Research Studies: People Get into Modes
Chapter 6: People Spend Most of Their Time in Modes
Dear Friends,
This is part-two of my article on buying modes and how to support them. If you haven’t read part one, go to the book outline and it will be posted there.
Research Studies: People Get Into Modes
It’s easy to imagine that in an era of artificial intelligence a strategist could move quickly to identify new modes to support. The capabilities created to target the intial modes will likely help in identifying future situations and modes. Below are some studies that my team and I conducted over the last ten years regarding modes, situations, and technology that illustrate the concepts in this article.
Study 1: digital tools encourage getting into modes
A group of non-competing companies participated in multiyear, US-based research led by my team at Stone Mantel. The focus of the first-year study was explorations in digital consumer engagement. Our team of researchers conducted ethnographic and quantitative studies with consumers and customers of the companies. During the initial rounds of ethnographic research, we observed for habits, routines, patterns, and attitudes of consumers who used mobile phones, computers, and other digital tools. In study one we observed people doing something that was neither a routine nor a consistent pattern. They would set up their digital environment to support the activity that they were involved in and change the activity they were involved in. In other words, they adapted their digital tools to the situation at hand, their particular mood, and things that interested them. One participant was a mother and part-time social media creator. A typical day for her included waking up her children, getting them ready for school, taking them to school, working or doing household errands and activities, picking up the children, and preparing dinner for the evening. We observed that while this was the routine she followed, her engagement did not align with the routine. Nor did her engagement follow a consistent pattern. Some days she would watch TV while getting the kids ready. Other days she would be on her smart phone listening to music. Some days she would shop in store for items. Other days she shopped using her phone while waiting for her kids. Like other participants in our study, her goal in these activities was to break up the monotony of the routine through engagement with more enjoyable activities.
And, while certain parts of the routine could not flex (school always got out at the same time), she could create a more dynamic and enjoyable experience for herself by surrounding herself with new apps, tools, experiences, and activities that occurred throughout the day. We learned from this study that digital tools gave consumers far more control over their daily lives and that they were using that control to get into different modes. That is, they still had to work, take care of families, eat, and sleep, but now they could maximize their time by adding in buying modes, entertainment modes, relationship building modes, and a wide variety of other mindsets and sets of behaviors whenever they wanted to.
Study 2: people can switch modes easily
Much has been written about distracted consumers and the impact that distractions have on focus, performance, and cognitive abilities. Yet, what we observed in study 1 was that people generally enjoyed themselves more because of their greater control over their routines. Routines are boring. Media, content, apps, and devices break up the boredom. We wanted to understand in this study whether or not people struggled to accomplish their daily activities while getting into different modes. Over a year’s period of time, we conducted multiple studies. In one study, participants from around the US were asked to wear Tobii glasses that tracked eye movement and recorded what the participant saw, said, and did. Each participant went about their daily routines using the glasses. We asked them to add one more activity to their routine that was new while they were in the study. For example, one woman who worked full time and had three children under 14 years of age, wore the glasses from the time she got home from work till the time when she left to take her children to evening sports/dancing activities.
She was asked to do research on a family vacation while following her typical evening routine. She was also asked to state out loud every time she switched modes. During the two-hour period, she easily prepared dinner, helped her kids with homework, talked to her husband, watched TV, and searched for a family vacation. On average she switched modes every two minutes moving from parenting mode, to chill mode, to cooking mode, to vacation search mode rapidly. At no point did she seem overly stressed about the additional activity. The dinner turned out great. She made great progress on her family vacation. And she enjoyed herself. She had maximized her time by engaging with each activity independently but in a coordinated fashion.
From this study we learned that some modes (such as flow, beast, strategy) require a high levels of concentration while other modes (such as cooking, vacation planning, and chilling) do not. These lower-concentration modes are the ones that are most easily grouped with other activities or modes. We also learned that people could identify their modes, design their modes, and that some modes were negative states.
Co-Creation Studies: How People Respond to Mode-Driven Strategies
We continued to study modes working with a broad range of consumer-facing companies. Each year we learned more about how people thought about their modes. Below are three co-creation studies that stand out.
Study 1: Fast Casual Dining Modes
In Stone Mantel’s Collaboratives program, we worked with a team from a national chain of fast casual dining restaurants and their customers. The purpose of the research was to identify new ways to improve engagement, customize the experience, and drive more dining purchases.
Through field research, surveys, and small group session, we identified a variety of different modes that fast casual dining customers find themselves in. The team then developed a concept for testing with customers. The concept allowed customers to customize based on preferences (favorite choice of beverage and menu items) and based on mode—from solo dining to family dining.
In co-creation sessions, customer participants were asked to help improve the concept. Then, we surveyed US customers with a range of attitudes regarding sharing contextual data with companies. People’s attitudes were designated as one of four types: high comfort (very willing to share contextual data), comfort (willing to share) reluctant (not excited to share data) and no comforts (not willing to share any data).
As can be seen in the above table, there was a correlation between willingness to share data and interest in the concept. Willingness to share data is essential to customization. If the customer will not share data about themselves and their situation, the company cannot customize the offering.
Our analysis led to the following insights:
· The more willing people are to share data with a company the more value they see in customization based on both preferences and modes (which provided context).
· Concepts with modes-based customization felt more ‘anticipatory’ of what the customer actually wanted.
· People who are high comfort or comfort data sharers (the majority of the US population) value buying experiences that are designed based on modes.
· People who do not share data (only 10 percent of US populations) do not value modes-based customization. They also say they do not get into many modes.
Co-Creation Study 2: Retailer Support for Home-Life Balance
In Stone Mantel’s Collaboratives program, we worked with a team from a US-based retailing group. The purpose of the research was to determine whether there was a role for a retailer to play in strengthening positive family dynamics using intelligent tools. If retailers begin to customize buying experiences to modes related to home, health, and relationships, will the result improve life for families? Will people accept positive support from retailers?
During our study, we identified the most important modes for family dynamics and home-life balance. Then, working with the retailing team, we developed scenarios for consumers to review and respond to.
When asked how important spending time in modes that strengthen home, relationships, and health was, 69 percent of the retailers’ consumers felt it was either extremely important or very important (top two boxes). Modes matter to family dynamics. When we dug deeper we found that people who consider themselves successful with technology and people who value their wellbeing were the most likely to want to spend more time in modes, especially modes that strengthen home, relationships, and health. Clearly, these people value their ability to get into modes and want solutions that support those modes. They are also much more likely to frequent stores that support their home, family, and health modes.
Additional insights gathered from this study:
People see a role for AI to play in helping them to switch to more positive modes.
Retailers can play a welcome role in peoples’ at-home situations, especially for people who value technology and their wellbeing.
People understand and can provide important insights about their lives using the four quadrants of the mode map based on high/low performance, positive/negative state.
By implication, people would value solutions that help them move from negative buying modes (reflexive, symptomatic) to positive buying modes (smart, recreational).
Co-Creation Study 3: Home builder buying journey redesign
In Stone Mantel’s Collaboratives program and through additional specific research, we worked with a team from a US-based home-building group. The purpose of the research was to create a buying journey that focused on the customer’s situation and modes. By doing so, the home builder hoped to provide greater support and a more customized experience for buyers of a very complex offering: a newly built home.
During our research with the home builder, we identified a range of new-to-the-company modes that their customers get into when buying. We also identified modes that people don’t get into but could and would, given the right support. The company focused on eliminating time spent in negative buying or negative decision-making modes and increasing support for positive modes. Additionally, the team identified key metric questions that would help the company determine whether or not the experience felt like time well spent or time well invested.
One example of how modes thinking improved the buying journey was in addressing people’s feelings about being overwhelmed. The traditional way of thinking about people being overwhelmed by the purchase process was to focus on eliminating pain points, creating clarity, and reducing options. Instead, the team focused on being overwhelmed as a mode. Then looked at ways to get people to spend more time in modes that helped them centralize or organize their thoughts. One new mode that was added to the journey was ‘reflection mode’ which their concept encouraged customers to do. The benefits of getting into ‘reflection mode’ went beyond improving the buying journey. Participants said that the experience left them feeling more balanced and in control of other aspects of their lives.
New features were concepted that encouraged positive decision-making. These features were tested with customers and strengthened the buying journey across multiple key metrics, as seen here:
Additional insights:
Modes thinking in design does not mean you have to use the term ‘mode’ in your solution.
In complex purchases, like home buying, customers progress through phases of decision-making that generally seems linear, their lived experience is quite non-linear. People will get into researching mode throughout the entire buying journey. They experience highs and lows and they forget things. All of which leads to them to jumping back and forth between decisions made and decisions yet to be made.
A focus on modes is a better way to anticipate what the customer will need than a focus on linear journey moments.
Conclusion
It is time for your company to build purchase experiences with modes and situations. That people get into buying modes is irrefutable. They say they do. All the time. And we’ve observed them doing so. Mode mapping is not another element to add to already burdened purchase journeys. It does not sit next to pain points on a large multi-phased decision-making map. Instead, it’s a way of thinking like a customer. “I’m in this mode. I’m in this situation. What is the best way to maximize my time value.” That’s meaningful. That’s the type of work that experience strategists need to be doing.
By focusing on things other than modes (like preferences, habits, pain points, and moments), companies are limiting themselves to table-stakes customizations. They are missing an important opportunity to support people where they need it, when they need it.
The mode map is the new tool for helping companies to think strategically about how to support buying. It leads to very targeted customization of the buying experience. It helps the company understand why people stop and restart the purchase process. And, it fits with the future of technology. People get into modes. Smart tools are capable of supporting modes. Start mapping customer modes now and you will reap the benefits for years to come.
To be continue …