A great book on a subject that I was very interested in, customer behavior and the analysis of the factors influencing customer thinking and decision-making.

I am eagerly waiting to slide through some chapters of this book so that I can learn better myself and also publish it for others to use.

Reading it requires a lot of patience, but I recommend that if you want to learn the deep layers of marketing, read this book.

This text provides an evaluation of a particular piece of writing.

It begins by stating that the writing is better than most business texts, which is a positive aspect. However, it also mentions that it seems a bit outdated.

The author really liked the suggestion of using metaphor as a response elicitation technique in interviews, which is an interesting point.

On the other hand, the heavy emphasis on MRI techniques is seen as dated. The author is not sure why this is the case but speculates that the field may have largely moved away from these techniques or that they never really caught on.

Finally, the text mentions that constructs and consensus mapping seem to be in use and seem reasonable.

Overall, the text presents a balanced view of the writing, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses.

It would be interesting to know more about the context in which the writing was produced and how it compares to other similar texts in the field.

Perhaps further research could be done to explore the use of metaphor in interviews and the current state of MRI techniques in the relevant field.

This would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic and help to determine the true value of the writing.

The book "How Consumers Think" by Gerald Zaltman was quite often mentioned in other marketing books and also had a decent rating on Amazon. The book, which was supposed to look like some kind of analogue of the classic textbook by three authors "Consumer Behavior", in fact, turned out to be almost a copy (but much worse) of a completely different book, namely the rather scandalous book "The Cultural Code" by Rapaille. Both books were written from the perspective of psychology. However, if Rapaille wrote a rather interesting and easy-to-read book, then Zaltman wrote almost an academic textbook for psychology specialists. As I was reading, I had the feeling that I was reading not a marketing book, but a psychology book. And not for an ordinary person, but for a professional who is well-versed in this topic. In general, the book turned out to be rather boring, and the data were not entirely convincing.

One of the main ideas of the author is that modern marketing incorporates all the disciplines that are taught at any humanities university. Whether it is biology, psychology or anthropology. All these disciplines can and should be used in marketing. I will mention only a couple of interesting points, from my point of view, from this rather voluminous book.

The world of psychology

First, an example, in a sense, from social psychology. Neither Cialdini nor David Myers write about it. "Patients experienced discomfort only if the dentists were also convinced that the remedy they prescribed was a real analgesic." And further: "...data were obtained that the seller's confidence in the product (his conviction in its effectiveness) is an excellent predictor of sales success. But what is even more interesting, the confidence of the salesman in subtle non-verbal ways adds persuasiveness to his actions even when the product being sold is not the best." In this case, the ideas of "unconscious thinking" and their impact on sales are linked. It is quite possible that this is indeed the case. However, as I have already said, the author does not provide enough convincing arguments, nor does he provide examples from the world of marketing where these ideas have been successfully tested.

The problem of sensations

Next, a rather well-known example, which was also mentioned by Jack Trout: "So, if consumers know that they are pulling their favorite drink, then they add special qualities to the consumption experience, for example, a pleasant taste, a smoky flavor, a feeling of relaxation, etc." Trout mentioned a bottle of Burgundy into which Gallo was poured, as a result of which an "ordinary" person will perceive Gallo as a certain variety of Burgundy, and not as ordinary Gallo. As Zaltman writes on this occasion, "Consumers add the" missing "qualities to a familiar brand... These qualities are felt as real and are" recorded "in the mind in this way.... Remove any information about the brand, and the special qualities of the product will most likely disappear." Or, more simply, we are dealing with the halo effect, when "useful", "natural", "without..." and so on are automatically added to a certain product.

Remembering Freud

In one of the marketing books, the authors write that often consumers take a product from the shelf without thinking, automatically and only based on certain visual properties (color, shape, a certain font), not noticing the other brands, no matter how "brightly" they look. It seems to me that Zaltman writes about the same thing to some extent: "Participants in another experiment with a video film had to count how many times a basketball passed from hand to hand in a small group of people. In this film, a gorilla walked past the group shown on the screen, but the viewers did not notice the animal. When the researchers showed the video film, freeing them from the need to count, the gorilla turned out to be the most noticeable element of the scene. In the first version of the experiment, the concentration on the score made people unconsciously remove the gorilla from their consciousness, and in other cases its presence became noticeable." And further: "The tendency to subtract information explains the often-occurring phenomenon when people remember advertising announcements, but not the product presented in them."

Metaphors

As in the book "The Cultural Code", so in Zaltman's book, and in many other marketing books, it is said that often people tell interviewers not what they really think, but what they think the interviewers want to hear from them. There are many ways to get around this problem. Rapaille in his book "The Cultural Code" suggests using the methods of psychoanalysis, Zaltman - metaphors. As he writes, "one of the most intriguing methods is the identification of metaphors. The researcher asks the consumer to refer to a metaphor when describing a product or service; in this way, he manages to" push out "unconscious thoughts and feelings to the level of awareness, and then both sides can study these open data." And further: "As in many scientific works, in this book we interpret the metaphor in a broad sense, including in this concept comparisons, analogies, allegories, proverbs, etc." Actually, the rest of the book will be devoted to the topic of metaphors.

I really liked the beginning of this article. It was quite engaging and managed to capture my attention right from the start.

Moreover, I was able to learn something new for myself, which is always a great bonus. It broadened my knowledge and gave me a fresh perspective on the subject matter.

However, I do wish there were more practical examples included in the article. Practical examples help to illustrate the concepts more clearly and make it easier for the readers to understand and apply them in real-life situations.

With more practical examples, the article would have been even more useful and valuable. It would have enhanced the learning experience and made the content more relatable and accessible to a wider audience.

Overall, I think the article has great potential, and with a few improvements, it could become an excellent resource for those interested in the topic.

Marketing book that reads like a textbook.

However, I truly loved the way he references the neuroscience that supports Sam Harris' claim that we do not possess free will.

If marketers are able to access customers' unconscious, particularly values and metaphors, we become especially vulnerable!

This aspect of the book really caught my attention as it delves into the fascinating intersection of marketing and neuroscience.

It makes one think about the power that marketers can have over consumers if they understand and utilize these unconscious elements effectively.

The author's exploration of this topic adds a new dimension to the traditional marketing concepts presented in the book.

It challenges us to consider the ethical implications of using such techniques and whether we should be more aware of our own unconscious biases and susceptibilities as consumers.

Overall, despite its textbook-like style, this marketing book offers some thought-provoking insights into the world of marketing and the role of neuroscience in understanding consumer behavior.

This book focuses on the qualitative research method. Generally speaking, marketing researchers often think that their misunderstandings about their customers stem from a lack of research knowledge or errors in that regard. However, the fundamental reason for their mistakes lies in the fact that customers themselves cannot accurately know what they truly want.

In other words, the author claims that customer behavior consists of 95% subliminal perception behavior and 5% perceived perception behavior. Therefore, even if we successfully carry out our research process, it only represents 5% of the customer's buying behavior. Due to this reason, it is extremely difficult to understand the customer's real mind.

Therefore, the author presents the ZMET method (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) for understanding the customer's mind. The most impressive sentence below implies his overall view on customer behavior research: "What happens is a fact, not the truth. The truth is what we think about what happens."

This emphasizes the importance of not just relying on observed facts but also delving into the customers' thoughts and interpretations to gain a deeper understanding of their behavior.