Many researchers will assume that you should always target the people who respond most positively to your brand, but I say that it depends. If other information sheds doubt on that target, then you may have stumbled upon a red herring.
I once had an assignment to identify the best target for a new high-end skincare brand. To our surprise, men had the most unequivocally positive reactions to the brand, so it was tempting to tell the client that they should target men with their advertising. However, a closer examination of the data showed that men were also very happy with their current skincare routines, and they didn’t have strong preferences or requirements. Women, by contrast, were skeptical and demanding, but they were also more likely to keep tabs on new brands and switch to new ones that performed well. In that context, the positive reactions of men were actually a sign of a lack of engagement with skincare products, not a sign of enthusiasm for the new brand. Men would happily use the new brand if it were in front of them, but they weren’t going to make the effort to buy it.
Armed with a full picture of the data, it was clear that men were a false audience, so I recommended against targeting them, despite their glowing reactions. That skincare brand is now on the market, and a quick scan of the company website shows that over 95% of the last 250 reviews are from women. If the company had decided to target males based solely on their stated interest in the brand, they would likely have been less successful.
Data can’t be interpreted in a vacuum. It needs to be grounded in an understanding of real people, and all responses need to be looked at holistically.
