How to Tell What People Actually Want (Not What They Say They Want)
How can you tell the difference between what people say they want and what they actually want?
It’s a tough one, isn’t it?
I was chatting with Greg McCormick, a former student from my inaugural Stand The F*ck Out cohort program. As CMO of a company catering to remote workers, he struggled to understand customer behavior. I used his experiences as a case study to illustrate the concept.
“What was the last product that you bought, Greg?”
“I don’t buy a lot of stuff.”
“So, you have AirPods on, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“When did you buy them?”
“Uh, about 7 months ago, maybe, something like that.”
“Okay, can you recall the day? Was it sunny, rainy?”
“Oh, actually, it was my birthday, so it was about a year ago.”
“Okay, and did you get it for yourself?”
“Uh, my wife got it for me.”
“Okay, and did you ask for it, or did she just offer it to you?”
“Uh, she just offered it. I mean, she knew.”
“She knew what?”
“She knew I’d be interested in it. Cuz I had a previous model, and I was using those, and I was like, ‘Oh, these other ones would be so nice to use at the gym.’ So she was like, ‘Oh, it’s the newer version. Here you go.’”
“Why is that? So you go to the gym?”
“Yeah, I used to before COVID.”
“Why is it so nice at the gym?”
“Because you can set your phone away from you. I use a Nike app that gives you exercises, and you don’t have to have all these cords on you.”
Greg told me he wanted to exercise without awkwardly dealing with “all these cords.” This is a strong, rational need around the idea of reducing effort.
That’s what Greg said he wanted the AirPods for.
I don’t mean to imply he was lying to me. I mean to imply that there probably are other needs (irrational ones) that he didn’t mention during this little dialogue.
If we read between the lines and dig a bit deeper, Greg probably wanted the last AirPods to feel like he’s fitting in with the other gymgoers and being seen as “trendy.”
So how do you actually do this?
Going back to the initial question…
How does one tell the difference between what people say they want and what they actually want?
- Never ask people what they want. They can’t predict the future. This is why I asked Greg about one of his latest purchases and not a future one.
- Only gather information from folks who have invested a significant amount of time, money, or reputation into solving a problem.
- Always dive deeper. This is where intuition comes in. 95% of our brain activity is unconscious and automatic. We like to think we’re in control, but we’re not. You have to do the emotional labor on behalf of your customers to fill the gaps.
Related episodes
Key terms
Ignored Struggles
Ignored struggles are the super-frustrating problems that prevent a certain group of people from getting a job done, which the competition isn't solving well. They are the core of meaningful differentiation. Not pain points. Not feature gaps. Real problems that alternatives leave on the table.
Irrational Struggles
Irrational struggles are the emotional and often subconscious problems that prevent people from getting a job done. They are the juiciest kind of struggle because big companies tend to see people as rational decision-makers, which means they overlook the irrationality of human behaviour. Start with the irrational ones.
Insight Foraging
Insight foraging is the practice of uncovering raw, unfiltered truths about your customers by learning exclusively from people who have recently invested resources to address the problem you solve. Most customer research produces poisonous insights. Insight foraging produces juicy ones.
