The difference in responses when people are asked for their preference as opposed to being asked to select for a specific goal is what matters when we design products and services. Every product or service is evoking a perception that is based on how it looks, how it is accessed, purchased, marketed, etc.
Your customers will always give rational reasons for why they chose your offering, but your work will go deeper than that. What you learn will drive every aspect of your business, and you will soon be able to develop offerings that the customer did not even think to ask for.
What are customers thinking when they buy a product or service? What are they trying to do? What options are available to them? How do they choose? What motivates decision-making, and while we’re at it, what is a motivation anyway?
“Your actions speak so loudly I can’t hear a word you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The amount of time and money wasted on developing the wrong product is far greater than the amount of time and money that could be wisely spent defining the right product.
People don’t buy products because they have a higher score on a preference test. They buy products that fit their lifestyles and solve real problems.