The more we learn about the mind - how we think, learn and make decisions - the more we realize how central emotions are to even the most fact-based decisions.
That realization poses a great challenge to marketing research. Qualitative research has always acknowledged the complexities of consumer decision-making. But for many good reasons, quantitative research has dominated: the tremendous power of today's vast data resources and sophisticated modeling, the greater ease and face validity of measuring considered reactions to tangible attributes, and the business need for quantified answers and predictions.
The advantages of combining quantitative and qualitative approaches are now widely recognized, but most research products remain almost wholly one or the other. The challenge of integrating these very different approaches typically falls to the client-side researcher. That may work well for many business issues, but it doesn't work well for new product forecasting.
Forecasting is an integrative task. The most accurate forecast is a summary statistic, all our learnings about a new product combined according to relative importance. An overly quantitative model will miss the impact of an especially good (or bad) emotional connection with consumers. Forecasters provide a number, but to get that number right, they need to be informed by both quantitative and qualitative consumer understanding.
Combining in-depth interviews with large-base quant studies allows us to deliver both depth and breadth. Our Emotional Valence measure allows us to quantify and provide perspective on the relationship the brand forges with its consumers. What is that connection, and how does it compare to the connections forged by the most emotionally intelligent brands in the category?
Measuring emotion is unquestionably more difficult. Claro believes technology can help (the candor made possible by online interviewing, the creative stimuli and response options
possible with todays interviewing software, etc.). That technology, combined with creative designs, open minds and on-going experimentation, gives us more insight now and a dynamic, improving system.