EVERYBODY LIES!

Focus groups, Polls, Surveys, Social listening or, Search listening, which tool is better at predicting future (customer/employer/market) habits or trends? As a CEO/ Leader /marketer / employer/ startup founder, which do you rely on? After all, everybody lies...

It’s been well documented that few polls or political experts had predicted that Donald Trump would become President of the USA.

While it's true some data analysts did, their voices were often drowned out by big media companies, many of who were still relying on polls & surveys mostly conducted by phone and in some cases, over landlines (to Zillennial readers – these were phones which for transmission, used metal or optical fiber rather than radio waves. [Apologies to any electrical and other engineers if I have over-simplified this definition].

Media companies had paid a lot of money for surveys, focus groups and polls and yet ended up with egg on their face. Prior to that and also in 2016, many in the UK media had failed to predict that the Brexit Leave vote would win. What about brands who use focus groups, pay advertising agencies a lot of money and then pat themselves on the back only to receive backlash once their ad has been launched to the general public? Are brands also falling into the same trap as large media companies who seem to be not one but often these days, several steps behind trends and changes in consumer habits and views?

Truth is, large organisations have been slow in accepting that the days of big brands or big companies influencing the way people vote, eat, think or dress, are slowly fading and instead, we have fragmentation of opinions and influence. In addition, the days of pigeonholing people or putting them in a box or category i.e. sports people should not get involved in politics, actresses should not write cookbooks, or non-political people should not enter politics, are long gone. Focus groups, billboards, blanket TV advertising all have their place but are these really the only or main avenue for your brand/organisation whether it's for brand recognition, attracting talent or, good reviews on Glassdoor?

Focus groups are often small, as too are polls/surveys with sample sizes usually between 1,000 – 3,000 people (if that) even for populations with over 50m people? But who decides how these samples are made up of and whether they are a true reflection of society? After all, we all come with our own conscious or unconscious biases. In his fantastic book ‘Everybody Lies’ Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a former Google data scientist says that many people lie to their own family, friends, lovers, surveys and indeed, even to themselves and that given this, we no longer need to rely on what people tell us. Instead, we can turn to a FREE tool on the internet; Google. As Seth says, ‘Google searches are the most important data set ever collected on the human psyche’’. Whether it’s googling a celebrity, health issue, fact checking a news story, a brand, employee rights or trying to find out personal matters, many people turn to Google.

Let users choose and follow

The anonymity that Google provides, enables many to trust this tool and enter in questions they would never dream of asking friends, family members or even their doctor. But Google is not just about private, personal issues, other things trigger people to search, whether it’s recipes, fashion, how to apply makeup, losing weight, employee rights, jobs and so forth. There are over 3bn daily searches on Google, 15% of which are new. As such, Google is an absolute goldmine because there are many triggers that make people search Google or post on social media. To therefore assume this trigger will be captured during a focus group meeting in conditions which are often very clinical is rather naïve to say the least. Instead, why not rely on information that has been posted by an individual in the privacy and comfort of her/his natural surroundings to gauge the real mood of your customer/potential customer/employee. The golden rule – let users choose and follow still applies today. Get an insight into how your customers and employees really think and feel. Welcome to Google trends. Click HERE to read more of my coaching blogs or the button below to our Home page to learn more about my Executive/Leadership coaching programmes..

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