In an industry projected to reach $9.7 billion by 2030, understanding consumer behaviour is paramount. Hill + Knowlton, a leading global PR firm, recognized the need for a robust and efficient research method to inform their client’s Cold and Flu remedy marketing strategy.

The Challenge: Navigating Traditional Market Research Limitations

Traditional methods of market research — focus groups and interviews — often lack depth and can be time-consuming. As advertising tycoon David Ogilvy put it: “People don’t think what they feel, don’t say what they think and don’t do what they say.”

Hill + Knowlton needed to test subtle changes in messaging across different territories to better understand what prompts consumers to purchase certain products. Their client, a major health care company, required actionable insights to tailor their marketing messages effectively.

Additionally, Hill + Knowlton needed to understand how consumer purchasing behavior changes in response to different messages in a realistic, cluttered pharmacy environment that recreates how people engage with messaging in the real world. It was also important to run this study in different markets, to capture any local differences and maximize validity.

Behavioral scientists understand that focus groups only tell them what people think they think. There is a world of difference between people’s reported intentions and how they actually behave.

What brings you here today? Focus groups and interviews are too time-consuming and inefficient. I am looking for a better way to generate actionable insights. I want to produce more scientifically valid insights through environmentally realistic simulations to markup my prices and outcompete competitors. I need to run studies in different markets. Whom do I partner with? I am looking for a way to make brand marketing measureable, so that I can offer that to my clients. Clients need access to customer intentions / behavioral insights, but survey data is not enough. What do I do? How can we generate better data and insights without breaking the bank?

So, what did they do?

The Solution: Harnessing the Power of Gorilla to Measure Realistic Consumer Interaction

Hill + Knowlton turned to Gorilla, an innovative online experiment builder. Gorilla created a realistic online simulation of a consumer journey through a pharmacy. Participants interacted with various products and digital pharmacists in a virtual environment, providing a rich set of data about customer intentions and behaviors.

The team behind the Gorilla Experiment Builder used a between subject design to test how subtle changes in the wording of messages placed realistically in the pharmacy environment changed behaviour.

We can’t share the final protocol, but we do have permission to show this prototype which gives you an idea of what is possible:

We tested eight between subject conditions. Each condition tested different messaging in the form of an advert or series of adverts placed within the consumer journey, but other than that conditions were identical. The messages themselves differed in what behavioural insights they addressed, from a range of insights we devised by combining the latest scientific evidence with the client’s own research.

Data and Validity: Unveiling Behavioral Insights Through Reliable Data

We found that there was variation in the performance of the messages, with some territories prompting significant increases in purchases compared to other plausible territories. There was also some evidence for variation in the effectiveness of different messages in different markets. These findings will be tremendously valuable to our client, who can now adapt messaging to different territories.

Around half of the participants didn’t notice the messaging placed in the scene, which provides evidence for the validity of the simulation and its ability to replicate a noisy and complex pharmacy environment — in real-life, people tend not to consciously attend to such material.

The combinations of different treatments participants chose to put into their baskets (ointments, vitamin supplements, nasal sprays, multi-symptom solutions) replicated what had been found previously in consumer testing, which is another testament to the validity of the method.

The Results: Generating Territory-Specific, Actionable Insights with Gorilla

With Gorilla, Hill + Knowlton discovered variations in message performance across territories, with some prompting significant increases in purchases. The best-performing message increased purchases by approximately 10% compared to the worst-performing message. Given the market size these findings were tremendously valuable for their client, allowing for informed marketing adaptations based on territory.

In addition, Gorilla provided Hill + Knowlton a faster, more robust method to measure the results of the intervention. The insights were more actionable than those derived from traditional methods, enabling Hill + Knowlton to potentially charge a higher price point while incurring less cost — using existing, specialized software like the Gorilla Experiment Builder is just cheaper than building new, often single-use software.

"Gorilla enables robust behavioural experiments at a speed and price comparable to most survey providers. This is revolutionary for us because it gives us access to customer intentions and behavioural insights that you can’t get with survey data. Its flexible features and expert developers make an enormous range of designs and subjects possible to study, which is key when working across sectors that have different challenges." Dr. Adam Flitton, Chief Behavioural Scientist at Hill + Knowlton

Don’t put it off: Discover whether Gorilla can dramatically enhance your business within 45 minutes

Gorilla Experiment Builder is the next-generation online research toolset for behavioral science, empowering research consultancies to become more time-efficient, cost-effective, prominent in their market, and ultimately, more profitable.

If this sounds compelling, book a call with our founder Jo Evershed. Together, you’ll assess whether Gorilla is the right fit for your needs.

PS: Not ready yet? Take a look at what other research consultancies achieved with Gorilla in our commercial showcase.