One approach: Ten studies that pushed the boundaries of consumer research

EyeSee is turning 10 this year! To celebrate this decade of insights, innovation, and studies that pushed us forward - we have collected and hand-picked our most memorable studies and learnings over the years. From projects with clients like Twitter and Smurfit Kappa to self-funded studies tackling topics we knew were worth exploring - strap in for an insightful journey ahead as we look back at the 10 behavioral projects that helped us grow, expand our knowledge and tech and ultimately transform the approach to traditional consumer research:

1. Getting sustainable products just right

86% of consumers want to go more eco-friendly – so what’s stopping them? In this study, we set out to understand how brands could support their consumers by developing powerful communication and product claims and identifying categories that lack ‘greener’ alternatives - with quite a complex behavioral framework. The comprehensive undertaking included an in-depth look into who the green buyers are, which claims are most appropriate for use on product packs, and what makes an impactful kind of social media posts work best to inspire eco behavior and more!

2. The price of consumer confidence under inflationary pressures

With the transforming global and economic climate came shaken consumer confidence – and the high price points on the store shelves are palpable to both shoppers and marketers. The previous experiences with recession periods showcased that shoppers react differently across categories and markets making it clear that it is vital to feeling the consumer pulse in the changing setting. So to help brands operate in it, we turned towards understanding the current shopper behavior and assessing the best strategies to cope with ongoing inflation for both CPG and retailers - like, when do consumers opt to stay loyal to the brand and when do they switch to the alternatives?

3. A tree is best known by its consumer decisions

Do you know how shoppers decide which product ends up in their cart? We wanted to know too! So to do that, a behavioral component was added to well-known research tools: decision trees. This led to a complex meta-analysis on over 35000 respondents from dozens of projects across FMCG industries – which also included a comparison of survey results and virtual shopping data to determine just how unreliable surveys can be in mapping out consumer decision-making. Learn just how different behavioral decision trees are different to standard studies, what it takes to extract the biggest ROI from decision tree research and who benefits the most from these studies – and why trusting what consumers say is much more dangerous than you might think!

4. Hitting the mark on socially conscious advertising

Great social media content has the power to trigger a reaction in under 2.8 seconds and significantly impact brand perception. Yet when it comes to socially conscious advertising – getting the right tone and message can be a hit or, more often than not, a miss. So, our best researchers turned to behavioral insights to uncover just how crisis messaging should be done and how it affects brand equity. Check out the results of one of the most extensive mobile behavioral studies that was conducted on 1800 respondents in a simulated Instagram environment and learn how to nail your brand’s communication while tackling highly important social topics.

5. Driving sales with in-store display optimization practices

Just how powerful are point-of-sales displays in the store? Well, they can boost sales by as much as 20% when done right. We joined forces with Smurfit Kappa to pinpoint what drives in-store visibility, attention, likability and share of shoppers - by testing more than 400 POS materials on +60,000 shoppers across 15 countries worldwide. As it turns out, the best-performing display is 4 times more visible and could increase purchases 7 times more efficiently than the worst-performing ones. So, if you are developing in-store material that needs catch the attention in a crowded supermarket – these best practices are for you!

6. The secret behavioral sauce of successful innovation

Every brand knows the staggering statistic that over 90% of new products and innovations fail when launched – but the pressure to continue the development never ceases. To empower brands in their innovation endeavors, our team of researchers sought to showcase what a Market share estimation study looks like. What the study on introducing and measuring the success of a new product aimed to do was verify how the behavioral NPD solution fares against real-life sales data. If you have new products in your pipeline, this study is a must-read as it covers:

• How to leverage the latest behavioral tech to ensure a successful new product launch
• The new product opportunities to tap into in both brick and mortar and across digital platforms
• All the crucial steps brands should take when going into innovation development

7. From in-context testing to winning social media ads

As news around Meta, TikTok and now Twitter continues to take the headlines by storm, the already tumultuous space of social media, where users scroll at a speed of 1-3 posts per second, has raised new concerns for advertisers and marketers. But, some social media best practices are evergreen. And so we have compiled a data-driven guide for making sure your ads are worth the investment and more importantly, captivating for the viewers. Since there are so many different things to have in mind when starting to test your social media ads, we have also included the most impactful things you should focus on from the start and which ones you can include if your budget allows it!

8. The precious 6-second ads w/ Twitter

Social media feeds are one of the hardest clutters for brands to break through - especially with the ever-growing percentage of mobile users. With this challenge in mind, we teamed up with Twitter to determine the optimal ad-viewing length by replicating Twitter feeds and studying user behavior in a controlled environment with reliable behavioral methods. The learnings were game-changing and led to Twitter introducing the 6-second biddable video ads on their platform! The study uncovered that these short-form and branded videos, with the sound turned off, have a much stronger ad recall on mobile than traditional TV commercials we are used to seeing - revolutionizing the way advertisers approach social media ads.  

9. Wrap it up with some holiday insights

How will inflation impact this holiday season? Regardless of the current sentiment, many are expecting growth in sales numbers. And from festive advertising to online and store touchpoints, there are plenty of opportunities to get shoppers into the holiday purchasing spirit! We compiled our best behavioral learnings (did you know that using logos in festive ads boasts a 133% higher brand recall?) from multiple advertising, shopper and digital studies with a goal to help prepare your strategies for 2023 – cause we know that omnichannel optimization and a seamless cross-channel experience is something that is vital for success with shoppers all year round!

10. Twitter's look into the powerful role of gender in sports ads

How does gender portrayal in (sports) ads impact the performance of the creative? To uncover what it means for brands to tap into uncharted territories with their advertising, we once again joined forces Twitter and explored the impact of gender representation in sports ads – and found some unexpected results, such as:

• Women are taking the lead – both traditional and non-traditional gender roles in ads outperform their male counterparts
• Ads with male athletes just don’t do the trick anymore! They’re less credible and empowering - men are looking for more relatable role models
• Cultural relevance is crucial to a consumer’s purchase decision and correlates with performance on brand effect metrics