any negative thoughts.
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| Don't worry if you don't understand the finer details of the diagram. John didn't either. |
A lot of consumers have a certain bias to give ‘generic’ answers to market researchers, but the right questions and direction of conversation can eventually expose these answers to unveil a more accurate truth of where they're coming from. Langauge is both a barrier and a facilitator to discovering new information. How adorable.
In all seriousness though, going the extra mile to really, really find out what consumers want from a brand, product, or service is good for marketing in general. Brands get a greater sense of direction and adopt better strategies, while consumers enjoy products and services that are more finely tuned to their wants and needs. Plus, laddering shouldn’t just be limited to any certain topic or technique. As well as asking about brand values, you might ask consumers how they feel about past events in history, political views, or even about media placements. We desperately need consumers to clearly and comprehensively express their fundamental views on how web banner advertising is about as appealing as a piece of rotten cheese. The main difference between the two is that the cheese could actually get a mouse to hover over it. And, on the note of that cheap joke, I’m going to stop writing this post…and start reading your mind. Be afraid! (Love you).
