Voice of the Consumer

VOICE OF THE CONSUMER

Voice of the consumer is a market research technique used by companies to understand a customer’s expectations, preferences and dislikes. It produces a detailed set of consumer’s wants and needs and helps identify areas where those needs are not being catered to. Voice of Consumer studies consists of both quantitative and qualitative aspects. It is generally conducted by companies when they want to come up with a new product or want to improve the existing one. The information is gathered by various ways like conducting surveys, focus group, individual interviews etc.

A very important part of the consumer voice process is consumer insight. There exist a myriad of definitions of consumer insights. It might be Cadbury’s definition: “Getting to the heart of why people do what they do and use that to grow” or Reckitt’s definition :” A new creative opportunity derived from the heart of the consumer”, but in its essence a consumer insight is just “A discovery that “keeps the consumer at the center of the decision making process.”

Consumer insights can be explained by a simple model:

Expectation: A consumer’s attitudes and beliefs

Experience: A consumer’s usage and behaviour

Insight = Expectation – Experience

Example:

Expectation: The deodorant that I use would make me smell good for the entire day.

Experience: The deodorant is effective for only 4 hours.

Insight: The customer wants a deodorant that provides 24 hour protection.

Result: This is why Nivea came up with its “24 hour protection” product range

A Consumer Insight is either an ‘unsatisfied need’ or a ‘new opportunity’ that marketers identify through voice of the consumer programs.

Examples of consumer insights being converted into product/service generation or improvement exist all around us. A very prominent example can be Nestle Maggie’s Atta Noodles where they worked on the consumer insight of giving the consumer a snack that is delicious, healthy and easy to make. In...