Rating: 
Summary: By page 40, I was writing memos from the ideas seen.
Review: Buy this book. I rarely (well outside Michael Porter's early books) say this but I am serious.By page 40, (and it was a winter Saturday night) I had already used the information to start sending emails to my team on the insights into how people see ideas about products rather than how they communicate to you about these same products. Our memories are open to change and while we use words to tell each other about products, we think and decide in metaphors which like memories are open to change and enhancement. This is a clever book of insights. They are presented for you to assess but not overly presented such that you get the idea and your answer (or their guess) on the same page. It assumes a critical and able reader, and it needs imagination to secure the best out of of the book. Well worth the cost and I suggest you will read it several times.
Rating:
Summary: At Last! A book that addresses the customer's whole mind
Review: Consumer research is a $6 billion business. But the ROI on research expenditures is being questioned as never before. This is ironic given that advances in information technology has vastly expanded analytic capabilities and increased customer data by an order of magnitude. Jerry Zaltman's 'How Customers Think' offers fresh insights into why companies are increasingly frustrated by consumer research. Drawing on contemporary brain research, he exposes fatal flaws in the hallowed premise in traditional consumer research that asking customers about their motivations is the best way to get clues about their future behavior. Zaltman points out that surveys, questionnaires and focus groups fail to get behind the curtains of consciousness. This can prove fatal for a marketing program because at least 90% of mental activity that leads to perceptions, thinking and decisions takes place outside the conscious mind. However, traditional research and marketing largely ignores the contents of the unconscious mind. Why is this so, when contemporary brain research has learned that this is where motivations as well as perceptions and decisions originate? Because lacking an understanding of how minds work, researchers and marketers must depend by default on consumers' conscious rational responses. However, disconnects between what consumers consciously think and what they feel at deeper levels often lead to marketplace failure. Zaltman reconnects the emotional, feeling dimension of consumers' minds (right brain as it were) with the perceiving, thinking (left brain) dimension of their minds to yield a holistic picture of customers' minds. Marketing often fails expectations because undue attention is given the contents of the rational left brain that respondents disgorge in traditional consumer research. Zaltman observes that researchers and marketers widely ignore the deep shadowy realm of motivating emotions because it is easier to record, process and analyze what consumers say directly about their needs and motivations. Zaltman observes that recent brain research shows that emotional arousal is essential to the generation of sustained interest in a matter. Brain patients whose emotional capabilities have been destroyed while still having normal reasoning powers cannot determine whether one brand or another is best for them. Brand loyalty, it seems, is determined more by emotional responses than by rational analysis. Zaltman shows how to get better guidance than direct questioning of them yields about what will stir consumers' emotions. In doing this he addresses one of the most curious defects in traditional research and marketing: decisions are more often determined by the rules of statistical math than by tenets of behavior science. However, this should not be surprising because few marketers have grounding in how minds work. After all, a person can earn an MBA in marketing without a single course in behavior. If the primary functional purpose of marketing is getting the attention of minds and influencing them to action, then it should follow that a deeper understanding of how minds work will make marketers more effective in doing that. However, with Zaltman's book in hand, one needs not go back to school for a degree in psychology to gain a practical understanding of how customers' minds work. A word of caution, however: This book is to be studied, not scanned. It does not offer the simple, sound bite-sized solutions that are so commonplace in marketing books and that make them quickly forgettable. Zaltman's book will not be forgettable to any person who makes a study of his book because he/she will experience a quantum leap in understanding how customers think.
Rating:
Summary: Insights into the Mind of the Market
Review: Every marketing manager wants to understand the consumer's thought process. Yet few succeed. That is Gerald Zaltman, a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School and a fellow at Harvard University's interdisciplinary Mind, Brian Behavior Initiative, message in this fascinating book. Marketers would like to think they control the image of their brands, but in reality it is brain and the mind of the consumer that controls an individual's brand perception. To be effective, the author says, new marketing strategies will have to add neurology, musicology, philosophy and zoology to anthropology, psychology and sociology they currently use. Many marketing managers handicap themselves by clinging to the following ideas:
• Consumers think in a rational way. In reality, Zaltman says, the selection process is affected by emotion, the subconscious and physical context.
• Consumers can explain their behavior. The Harvard professor says that after the fact attempt attempts to make sense of their behavior, but rarely explain its controlling factors.
• Consumers' mind, brain, body and culture can be studied independently. The best information, he says, from studying their interaction.
• Memories accurately represent their actions. He notes their memories change with time.
• Buyers think in words. Not true, says the professor. Their words expressed in surveys and focus groups come only after they consciously opt to express their unconscious thoughts.
• Consumers interpret marketing messages the ways marketers intend them. Since consumers do not think in words, a clever message does not guarantee a message will be absorbed. Time spent reading this book will challenge marketing experts to deliver messages that are relevant to consumers' experience and context, rather than bombarding them with their own perceptions.
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful Concepts Abstractly Portrayed
Review: Few would have any argument with the central thesis of this book. Most new products fail rapidly in unexpected ways, suggesting that a misunderstanding of what is required by customers is part of the problem. Professor Zaltman goes on to suggest that his patented approach to considering more aspects of customer thinking (especially emotion, associations and context) can help improve matters. The book argues successfully that most marketing research methods are misused (usually by being applied to solve the wrong class of problem). He also does a fine job of explaining how marketers' attitudes and opinions create myopia that prevents them from learning what they need to know. There is extensive material in the book about how the brain works in the context of purchasing decisions. For those who are familiar with brain research, there is little new here. As someone who has worked in marketing research for over 30 years, I found the explanation of how to do better to be abstract and often counter to my own experience with extensive one-on-one open-ended interviews. Let me share a few examples. First, he states that consensus maps (a graphic expression of the universal considerations and order that consumers go through to make a purchasing decision) of how consumers think almost always emerge after 10 interviews . . . far short of statistical norms. That finding made me wonder if the maps are done too abstractly to capture the richness of customer thinking. Second, all of the examples of specific brands seemed to relate to an adult making a decision with the item in front of her or him. Yet, many consumers arrive at the grocery store (for example, since much of the book is about food products) with a shopping list in hand. Are consensus maps the same for self purchase as for purchase for others? The book doesn't seem to address that point. If the items are to be purchased for another family member, how do the different consensus maps overlap and affect one another? Third, the book doesn't do much to address how misimplementation of new products and marketing strategies causes failure. In my experience, that problem is greater than a lack of understanding of how customers think. Fourth, the incentives in most marketing organizations favor using marketing research to locate reasons to justify a marketer's decisions. Professor Zaltman acknowledges this, but doesn't really address how to institutionally change the culture. His suggestions presume that everyone is more interested in promoting company results than protecting individual careers while the opposite is often the case. Fifth, the real weakness in most organizations is that the head of marketing research has an insufficient background in the subject to make the right suggestions and to persuade management to follow those suggestions. That problem isn't addressed at all. Sixth, the best applications for this kind of research are for services . . . yet there were few examples of services compared to food items. In services, you have more things you can change and the potential for improvement is greater. The strength of the book mostly comes in the service examples (which are often overly disguised). The book also has a tone that I did not like. It seems to suggest that no one had ever developed thinking process maps or used depth one-on-one interviews before this patented process was developed. Many aspects of the concepts described here were in broad scale application in companies that I have worked with over 30 years ago. Many of these companies belonged to the Marketing Science Institute, with which Harvard (where Professor Zaltman practices) has long had a close association. In addition, those who have employed these concepts are universally praised. That was strange, because many of them have pulled some of the biggest errors that violate these principles. For example, the research on new Coke was flawed by not telling consumers that the existing Coca-Cola would be removed from the market. Yet Coca-Cola is cited universally as an example of advanced marketing research. The book also comes across as a sales pitch far too often. That is almost unprecedented in my experience in reading a book from a professor. The same marketing research organizations are used as examples over and over again. You are also told that one way to get these good results is to hire a "wizard," which is presumably one of these firms. Wouldn't it make more sense to develop a proprietary skill in this area so that competitors would have less chance to learn what you find out? Finally, the reports of success seem unconvincing. They are based on self-reported satisfaction with short-term results. Now, if you've hired someone to help you and spent a lot of money to do so, even the most inexperienced market researcher knows that there will be a bias towards reporting positive results. Also, paid market researchers will share their "best" results, rather than their average or below average results. I was left wondering what the long term benefits are, and what the average expectation can be.
Despite these reservations, I think most marketing executives will benefit from the book's discussions of what types of marketing research to use for what types of issues. But the total of that information could have been captured in a magazine article. Both marketing executives and researchers will benefit from chapter 12. Those who purchase or use marketing research would do well to become familiar with this book. I hope that Professor Zaltman will write another book in the future that will be more helpful to marketing research professionals. It has always been the case that 99% of the profession is engaged in doing repetitive tracking research. With few looking into creative research to better develop new products, improve brands and enhance the lives of customers, we need to develop a larger cadre of well-trained individuals interested in these challenges if we are to ultimately improve on the dismal record of failure in making improvements.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful Concepts Abstractly Portrayed
Review: Few would have any argument with the central thesis of this book. Most new products fail rapidly in unexpected ways, suggesting that a misunderstanding of what is required by customers is part of the problem. Professor Zaltman goes on to suggest that his patented approach to considering more aspects of customer thinking (especially emotion, associations and context) can help improve matters. The book argues successfully that most marketing research methods are misused (usually by being applied to solve the wrong class of problem). He also does a fine job of explaining how marketers' attitudes and opinions create myopia that prevents them from learning what they need to know. There is extensive material in the book about how the brain works in the context of purchasing decisions. For those who are familiar with brain research, there is little new here. As someone who has worked in marketing research for over 30 years, I found the explanation of how to do better to be abstract and often counter to my own experience with extensive one-on-one open-ended interviews. Let me share a few examples. First, he states that consensus maps (a graphic expression of the universal considerations and order that consumers go through to make a purchasing decision) of how consumers think almost always emerge after 10 interviews . . . far short of statistical norms. That finding made me wonder if the maps are done too abstractly to capture the richness of customer thinking. Second, all of the examples of specific brands seemed to relate to an adult making a decision with the item in front of her or him. Yet, many consumers arrive at the grocery store (for example, since much of the book is about food products) with a shopping list in hand. Are consensus maps the same for self purchase as for purchase for others? The book doesn't seem to address that point. If the items are to be purchased for another family member, how do the different consensus maps overlap and affect one another? Third, the book doesn't do much to address how misimplementation of new products and marketing strategies causes failure. In my experience, that problem is greater than a lack of understanding of how customers think. Fourth, the incentives in most marketing organizations favor using marketing research to locate reasons to justify a marketer's decisions. Professor Zaltman acknowledges this, but doesn't really address how to institutionally change the culture. His suggestions presume that everyone is more interested in promoting company results than protecting individual careers while the opposite is often the case. Fifth, the real weakness in most organizations is that the head of marketing research has an insufficient background in the subject to make the right suggestions and to persuade management to follow those suggestions. That problem isn't addressed at all. Sixth, the best applications for this kind of research are for services . . . yet there were few examples of services compared to food items. In services, you have more things you can change and the potential for improvement is greater. The strength of the book mostly comes in the service examples (which are often overly disguised). The book also has a tone that I did not like. It seems to suggest that no one had ever developed thinking process maps or used depth one-on-one interviews before this patented process was developed. Many aspects of the concepts described here were in broad scale application in companies that I have worked with over 30 years ago. Many of these companies belonged to the Marketing Science Institute, with which Harvard (where Professor Zaltman practices) has long had a close association. In addition, those who have employed these concepts are universally praised. That was strange, because many of them have pulled some of the biggest errors that violate these principles. For example, the research on new Coke was flawed by not telling consumers that the existing Coca-Cola would be removed from the market. Yet Coca-Cola is cited universally as an example of advanced marketing research. The book also comes across as a sales pitch far too often. That is almost unprecedented in my experience in reading a book from a professor. The same marketing research organizations are used as examples over and over again. You are also told that one way to get these good results is to hire a "wizard," which is presumably one of these firms. Wouldn't it make more sense to develop a proprietary skill in this area so that competitors would have less chance to learn what you find out? Finally, the reports of success seem unconvincing. They are based on self-reported satisfaction with short-term results. Now, if you've hired someone to help you and spent a lot of money to do so, even the most inexperienced market researcher knows that there will be a bias towards reporting positive results. Also, paid market researchers will share their "best" results, rather than their average or below average results. I was left wondering what the long term benefits are, and what the average expectation can be.
Despite these reservations, I think most marketing executives will benefit from the book's discussions of what types of marketing research to use for what types of issues. But the total of that information could have been captured in a magazine article. Both marketing executives and researchers will benefit from chapter 12. Those who purchase or use marketing research would do well to become familiar with this book. I hope that Professor Zaltman will write another book in the future that will be more helpful to marketing research professionals. It has always been the case that 99% of the profession is engaged in doing repetitive tracking research. With few looking into creative research to better develop new products, improve brands and enhance the lives of customers, we need to develop a larger cadre of well-trained individuals interested in these challenges if we are to ultimately improve on the dismal record of failure in making improvements.
Rating: 
Summary: If you're really "into" marketing, then rad this book
Review: Heard the taped version of HOW CUSTOMERS THINK:
ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS INTO THE MINDS OF THE MARKET
by Gerald Zaltman . . . as the author, a Harvard Business
School professor, notes: approximately 80% of all new products
fail within six months or fall significantly short of their profit forecast . . . this shouldn't be surprising, he argues, since "a great mismatch exists between the way consumers experience and think about their world and the methods marketers use to collect this information." Zaltman takes what could be a complex topic and presents
it so that most (marketers and those not in the field) should
be able to grasp the key points . . . but I'd still only recommend the book for those really "into" marketing . . . I am, so I found it quite interesting . . . but others will be bored. Yet all should probably find the following passage of interest, in which six common marketing fallacies are presented: First, consumers think in well-reasoned, linear ways as they
evaluate products. They don't. For example, consumers do not
consciously assess a car's benefits attribute by attribute
and decide whether to buy it. Instead, their emotions--the desire for happiness, prestige, and so on--play a bigger role than logic in the purchase decision. Second, consumers can plausibly explain their thinking and
behavior. In reality, however, 95 percent of thinking takes
place in our subconscious minds. People use conscious
thought primarily as a way to rationalize behavior. Third, consumers' minds, brains, bodies, and surrounding
culture can be studied independently of one another. In fact,
the mind, brain and external world interact with, and help
shape, one another. For example, people from different
cultures experience physical pain differently. Fourth, consumers' memories accurately reflect their
experience. Research reveals that memory is not perfect,
and in fact it changes depending on the situation. For
example, when people are asked to recall an experience,
their memories are influenced by the sequence in which
the questions are asked, and even the color of the paper
on which the survey is printed. Fifth, consumers think primarily in words. Yet brain scans
suggest that only a small portion of the brain's neural
activity ultimately surfaces in language. Sixth, consumers can received "injections" of company
messages--and interpret them correctly. However, consumers
do not passively absorb messages. They constantly reinterpret
such messages in terms of the unique experiences. For instances,
people have long heard that they should visit the dentist every
six months. But research shows that most individuals are very
skeptical about the need for such dental visits.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth reading
Review: Here's a good marketing book.The marketing literature is rich with marekting management techniques and applications, but developing customer inisghts require a unique approach, dissimilar from conventional marketing wisdom. It requires an emphasis on the narrative life of the brand and its relationship to the consumers who adopt it. This is an excellent book. I also like 60-Minute Brand Strategist by Idris Mootee, it is almost a handbook for brand managers, providing tools and applications that needs to devleop an effective brand strategy. Both books are must read for marketing executives.
Rating:
Summary: Two Steps Forward - no steps back
Review: I am a man of few words, and I believe marketing should also work in few words. Gerald Zaltman has captured fundamental marketing insights in precise terms. He has one foot in the here-and-now of marketing and one foot in future. It's well worth the read. Eric Masi
Torque
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I have just finished "How Customers Think" and it provides thought provoking insights that can not be ignored whether you are dealing with the customer or family members.
Zaltman challenges us to understand the deeper "meaning" and he achieves this is with a style that a true master brings to their choosen profession.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a good book
Review: I have just spent a few days finished "How Customers Think" and it provides thought provoking insights that can not be ignored. Lots of intersting ideas.The author challenges us to understand the deeper "meaning" and he achieves this is with a style that a true master brings to their choosen profession. I also finished High Intensity Marketing by Idris Mootee, another excellent marketign resouce book abd very up-dated.
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