80 CHAPTER 4 UNDERSTANDINGBUYERBEHAVIOR
advertising,personalselling,andpublicrelationsisan obvio us startingpoint.Produc' sam-
pling, coupons,andrebatesmayalsoprovideanextra incentivetobuy.
Actuallydetermininghowa consumer goesthroughthedecision-makingprocessi:;
a difficultresearchtask. AsindicatedintheNewslinebox, there arenew researchmethods
tobetterassessthis behavior.
NEWSLINE:FOLWWTHECONSUMERANDSEE
-vVHATHAPPENS
Itseemsthattraditionalmarket researchnolongerworkswithan
increasinglydiverseandficklecustomerb ase.Them ethodsmarketers
h avereliedonfordecades-perfunctorywrittenandphonesurveys-
merelyskimthesurfaceoftheshiftingcustomerprofile.SaysLarry
Keeley,presidentoftheDoblinGroup.aChicago-baseddesignand
consultingfirm:"Th esurveysarenothingmoretha ntrackingstudies
designedtomeasureif customersarea littlemoreora littleless
pleasedwithyouthantheywerelast year."
Surelytheremustbeabetterway.Wiseheadsinthearcaneworld
ofcustomerresearchareontosomething calledstorytelli ng.These
folksadvocatefarmoreprobingresearchthaneverbefore,advising
companiestoelicitreal-lifestoriesfromc ustomersabou thowthey
behaveandwhatth eytruly feel.Thenotionmayseemlikea leapinto
theunknown.butsomecompanieshavediscover edthattheses tory-
tellingmethodswork.Greatserviceand.u ltimately.breakthrough
productshaveresulted.Kimberly-Clarkbuilta n ew$500-million dia-
permarketusingin-dept hcustomerr esearch.AtIntuit.s torytelling
customershelpeditssoftwarewritersr evolutionizethewaypeopleall
overtheU.S.handletheirmoney. ClothingmakerPatagonia. solicit-
ingtruetalesabouthowcustomersliveand usetheirgear.manages
tokeepitsprodvctaheadofthecurve.
Attheh eartofthisnewb rand ofcustomerresearch is asearchfor
subtleinsightintohumanbehavior-notonlyemotion-ladenanec-
dotes.butalsounspoken impu lses.Justthink, forexample,ofthe
lasttimeyoumade eyecontactwithanattractives tr anger.Awhole
rangeoffeelingswashedoveryou.andatthatmomentitwouldbe
hardtoarguewiththenotionthatatleast80%of allhumancommu-
nicationisnonverbal.
AtPatagonia,anoutdoor-sportsapparel companyinVentura.Cali-
fornia.customers t orytellerssurfa tthe"Point"rightoutsidethefront
doorofheadquarters. FounderYoonChouinard.whospendsatleast
sixmonthsayearattheendsoftheearthtestinghiscompany'sgear
himself.hasmadeapointof hiringseveralofthesecustomerssothey
couldsharetheirwarstoriesin-house. Her eferstothemaffection-
atelyashis"dirtbags."peoplewhospendsomuchtimeoutsidethatit
showsundertheirfingernails.
Patagonianscollectsuchwarstoriesfromfar-flungcustomersas
wellandusethemasamarketingtool.Manyoftheir waresaresold
throughabiennialcataloguethatisuniqueamongitspeers.Instead
ofspending millionstoshootglossyspreads ofunthinkablybeautiful
models, thecompanyreliesonits customerstoposewhilewearing
Patagoniad udsinexoticlocales.Thispictorialroadmapofcustomer
adventl'resmakesforgreatreading.butithasanotherroleaswell.
