People have no idea why they're doing what they're doing 4 Apr 2007

Clotaire Rapaille believes all purchasing decisions lie beyond conscious thinking and emotion. In this interview, he talks about the limits of traditional market research:

"[Market researchers] are too cortex, which means that they think too much, and then they ask people to think and to tell them what they think. Now, my experience is that most of the time, people have no idea why they're doing what they're doing. They have no idea, so they're going to try to make up something that makes sense. Why do you need a Hummer to go shopping? 'Well, you see, because in case there is a snowstorm.' No. Why [do] you buy four wheel drive? 'Well, you know, in case I need to go off-road.' Well, you live in Manhattan; why do you need four wheel drive in Manhattan? 'Well, you know, sometime[s] I go out, and I go -' You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this is disconnected. This is nothing to do with what the real reason is for people to do what they do."

It's for these reasons that we rely little on what users say during our user testing. Users often have no idea why they're doing what they're doing - and if you ask them about their actions, they'll often make stuff up in an attempt to rationalise their behaviour. After all, nobody like to be seen as irrational or driven by their reptile brain (as Clotaire calls it). If you really want to get inside users' minds you need to watch what they do instead.

[via 37signals]