If Only They Had Done Their Research....

posted by: Nick Roman on 1/29/2010

As a parent of two small girls, I am often surprised at the ingenuity of new products aimed specifically at the children’s market. Launching the next ‘must-have’ toy, eating accessory, or gadget to relieve travel boredom is certainly a challenge in an already saturated market.

I imagine the market research, focus groups, and concept testing that has gone on behind the scenes to deliver these masterpieces of design that parents never knew they needed until they bought them. (I am also slightly envious that I didn’t have the chance to test out those products, have my say in what shape or color would work best for Gizmo X, and then be able to stand at the school gates and have some small claim to the impressiveness of said Gizmo).

It makes me all the more incredulous, then, when I come across products aimed at the same market that go completely wide of the mark. Have they not had the luxury of the same clever market research as those products which have hit on exactly what parents need?

A simple example is the ‘multipack’ of anything aimed at a group of children. Most multipacks come with an assortment of four or six items, each in a different color. Now, any parent will tell you that when you get a group of children together, it’s essential that they all have THE SAME. John will want the same blue plate as Michael, and Sophie will want the same pink plate as Sally.

I may be exaggerating, but my friends and I are often heard to remark that the people who’ve designed sets of items in different colors or shapes have clearly never had children. Okay, maybe they haven’t had children, but that doesn’t stop them from being able to observe the behavior of children, the responses to their products, and tailor them accordingly.

But then, perhaps they have done their research—and observed the buying behavior of the people spending the money (the parents), rather than the end user of the product. In the adult world, variety is always more interesting than sameness. It’s only when you bring the ‘variety’ home that you realize this isn’t the case when you’re five years old. The more experienced you become as a parent, the more discerning your buying becomes when it comes to your children—and this is what affects repeat purchasing and recommendations to your peers.

And this is really the key point for the Market Research process. You can conduct the most sophisticated research in the world, but if you’re not researching the right audience, you’ve fallen at the first hurdle.

We all know that respondents are getting harder to find—but that doesn’t mean you can’t get to the right people with the right tools, allowing them to engage in the research process through whichever channel suits them best.  Whether you’re targeting children or adults, professionals or consumers, there is no excuse to miss the mark when you employ targeted research solutions to reach them.