Your Customers Don't Always Know What They Want (AKA I rode a Bird in Austin)
Most people like to think they know themselves pretty well. From who we elect to office to what brand of toothpaste we buy, the choices we make are based, in part, on our perceived sense of self. Consumer personalization trends have reinforced the idea that we know exactly what we want based on how we define ourselves. But anybody who has studied human behavior in any capacity knows that the gap between what people say and what people actually do is vast.
A Tale of Peer Pressure and Humidity
I live in Portland, Oregon. I absolutely love my city but its residents can be a little…ahem, excitable at times. This isn’t without reason. Portland is experiencing unprecedented growth and is quickly losing its status as the most “affordable” big city on the west coast. Portland is fiercely protective of its culture and will sometimes campaign against trends that are born out of Silicon Valley. Portland was a steadfast hold out when Uber came to town, there are ongoing issues with AirBnB and in a city that loves its bicycles, here was the result of its e-scooter trial:
The backlash against e-scooters was swift and, in my opinion, political in nature. The reality is e-scooters are fairly contained to the downtown Portland area where mostly tourists and perhaps a few commuters ride them. Given that I have no real need to ever ride an e-scooter and am absurdly risk-averse, I adopted the “e-scooters are dumb” stance. Then I took a trip to Austin.
I flew into Austin in the evening and decided to turn in early so I could hit all of the tourist spots the next day. The next morning when I left the hotel to begin my walking tour of Austin, I was met with air so hot and thick, I can only describe it as soup.
I got halfway down street before I turned around and headed back to the cold refuge of my hotel. I was about to order a Lyft when I realized my destination was less than a mile away. It would be ridiculous (and embarrassing) to order a car to take me such a pathetic distance. Instead, I steeled myself, pulled my hair into a bun and braved the humidity once again.
I made it 2 blocks.
I was about to give up and call for a Lyft, when I noticed a third option: an e-scooter. E-scooters were everywhere in downtown Austin. And it appeared to me that just about everyone was riding them: college students, men and women in corporate attire, frat dudes and middle-aged women. Unlike my Portland experience, e-scooters were more than just a tourist novelty in Austin; people were using them as a genuine method of transportation. While I did see stickers around town creatively dissing e-scooters, there seemed to be a general sense of acceptance. I’ll admit that while I was scanning my chosen Bird, I had a nagging feeling that I would be seen as an annoying tourist. However, as soon as I realized how convenient riding a Bird was, I stopped caring.
To Thine Own Self Be True
Up until the day I rode that Bird, I would have placed myself well outside the e-scooter target demographic. Most traditional methods of consumer research (surveys, emails, focus groups, etc.) would have come to the same conclusion.
And yet, I scooted.
But there had been clues…
I posted about how many e-scooters there were in Austin on Instagram.
I clicked on the “Scooters Nearby” link when ordering a Lyft.
I opened the Bird app a few times to understand exactly how to order a scooter before I actually did it.
My online behaviors showed a clear path to purchase before I had even made up my mind. If someone were to examine my behavioral data, threw in some geolocation information, they would uncover the perfect opportunity to send a scooter discount code. Bird must be mining their data because that’s exactly what they sent me.
Decision-making is a complex process that involves subconscious intentions, outside influences and logical hurdles. Trying to understand the difference between what your customers say about your product or service, what they mean and what actions they ultimately take is ambitious. And often wrong. Even for the most self-assured individual, situations arise that redefine who they think they are.
For better of worse, we live in world where we leave digital breadcrumbs wherever we go. Capturing that information in real-time is critical to understanding your customers’ intentions. Data based on actions is about as unbiased as we can get. What we do reveals so much more about us than who we think we are or even who we want to be. Even if that person happens to ride an e-scooter.
