Learning From Extreme Consumers

Jill  Avery; Michael  Norton

Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2014

Learning From Extreme Consumers

Abstract

Traditional market research methods focus on understanding the average experiences of average consumers. This focus leads to gaps in our knowledge of consumer behavior and often fails to uncover insights that can drive revolutionary, rather than evolutionary innovation. This note outlines a process for studying extreme consumers—consumers who fall in both tails of a normal distribution of customers—with needs, behaviors, attitudes, and emotions atypical of the average customer. Different tactics for leveraging the power of the fringe, product category virgins, customers with constraints, and lovers, haters, and opt-outers are presented.

Keywords: Market research; marketing; consumer behavior; ethnography; design thinking; innovation; New Product Development; Research; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Innovation and Invention;

Language: English

Format: Print

9 pages

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Citation:

Avery, Jill, and Michael Norton. "Learning From Extreme Consumers." Harvard Business School Technical Note 314-086, January 2014.

Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2019

Communicating Resource Scarcity

Grant E. Donnelly, Anne Wilson, A.V. Whillans and Michael I. Norton

The development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships require investments of both money and time—resources that are often limited in supply, but in great demand. Indeed, consumers are regularly asked to dedicate their money and time to social engagements, and need to manage these resources efficiently. Therefore, consumers often choose to cite insufficient time or money as an excuse for rejecting social invitations. But how does using the excuse of financial versus time scarcity influence interpersonal relationships? Across eight experiments, we demonstrate that using financial scarcity as an excuse (e.g., “I don’t have money”) increases perceptions of interpersonal closeness and helping behavior compared to using time scarcity as an excuse (e.g., “I don’t have time”). This effect is explained by the fact that time is perceived as a more personally controllable resource than money, resulting in consumers who cite financial (vs. temporal) constraints as being perceived as more trustworthy. However, excuse-givers do not correctly predict this difference in interpersonal outcomes. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of how excuses revolving around resource constraints affect interpersonal perceptions and behaviors and provides practical insights for consumers desiring to minimize social repercussions when turning down social invitations.

Keywords: communication; interpersonal relationships; money; time;

Citation:

Donnelly, Grant E., Anne Wilson, A.V. Whillans, and Michael I. Norton. "Communicating Resource Scarcity." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-066, January 2019. View Details

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Learning From Extreme Consumers

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