Lies, damn lies, and consumer surveys

Another example of why you can’t always take consumers at their word…

Consumers in the US often say in surveys that they would pay more for an American made product. So, a showerhead maker, Afina, recently put that to the test.

They conducted an online test where they offered two prices for their flagship showerhead.  One was labelled “Made in Asia” with a cost of $129.  The other was labelled “Made in USA” with a cost of $239.  

Nearly 26,000 customers visited the page.  Of those, 584 people made a purchase – and all of those people purchased the Asian-made showerhead.  In other words, not a single person was willing to pay more for the US-made product.

Admittedly, there are caveats here.  $239 is WAY more expensive than $129.  If the difference were less, the results might have changed.  But still, it is fascinating that literally no one was willing to pay the extra tab.

You see this in other places, too.  Consumers say they would pay more for products that are sustainable, but very few actually do.   Although seventy-five percent of Americans say they eat healthy, one-third of us are obese and 80 percent of us don’t eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables.

This reinforces the importance of carefully determining what people actually do and then understanding why in lieu of taking people at their word.  (It also may harbor lessons for how we write screening questions.)   

We often believe we’re doing things we’re not doing, and often believe we will do things in the future that we really wouldn’t do.