The joy of neuroscience

Orlando, Florida -- There have been some ambitious presentations at Home Improvement Research Institute conferences in the past, but few have plunged the depths of the art and science of human decision making like Michelle Adams' dive into neuroscience.

Her presentation, titled "Lie to me: Do consumers know what they are really thinking?" referenced popular cultural (the TV series "Lie to Me," and the lie-detector scene from "Meet the Fockers") as it pointed to major research challenges.

For instance, how do you account for irrational consumer behavior, or cases where consumers say one thing but do something else.

What's a modern researcher to do? One emerging science addressing the challenge involves the analysis of verbal intonation and goes by the name of "emotions analytics." The idea is: it's not what you say, but how you say it. 

But what about focus groups? It's time to reassess them. "We are leading the witness with focus groups," she said. "The people in them think that there are folks behind the window who they are trying to please. We are in a space where we are going to have to get information in new ways."

Further proof of the need for change are statistics that show the majority of new products do not succeed in the marketplace, she said.

As deep as her topic sounded, it ended with some simple takeaways for home improvement marketers. "Keep it simple. solve her problems and don't bore her,"

"When a shopper experiences your product, what are the three words you want them to associate with," Adams said. "In the complexity of our business world, we have lost that clarity of thinking."