Say

Speaking to people uncovers the motivations behind their actions.

While observation shows what someone bought, talking to them uncovers what they’d planned to buy. Or why they chose one product over another. Or whether they noticed your offers or promotions.

It’s about revealing the rationale behind their decision-making process. Let’s say everyone coming into a store stops to look at the same two products. They consistently pick up the same one, and then take it to the checkout. You can watch and watch, but you won’t get to the heart of it until you ask the right questions.

So as well as the pre-set questions, we’ll think on our feet. If we spot something interesting as people move round the shop, we’ll adapt what we ask to follow it up and capture the data.

Couple it with watching what they do and you start to understand how people think when they’re buying – and that’s when you get the most powerful insights.