Women who shape research and us, part 2: Buying context

With Women’s history month coming to an end, let’s dive into the second installment of the Women that shape research (and us) series. This time around, our top experts and impressive women selected breakthroughs about buying behavior that define the current moment.

Instagram done right

Testing in replicated environments is becoming the new standard for breaking down authentic consumer behavior; especially the complex and often elusive link between scrolling and buying. A validation study that was just completed set out to compare how consumers act in recreated Instagram feeds and reels for testing versus the actual Instagram app – here's what we found.

 Here’s an overview of other top findings:

• Positioning matters: Ads that show up in the first 12 posts on the feed have up to 50% more visibility.
• Visibility is not the same as memorability: Lower brand recall (29%) occurs even with the visibility is as high as 70%
• Long ads are not Insta-friendly: You can lose ~85% of your audience in less than 5s

Social buying pushes the market research to do better

The social apps in China evolved to encompass all aspects of the consumer journey, including services such as delivery & in-app supermarket services, and retail search engines; they are an integral part of not only every facet of shopping, but everyday life.

Given the proliferation of e/social commerce, clients are looking to test how their concepts fare in the context of very particular platforms. For example, assessing the specificity of TikTok formats  and developing platform-specific best practice gives you a clear competitive edge.

How much freedom is too much?

The crisis of recent years really brought home how resilient, flexible, tough, and above all adaptive we all are – just look at the evolution of online services.

Research by Global Web Index reveals that 1 in 5 internet users across 20 markets will be looking for more flexible payment options in the coming months – everything from free cancelations to refundable options improves shopping experience and potentially increases turnover. The key challenge for brands now is to strike the right balance with flexibility, and not overwhelm consumers with choice in order to discourage final cart dropout.

Make sure to check out the first installment of the series where top talent from Mexico shared their insights!