The Hindu Business Line : What do you really know about your consumer?

It is fashionable for marketing professionals to speak of “a billion minds” which constitute the Indian Consumer. Who or what is she? After all, we must never forget that this is an aggregate or average entity (like the average depth of t he river) that may or may not be of practical value. Second, it is we who have created her, in our mind. Third, all theories about any consumer, Indian or American, are merely strong working hypotheses. They are simply currently useful generalisations; most important of all, they can never be considered as rigid and infallible as the “laws” we were taught in high school Physics. Unfortunately, textbooks of marketing do not mention this caveat or highlight it. Perhaps this omission is understandable, as we should lose our sense of importance otherwise!

Managers nurture a fond notion, also derived from our familiarity with the more exact sciences, that one ought to be able to direct and manage the marketing outcomes. We must be able to measure, predict, plan, and make them happen. Otherwise we don’t qualify as professionals. Even deeper is the belief that therefore we must find out the exact location, scale and scope of the consumer market. It ought to be expressible in terms of dollars, and we should then be able to pick segments of it that we consider profitable to address. The fact is, this sequence is mythical. No manager has the power, the ability or the knowledge to measure and tweak everything he does. He cannot make the consumer dance to his tunes, despite what the media and the socialist critics of mass marketing and of brands have implied about the power of advertising. The average manager finds it difficult to admit this error. Yet, one should at least be aware of this control trap. We do nonetheless need some in-depth knowledge about the consumer starting with who she is. Is there a real Indian consumer or is it a set of stereotypes? Conventional wisdom in market research favours the view that there are distinct types which we need to isolate and label according to some parameter. This has generally led to an analytical partitioning of a product’s target consumer group, either according to their social class, education, income or some form of psychological typing; for instance, the pleasure seekers, the value seekers, the novelty seekers, the bargain hunters or whatever.

Essentially, this is a method of division; it hinges mainly on finding the most appropriate basis for dividing up the mass of customers. It then sorts them into smaller and more manageable groups. You will notice how similar it is to the atomistic methods of physical sciences that we referred to earlier. Yet, how useful is it to have such a structural knowledge of the market? How do we move from there to a strategic phase of brand building, if it is not supported by an understanding of the behavioural processes that the consumer (or customer) undergoes in coming to the purchase, use and post-purchase follow up relating to any category?

In the ultimate analysis, the profession of marketing seems to be agreed on one basic desirable goal, namely, that of creating a lasting or at least strong preference amongst selected consumers, and moving them to some action. Of course, to think of marketing as the task of finding them and doing something to them is the height of managerial attitude and corporate arrogance, and yet another mental trap. It is by no means enough to impinge upon the perceptions of the consumer through powerful persuasion and hi-tech communication. Participating with them in a co-evolution of the product — to use the more current thinking on the subject — there is a need to bridge the current chasm, or disconnect, that exists between management understanding or mental models and consequent actions.

Appropriate mental models essential

My recent thinking and research suggests that such a mental picture, however rough, is a necessary first step for any marketer. In the absence of a working hypothesis or theory, however tentative and subject to modification, it is difficult for him to justify the steadily growing marketing spending year after year. Nor is it possible to bring anything like the degree of precision and accuracy we are used to in other functions into the marketing discipline. So this step is essential at least from a productivity point of view. Until we have a working model of how the advertising and promotional efforts work on the consumer in our particular category and how it contributes to her making the choice in favour of our brand, much of our marketing expenditure would be an act of faith rather than a rational act.

How do we acquire a more fundamental understanding of why the pie (or pyramid or any other) is shaped the way it is – in other words “why do consumers in the category behave the way they do?” What is their stance or mental attitude towards the category itself? What motivations, expectations and behaviours are seen in particular with respect to the category (soap, cars, diapers, chocolates or razor blades) by the relevant sub-groups? Here the emphasis on building numbers is very little. My suggestions regarding a proposed method follow. Whenever you are in a heated debate about marketing strategies, or promotional plans to boost sales or launch a new product, or reposition an old one, please remember this – and step back deliberately and ask yourself what the hidden or implicit theory of the market is driving the debate. What evidence do we have that it is the right one? Even if it is the traditional one that everyone has used in the industry, how can we know that it is still relevant? In a dynamic economy (never forgetting that half the population is under 21 years of age and the new entrants come annually in hordes) how can we afford not to re-check our biases through fresh observation?

Once the appropriate sub-group for study, say, the affluent urban school leavers or cash-crop farmers or whoever, is taken up, all quantitative study is abandoned. The focus then shifts entirely to what actually happens at the point of action. How does the 18-20-year-old choose his music, his café, his two-wheeler, and his brand of soft drink or readymade clothes? Where does his initial thrust towards the purchase come from? Who matters most to him as a source of information? Who are his reference groups? How does he test the product? How much does a brand matter in this category to him?

Place occupied by need or habit in life space

What one wishes to decode and understand in all this is: what space or role the category occupies in the life of the average person in the chosen group. This could apply just as well to the so-called industrial products or ‘rationally” bought purchases. The criticality of the value is a common issue across all situations, and applies, with necessary changes, to services just as well. On this depends the degree of importance that he or she would place on the product, the involvement in the decision as well as the seriousness and deliberateness brought into deciding what and when to buy. For example, clearly the decision to buy a ticket and take off on a holiday to the seaside would seem equally attractive to most stressed-out executives but the degree to which it would cause agonising over costs and budgets varies a great deal depending on whether you pay for the ticket yourself or someone else writes the cheque.

The efforts spent in developing a mental picture, full of rich detail, are very worthwhile for any marketer and it remains a rather neglected area of strategic thinking.

S. Ramachander is a management consultant. This article is based on his recent book Manager at Work, published by Penguin-Portfolio.