Consumer Insight and the Tower of Babel

You are what you feel.
What you feel is mostly very difficult to put into words.


In the Food Industry especially, it is vitally important to understand consumer perception, interpretation and action.

Where does it begin?

Some people say is all about communication – verbal and non-verbal -- but it is only the reaction to words that can be measured – and without measurements / results, there can be no sensible data analysis or data mining….no research….no insight….

Well, this is easy!
We all use words to communicate.
You just have to listen to what people say – right?
Not really.
This can only be true of we all had the same understanding of the meaning and implication of each word…..

Let’s look at some of the words in the English language used to describe food characteristics. Perhaps this will prove that words are more than sounds.
Just to make things fun, remember that in some instances the same word may also be used to describe different sensory perceptions which would change the meaning of the word.
For example: “Creamy” texture may imply “smooth, rich or luxurious”, but “creamy” color may imply “slightly yellow-white, thick, smooth, milky appearance” !


Appearance characteristics:
This is judged by looking, spooning, pouring, cutting etc. and includes
Color,
Surface characteristics, and
Internal / Interior characteristics
and is judged by only by sight:

Color descriptors:
name or hue (e.g. white, blue, pink, “sunshine yellow” etc.),
intensity (e.g. low or high – “sparkling blue” vs. “matt blue”),
bright, dull, creamy, milky, even, smooth, intense, psychedelic, fruit (e.g. “strawberry red”), ice-cream, flat, full, appealing, unappealing, uniform, uneven, spotted, multicolored, rich, happy, sad, friendly, warm, cold, healthy, sunny, strange, weird, old-fashioned, traditional, browned, pale …

Surface characteristics:
wrinkled, smooth, glossy, shiny, even, uneven, wet, moist, watery, dry, hard, tough, soft, creamy, coarse, gritty, volume (high, low), full, flat, shapes, oily, sticky, weepy, crystalline, veined, moldy, puffed, soggy, beaded, speckled, cracked, humped, peaked, shiny, dull, fluffy, baked, droplets, spotted, foamy, marbled, oily …

Internal / Interior characteristics:
foamy, smooth, crumbly, wispy, airy, whipped, flat, smooth, even, rich, volume, thick, thin, brittle, lumpy, grainy, gritty, clammy, sticky, dry, coarse, oily, creamy, crystalline, veined, marbled, puffed, speckled, layered, granular, fluffy, uncooked, color, fine, openings, cracks, tears, …

Flavor characteristics:

Smell / Odor:
This is judged by smelling the product, the fingers, the container, etc at specific temperatures and is judged only by sniffing (whiffing):


Herb and spice names (e.g. ginger, etc.), fruit names (e.g. orange etc), plant names (e.g. cactus, etc), vegetable names (e.g. raw potato, etc)
With or without additional descriptors such as –
fresh, moldy, unclean, clean, crisp, fruity, chemical, yeasty, baked, fried, alcohol, volatile, intense, weak, delicate, irritating, relaxing, warm, unfriendly, smelly, bold, natural, feed, acidic, caramel, mushroom, old, mature, sharp, distinct, vanilla, , ‘chocolaty’, creamy, onion, garlic, earthy, grassy, , full, diluted, clear, tantalizing, curry, ‘barny’, pungent, musk-like, floral, peppermint, spearmint, ethereal, putrid, synthetic, milky, organic, soothing ….

Aroma / Flavor:
This is obtained by smelling and tasting the product during consumption and is judged by the nose and taste buds in the mouth. Consumers swallow products on evaluation and Trained tasters usually expectorate the product, except when bitterness and aftertaste is an important characteristic (then the product should be swallowed):


The sensation is noted when the product is brought to the mouth, placed in the mouth and chewed (not swallowed) and is a combination of the Basic tastes (Sweet, Sour, Acidic, Salty) and Odor descriptors such as:
Plant names (e.g. blue gum tree, lemon verbena, etc), herb names (e.g. coriander, etc), spices (e.g. cinnamon, etc) --
Used in isolation or combined with descriptors such as:
fresh, old, delicate, harsh, burning, tangy, tasty, meaty, smoked, burnt, cooked, fried, oily, sweetener, full, rich, creamy, tingling, musty, moldy, earthy, chemical, metallic, distinct, sherbet, cupboard, buttery, cheesy, fruity, yeasty, fermented, mild, pungent, fishy, medicine, meaty, bean-like, tart, soapy, coffee, bran, stale, egg, sulfuric, woody, pine, fresh, natural, multiple, changing, intense, synthetic, flavorful, flavor-burst, explosive, shocking, tantalizing, tangy….

Taste:
This is obtained by tasting the product during chewing, before swallowing and is judged by the taste buds in the mouth.
Only four tastes can be identified, namely Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter with a possible fifth called Umami.
Everything else would be ‘Odors’, not tastes.



Texture characteristics:


This is determined by handling the product (molding, pressing, cutting, spooning, pouring etc.), biting, chewing, feeling in the mouth when chewing, sound in the mouth when biting and chewing.

Handling:
Hard, soft, smooth, grainy, sandy, pliable, brittle, flaky, creamy, thin, thick, viscous, “syrupy”, rubbery, plastic, foamy, “spreadable”, “pourable”, sticky, clinging, stringy, lumpy, cohesive, firm, clean-cutting, “gooey”, full, flat, clean, puffed, elastic, slimy, extendable, stretch, coarse, ropy, fine, uneven, uniform, free-flowing, caking, shearing, porous ….

Mouthfeel:
Evaluated when chewing


Crisp, smooth, tender, tough, brittle, crumbly, creamy, buttery, fatty, clinging, sugary, gritty, grainy, mealy, rubbery, soft, hard, moist, wet, tingling, light, pasty, viscous, slick, syrupy, burning, drying, tantalizing, clean, distinct, melting, watery, milky, rough, sandy, lumpy, coalescing, cohesion, waxy, clinging, gelling, chewy, astringent, puckering, irritating, starchy, oily, melting, foamy, powdery, coarse, curdled, crunchy, thirst-quenching, rich, luxurious, sticky, crystalline, chilling, warming, soggy, cooling, silky, tart, liquefying, aerated, wispy, delicate, floury, “gooey”, coarse, absorbing, gummy, velvety, granular, particles, carbonated, itchy, soothing, particulate, squeaky, slimy …

Sound:
Evaluated when biting or chewing versus kneading the product close to the ear:

Wheezing, cracking, crisp, loud, soft, noisy, silky, slurp, crunchy, slick, high, low, distinctive (similar to / ‘like”….) ….



Aftertaste or –feeling:


This is evaluated after swallowing or expectoration


Metallic, sweet, bitter, salty, acidic, chemical, burning, grainy, residue (described as graining etc), sticky, lumpy, intensifying, unnatural, bad, terrible, surprising, fascinating, unexpected, distinct, cleansing, refreshing …..



Will consumers describe products in this manner?
It is unlikely.
That is why it is so important to obtain information from consumers using the correct techniques if more than the usual “pleasant”, “unpleasant”, “acceptable” or “unacceptable”, is to be measured – and it can be obtained using the correct tools with excellent and surprising results!

It is very easy to identify words that describe food products from the view of an expert or trained taster.
It is a completely different story to understand the everyday manner in which consumers are comfortable to tell you what they experience.
Unfortunately it takes training and experience to mine the minds of consumers.
Without this knowledge and insight there will always be an apparent unfathomable chasm between what companies and markers think and deliver – and what consumers experience and desire with regards to each product, each experience, each product range, each product category, each company and its competitors.

Can success be achieved?
Most definitely…….

CMB
http://www.ewklibrary.com

Sensations, Senses and Insight

When we describe any object, we use words to try to describe what we perceive, experience, associate or remember. Often many words are linked together to describe complex perceptions.

In the case of food products, these descriptions become even more complicated, necessitating the differentiation of sensations into groups such as (for example) appearance, odor, texture (visual, when handling as opposed to in the mouth), taste, aftertaste and the feeling in the mouth after swallowing. In isolation, the words have limited meaning, but grouped together they project an holistic impression of a product. When the impressions of a group of people are combined and the data mined effectively, it becomes possible to describe the “aura” of a product or the feelings that it may evoke, from a consumer perspective.

Many of the descriptors or words used by consumers to describe a product, are language bound. It is sometimes very difficult or even impossible to translate descriptive terms directly from English, French, Spanish and so on, with a single word in Afrikaans, Zulu, Hindi, Xhosa – and vice versa. The language aspect can cause some difficulty in the work conducted for multi national corporations, and have also been a headache for many controlling bodies that address validity in Sensory Science and Market Research.
Is it impossible to overcome?
No.
It does however require much insight into research methodology, internal and external validity of questionnaires and insight into consumer interpretation and their use of words and ‘slang’. Standard translations that have been validated by international bodies do however exist to address mainstream translations. When it comes to research in FMCG products – especially food products, a word is clearly not just ‘a word’.

Why this is important? After all – blue is blue – or is it?
Only if my light blue is the same as your light blue -- not to mention midnight blue, dark blue, navy......
Ever heard of the Tower of Babel?
Insight into consumer experience start with understanding each word in its exact connotation as used at a specific point in time. It is the way to change Sensations into Insight.


CMB
http://www.ewklibrary.com