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A recent post by Olivier Blanchard in The Brand Builder articulated nicely why in branding research, it’s much more important to talk to your best customers than your average customers. It’s not customer satisfaction research you’re doing, but trying to find out the heart of what they value.“The way you develop a chocolate-flavored drink isn’t by talking to 10,000 people on the street. It’s by talking to 10,000 chocoholics. These might even be people who love chocolate but hate chocolate drinks. (How cool would it be to have 10,000 people with such specific tastes tell you why they love chocolate but hate chocolate drinks? Tell me you wouldn’t crack that code with that level of feedback.) The point is: Do your research at the extreme edge of the bell curve.The way you develop a new endurance drink is by talking to rabid cyclists and triathletes and marathoners. The way you develop a new game console is by talking to avid gamers (not casual gamers). The way you develop a new Pop Tart flavor is by talking to people for whom Pop Tarts is a major food group. This isn’t about talking to 0.3% of American shoppers who are representative of the 60% of shoppers who place Pop Tarts in their Top 10 likeliest breakfast foods. It’s about talking to the fraction of a percent of people who live and breathe the stuff that is at the core of your new product’s identity and raison d’etre and will buy your new flavor of Pop Tarts every other week.Not just talking to them, but understanding what makes them tick and embracing them completely.” While Olivier Blanchard is talking about creating new products, the same applies to revealing your brand’s promise. Your best customers are the ones that understand your promise the best, are most engaged, and can tell you why they value it. You want more customers like them.

-Lynn Parker

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