Geraldine Trufil, Author at Split Second Research https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/author/geraldine/ UK neuromarketing research agency using Implicit Association Testing to uncover the emotional drivers of consumer choice. Trusted by Coca-Cola, Heinz, Danone and more. Fri, 24 Jul 2026 16:42:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/cropped-cropped-SSR_logo2-1-32x32.png Geraldine Trufil, Author at Split Second Research https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/author/geraldine/ 32 32 The Free Sample Trap: Why On-the-Spot Feedback Tells You What People Think You Want to Hear https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2026/07/20/the-free-sample-trap-why-on-the-spot-feedback-tells-you-what-people-think-you-want-to-hear/ Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:52:37 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/?p=9833 Six years ago we created a comic strip about a couple trying a free product sample at a shopping centre. At the

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July 20, 2026
The Free Sample Trap: Why On-the-Spot Feedback Tells You What People Think You Want to Hear

Six years ago we created a comic strip about a couple trying a free product sample at a shopping centre. At the stand, they smile and say “very nice, very tasty.” The sampler is delighted and sends them home with extras. Back at home, the truth comes out: “That was awful. Who would want to buy that?” “It was disgusting. I was just trying to be polite.”

We made it as a light-hearted illustration of a serious problem. Six years on, nothing has changed. Free sampling with on-the-spot feedback remains one of the most widely used methods for gathering consumer reactions, especially among SMEs launching new food, drink, fragrance and personal care products. It feels cheap, fast and direct. Unfortunately, it is also one of the least reliable forms of research a brand can run.

As Margaret Mead put it, what people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things.

 

A real-world lesson: New Coke

The most famous example in business history comes from a company with almost unlimited research budgets. Before launching New Coke in 1985, Coca-Cola conducted taste tests with close to 200,000 consumers. In sip tests, people consistently said they preferred the new, sweeter formula. The company had the data, and the data said go. The launch triggered a consumer backlash so severe that the original formula was reinstated within 79 days. The research had measured what people said in an artificial tasting situation, not what they felt, chose and bought in real life. A quick sip in a test setting favours sweeter products, and stated preference in front of a researcher tells you very little about repeat purchase at home. If it can happen to Coca-Cola with 200,000 respondents, it can certainly happen to an SME sampling at a food fair with 50.

Why on-the-spot feedback misleads

When someone hands you a free sample and asks what you think, several well-documented biases activate at once:

Courtesy bias. Most people simply do not want to criticise a product to the face of the person offering it. Saying “very nice” costs nothing and avoids an awkward moment. The comic captures this perfectly: the couple even took extra samples home just to be polite.

Reciprocity. A free sample is a gift, and gifts create a sense of obligation. Consumers repay the gesture with kind words, not honest evaluation.

Social desirability bias. People give the answer they believe makes them look agreeable and reasonable, particularly when other shoppers are within earshot.

The halo effect. The sample is rarely tasted blind. The branding, the packaging, the stand, even the friendliness of the person sampling all colour the response before the product touches the tongue.

First-taste bias. A single sip or bite in a busy environment is nothing like real consumption. Sweeter, saltier and more intense products win first tastes but often lose over a full serving, exactly what caught out New Coke.

Observation effects. People behave differently when they know they are being watched and evaluated. A shopping centre concourse is about as far from natural consumption as it gets.

The result is a wall of polite positivity. Around 40 percent of new products fail, and a major reason is that when consumers are asked directly, researchers have no way of knowing whether they are telling the truth. Brands walk away from sampling days convinced they have a winner, then watch the product struggle at launch.

What proper sensory testing looks like

None of this means consumer feedback is worthless. It means the method matters. Proper sensory testing removes the pressures that produce polite answers and replaces opinion with measurement. That means objective measures: a combination of implicit response testing, which captures instinctive reactions in milliseconds before conscious editing kicks in, and biometric measures such as facial expression analysis, portable EEG, which records brain activity as the product is experienced, and physiological arousal captured through medical-grade wearables such as Empatica. These devices record how the brain and body actually respond to a product, and these responses cannot be faked to be polite. It also means genuinely blind testing. Products are evaluated without brand cues, so you learn which flavour, fragrance, formulation or texture truly performs, not which logo people recognise. And it is not limited to flavour. The texture and mouthfeel of an early prototype can be tested the same way, long before you commit to final production, because texture is often where a product wins or loses on the second and third use, well after the first polite taste. When you test three flavour or texture variants this way, you do not get three sets of compliments. You get a clear, honest ranking of which one consumers instinctively want, and which one would quietly die on the shelf.

Now within reach of SMEs

For years, this kind of research was only accessible to the biggest corporations, the companies that could afford dedicated sensory labs and six-figure research budgets. SMEs were left with clipboard surveys and sampling tables, the methods most vulnerable to the biases above. That has changed. New technology has made implicit and biometric sensory testing dramatically more affordable and accessible. Portable EEG headsets have replaced room-sized lab equipment, and medical-grade wearables such as Empatica can capture physiological responses reliably in real-world settings, in a kitchen or a tasting session rather than a laboratory. Combined with Deeplight, our behavioural research platform, an SME can now run the same class of objective, blind sensory research that global brands use, at a fraction of the traditional cost and timeline. Before you commit to production runs, packaging and a launch, you can know with confidence which flavour, texture or prototype consumers would definitely want. Not which one they said was “very tasty” to be polite. The couple in our comic told the sampler exactly what she wanted to hear, then binned the product at home. Six years later, consumers have not changed. But the tools available to you have.

AT THE SHOP

“What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things”
– Margaret Mead

AT HOME

How they truly feel
40% of new product fails because when consumers are asked about the product they say they would buy it, but researchers do not know if they are telling the truth. Split Second Research’s online test of the subconscious can’t be faked, so brands can measure how consumers truly feel. Visit our website to find out.

References

The Coca-Cola Company. New Coke: The Most Memorable Marketing Blunder Ever? https://www.coca-colacompany.com/about-us/history/new-coke-the-most-memorable-marketing-blunder-ever

Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Not-So-Sweet Backlash to New Coke. https://www.britannica.com/today-in-history/April-23-The-Not-So-Sweet-Backlash-to-New-Coke

Castellion, G. and Markham, S.K. (2013). Perspective: New Product Failure Rates: Influence of Argumentum ad Populum and Self-Interest. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30(5), 976-979. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2012.01009.x

The Behavioral Scientist. Courtesy Bias. https://www.thebehavioralscientist.com/glossary/courtesy-bias

Scribbr. What is Social Desirability Bias? https://www.scribbr.com/research-bias/social-desirability-bias/

Empatica. EmbracePlus medical-grade wearable. https://www.empatica.com/embraceplus/
Split Second Research. https://www.splitsecondresearch.co.uk

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]]> Your Customers Know More Than They Can Tell You https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2026/07/16/your-customers-know-more-than-they-can-tell-you/ Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:28:44 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/?p=9794 Every year, thousands of new products launch on the back of research that said they would succeed. Concept tests came back positive. Focus groups nodded along. Survey respondents said,

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July 16, 2026
Your Customers Know More Than They Can Tell You
(And It’s Why Most New Products Fail)

Every year, thousands of new products launch on the back of research that said they would succeed. Concept tests came back positive. Focus groups nodded along. Survey respondents said, yes, I would buy that. And then the product hits the shelf and quietly disappears

The industry has long quoted new product failure rates of 70 to 90 percent, depending on the category. Harvard Business School’s Gerald Zaltman puts the figure at around 80 percent of new products failing within six months or falling well short of forecast, and Harvard Business Review’s widely cited analysis, Why Most Product Launches Fail, reaches similar conclusions. What is remarkable is not the failure rate itself. It is that so many of these products were “validated” by research before launch.

So what went wrong? In most cases, nothing went wrong with the customers. Something went wrong with the questions.

The honest customer who can’t tell you the answer

Here is the uncomfortable truth about traditional market research: it assumes people can accurately report why they do what they do. Ask someone why they chose a brand, what they think of a new concept, or whether they would buy a product, and they will give you an answer. A sincere, considered, articulate answer.

The problem is that sincerity is not the same as accuracy.

Decades of research in cognitive psychology, from Nisbett and Wilson’s classic 1977 paper Telling More Than We Can Know onwards, has shown that people have surprisingly limited access to the real drivers of their own behaviour. The processes that shape our preferences, emotional responses, associations, gut feel, learned cues, run largely beneath conscious awareness. When we are asked to explain our choices, we do not retrieve the true cause. We construct a plausible story after the fact. Zaltman estimates that 95 percent of purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind, far beyond the reach of a direct question.

Your customers are not lying to you. They simply don’t know what they know.

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Figure 1. Like a duck on water: calm and composed on the surface, paddling furiously below. The real work of decision-making happens out of sight.

You have probably experienced this yourself. Someone describes a feeling or a motivation you could never quite put into words, and you think, yes, that’s exactly it. You recognised it instantly, but you could never have generated it on demand. That is the introspection gap in action: we are far better at recognising truths about ourselves than articulating them.

Why direct questioning keeps producing false positives

Direct questioning does not just miss the deeper drivers. It actively distorts the picture, in predictable ways.

People rationalise. Asked to justify a preference, respondents reach for reasons that sound sensible: price, quality, convenience. The emotional and associative drivers that actually moved them rarely make it into words.

People perform. In a focus group or survey, respondents want to be helpful, consistent and reasonable. “Would you buy this?” invites a socially agreeable yes far more often than the shelf does.

People deliberate when real life doesn’t. A survey gives someone thirty seconds to consider a pack design that will get a third of a second of attention in a supermarket aisle. The slow, considered response measured in research bears little resemblance to the fast, instinctive response that decides the sale.

New Coke remains the textbook case. The reformulated recipe was preferred in taste tests of nearly 200,000 consumers, because sip tests measure a conscious, deliberate evaluation. What those tests could not measure, as Coca-Cola itself now acknowledges, was the deep emotional bond consumers felt with the original brand, an attachment those same consumers would never have articulated in a survey, and one that surfaced with full force only after launch. Within 79 days the original formula was back on the shelves.

Measuring what people can’t say

This is the gap Split Second Research was built to close. Rather than relying on what people report, we use objective measures: methods that record what people actually do and how they genuinely respond. These range from implicit response techniques to biometric measures such as eye tracking, facial expression analysis and physiological arousal, capturing the reactions that occur before conscious deliberation gets involved.

Implicit response testing illustrates the principle. The speed and pattern of a person’s response to a brand, a pack, a fragrance or a claim reveals the strength of the underlying association, before the rational mind has had a chance to construct a tidy explanation. Milliseconds of hesitation carry information that an hour of discussion cannot reach. Biometric measures add further objective layers: where the eyes go first, how expressions shift, how the body responds, none of which depends on a respondent finding the right words.

Our BRAIN Model brings these layers together: what people do (Behaviour), what they say (Rational), what they feel (Affective), what they intend (Intention) and the network of associations their fast, automatic responses reveal (Neural Network). Direct questioning captures only the rational layer, the calm surface of the water. Real predictive power comes from measuring all of them, and understanding where they agree and where they diverge.

The BRAIN Model: five layers of consumer response
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Figure 2. The BRAIN Model. Direct questioning reaches only the Rational layer; objective measures unlock the rest.

Because that divergence is the insight. When stated opinion and objective measures line up, you can launch with confidence. When they pull apart, you have found exactly the risk that traditional research would have missed, before it costs you a failed launch.

The positive takeaway

None of this means consumers are unknowable, or that asking questions is worthless. It means the opposite: your customers hold far more insight than conventional research ever extracts. The knowledge is there. It just lives deeper than words.

The brands that consistently launch winners are not the ones with more survey data. They are the ones measuring what their customers know but cannot say.

Split Second Research has spent over 15 years helping brands including Shell, Boots, Johnson & Johnson and Chanel understand the drivers of consumer behaviour that direct questioning cannot reach. Our Deeplight platform makes objective research methods fast, scalable and accessible. If you would like to see what your customers know but can’t tell you.

Get in touch and find out more

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Please dial all digits from anywhere in the world, including the UK

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References and further reading

Nisbett, R. E. and Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling More Than We Can Know: Verbal Reports on Mental Processes. Psychological Review, 84(3), 231-259. psycnet.apa.org/record/1978-00295-001

Zaltman, G. (2003). How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market. Harvard Business School Press. Interview: The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How to Reach It), HBS Working Knowledge. library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/the-subconscious-mind-of-the-consumer-and-how-to-reach-it

Schneider, J. and Hall, J. (2011). Why Most Product Launches Fail. Harvard Business Review, April 2011. hbr.org/2011/04/why-most-product-launches-fail

The Coca-Cola Company. New Coke: The Most Memorable Marketing Blunder Ever? coca-colacompany.com/about-us/history/new-coke-the-most-memorable-marketing-blunder-ever

Encyclopaedia Britannica. New Coke: History, Response and Facts. britannica.com/topic/New-Coke 

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Penguin. A general-audience account of the fast, automatic (System 1) and slow, deliberative (System 2) thinking that underpins implicit and other objective research methods.

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]]> Can You Love and Hate the Same Thing? https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2025/08/19/can-you-love-and-hate-the-same-thing/ Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:36:54 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/?p=7929 Ambivalence When Love and Hate Collide Contact our team Psychologists have long suspected that the human mind can be home to some awkward roommates –

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Ambivalence

When Love and Hate Collide

Contact our team
split second research neuromarketing company
lovehateimage

Psychologists have long suspected that the human mind can be home to some awkward roommates - two attitudes toward the same thing that can’t quite agree. We call this ambivalence, and it shows up everywhere: from politics to pudding, from friendships to public figures.

Love–Hate in Everyday Life
  • A teenager may say they hate a parent for strict rules, yet feel deep love and dependence.
  • After betrayal, someone may still love a partner for the happy memories.
  • We admire an artist’s work but dislike their personal values.

But ambivalence doesn’t stop at people. Can we also love and hate a brand or product at the same time?

The Psychology of Ambivalence

  • Supporters’ View: Attitudinal ambivalence is a real psychological state — positive and negative evaluations co-exist and influence behaviour.
  • Skeptics’ View: “Contradiction” is an illusion, caused by measurement error, changing moods, or separate attitudes stored in memory.
  • Neuroscience Evidence: Brain regions for love and hate overlap, both triggering strong emotional arousal (Zeki & Romaya, 2008).
This tug-of-war often plays out across:
  • Explicit attitudes (what we say)
  • Implicit attitudes (what we feel automatically)
Research Insights
  • Wilson, Lindsey & Schooler (2000) – The Dual Attitude Model: explicit vs implicit attitudes can diverge.
  • Greenwald & Banaji (1995) – Implicit Social Cognition: hidden biases differ from reported views.
  • Hofmann et al. (2005) – Implicit–explicit divergence in consumer goods, even without social desirability pressures.

Ambivalence in Everyday Consumption

  • Car ownership – freedom vs expense, status vs environmental guilt.
  • Fast fashion – affordable trends vs ethical/environmental concerns.
  • Social media – connection and entertainment vs wasted time, fake news, privacy worries.
  • Food & lifestyle – joy of indulgence vs health risks and guilt.
Why This Matters for Brands
Shoppers are complex:
  • They complain about products they keep buying.
  • Loyal users can also be the harshest critics.
  • In our research, consumers often score brands high on love attributes (confidence, style, honesty) and high on hate attributes (not sustainable, not practical, not inclusive).
These contradictions are insights, not noise. Ignoring them means missing what truly drives behaviour.
Key Takeaway
Consumers can – and do – love and hate the same thing. To uncover these truths:
  • Measure both explicit attitudes (self-reports) and implicit attitudes (fast, instinctive responses).
  • Look beyond what consumers say they like to what their reaction times and behaviours reveal.
After all, the truth about brands may not lie in people’s words – it lies in their contradictions.
References
Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.1.4

Suggests that one “true” attitude exists, but explicit measures may differ from implicit ones due to self-presentation or awareness gaps.

Explicit Self-Report Measures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(10), 1369-1385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205275613 (Original work published 2005)

Implicit attitudes (IAT) toward the same goods tended to skew more positive, suggesting that the negative side of ambivalence was less automatically activated. In contrast, brands with strong identity signalling (e.g., Nike vs. Adidas) often showed smaller implicit–explicit gaps — people’s brand preferences were more consistently positive or negative.

Nordgren, L. F., van Harreveld, F., & van der Pligt, J. (2006). Ambivalence, discomfort, and motivated information processing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(2), 252–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.04.004

Shows that contradictory attitudes trigger increased cognitive effort to resolve conflict.

Wilson, T. D., Lindsey, S., & Schooler, T. Y. (2000). A model of dual attitudes. Psychological Review, 107(1), 101–126. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.1.101

Apparent contradictions are explained as two attitudes existing in different memory systems, only one of which is active at a given moment.

van Harreveld, F., van der Pligt, J., & de Liver, Y. N. (2009). The agony of ambivalence and ways to resolve it: Introducing the MAID model. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13(1), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868308324518

Ambivalence leads to discomfort, motivating attitude change, information seeking, or avoidance.

Zeki, S., & Romaya, J. P. (2008). Neural correlates of hate. PLoS ONE, 3(10), e3556. 

Research shows that love and hate share two areas of the brain, namely the putamen and the insula.

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]]> Digital Marketing Strategy – The Importance of the First Few Seconds in Digital Ads https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2023/04/22/the-importance-of-the-first-few-seconds-in-digital-ads/ Sat, 22 Apr 2023 19:16:28 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/?p=3778 The Rise of Online Video Nowadays, online video ads are an important tool in your digital marketing toolbox. Video is becoming increasingly popular since the

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April 22, 2023
Geraldine Trufil
Digital Marketing Strategy – The Importance of the First Few Seconds in Digital Ads

The Rise of Online Video

Nowadays, online video ads are an important tool in your digital marketing toolbox. Video is becoming increasingly popular since the rise of Tiktok and Instagram Reels. When capturing and creating your video, it is important that it does its job of capturing the interest of the audience. In particular, it is important to measure the effectiveness of your video ad before your launch – so as to not waste any time or money. 

The First Few Seconds

The latest evidence suggests that the first few seconds are the most crucial in capturing the interest of your audience. When measuring the effectiveness of a video ad, we suggest measuring the first 5 seconds of your ad.  

Here are some studies and sources to support this claim:

  • According to an article by “Think With Google“, viewers are more likely to pay attention to the first few seconds of an ad than any other part of the ad. This means that if an ad doesn’t grab their attention in the first few seconds, they are more likely to skip or ignore it.
  • Another study by the Advertising Research Foundation found that the first five seconds of an ad can influence up to 74% of a viewer’s brand preference. This means that if an ad fails to capture the viewer’s attention in the first five seconds, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on their perception of the brand.
Overall, these studies suggest that the first 3-5 seconds of an ad are crucial in capturing the attention of viewers and making a lasting impression. Advertisers must make sure that their ads are engaging and attention-grabbing from the very beginning to ensure that they are effective.
 

Measuring Video Ads with IMPULSE Moment-By-Moment Analysis

Split Second Research’s IMPULSE platform captures the audience’s moment-to-moment emotional reactions to a video, providing researchers with detailed insights into how each scene is perceived emotionally. The tool can read up to six different emotions during the same test, making it an invaluable tool for understanding how audiences respond to different types of media content. We recommend testing the first 5 seconds of your video ad using IMPULSE to gain a deeper understanding of how your ad is initially received. With these insights, advertisers can pinpoint the emotions their ads evoke in order to make impactful changes or edits if necessary.

Target Audience Insights

Split Second can help you optimise your digital ads’ performance by providing insights into your target audience. We can determine their preferences, behaviours, and motivations to build a more detailed picture of your customer persona(s). Our data experts at Split Second Research can analyse the data, helping you to refine your ad messaging, design, and targeting to maximise engagement and conversions.

Capturing and Converting Your Audience

In addition to audience insights, Split Second can also provide you with  guidance and expertise around the best practices for ad placement and timing. Together, we can determine the best way to structure your ad, based on solid, scientific research.. Our aim at Split Second Research is to ensure your ad reaches its full potential in capturing and converting your audience.

With Split Second’s expertise in digital advertising, you can be confident that your ads are optimised to deliver the best results for your business. Contact Split Second today to learn more about how we can help you improve your digital advertising strategy.

To learn more or discuss how we can help your brand, contact our experts. 

 

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]]> Digital Marketing Strategy – The Importance of Customer Segmentation in Consumer Research https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2023/04/22/customer-segmentation/ Sat, 22 Apr 2023 18:24:54 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/?p=3758 The Importance of Customer Segmentation in Consumer Research What is Customer Segmentation? Customer segmentation is a market research process in which customers are put into

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April 22, 2023
Geraldine Trufil

The Importance of Customer Segmentation in Consumer Research

What is Customer Segmentation?

Customer segmentation is a market research process in which customers are put into categories or “segments” based on their behaviours, demographics, characteristics or preferences. Customer segmentation gives you a more detailed picture of your target audience, allowing you to target customers who are more likely to be interested in your offering.

customer segmentation customer profiles, consumer personas
(This customer persona profile is for illustration purposes only)

Uncovering Patterns and Trends Leads to a Deeper Understanding of Your Target Audience

Identifying customer segments and personas is crucial to understanding your target market. Once you uncover patterns and trends, you begin to create a more detailed picture of who is really buying your product, and what might they really want. A deeper study of customer segmentation can uncover more details such as hobbies, location type, and personality attributes of your target audience.

At Split Second Research, we take customer segmentation a step further by using implicit methods to reveal subconscious drivers. Our detailed customer personas go beyond basic demographic information and delve into the motivations, preferences, and behaviours of your customers. We do this by using scientifically proven implicit, market research techniques combined with traditional, explicit surveys. 

For example, a men’s fragrance brand may reveal that one of their customer personas explicitly wants to feel adventurous and energetic, but implicitly wants to feel romantic and powerful.  

 

By understanding this powerful combination of your customers’ needs and desires, you can tailor your products and services accordingly, to meet both their implicit and explicit requirements.

The Importance of Customer Segmentation in Digital and Multi-Channel Marketing

There is significant evidence to suggest that segmenting customers is crucial in digital and multi-channel marketing. Here are some studies and sources that support this claim:

  • A study by Deloitte found that companies that use customer personas in their marketing strategies are 60% more profitable than those that don’t. This suggests that understanding the characteristics, preferences, and behaviours of different customer segments can help businesses tailor their marketing messages and offers to better resonate with their target audience.
  • According to a report by Salesforce, 52% of consumers are likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t personalise their communications with them. This highlights the importance of tailoring marketing messages to the individual needs and preferences of customers.
  • A study by Accenture found that personalisation can drive a 5-15% increase in revenue for businesses across multiple industries. This suggests that segmenting customers and creating targeted marketing campaigns can have a significant impact.
  • According to a study by Experian, personalised emails have a 29% higher open rate and a 41% higher click-through rate than non-personalised emails. This highlights the importance of segmenting customers and tailoring marketing messages to their specific needs and preferences.

Overall, these studies suggest that segmenting customers is crucial in digital and multi-channel marketing. By understanding the unique characteristics, preferences, and behaviours of different customer segments, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns. As a result, a more targeted approach  would be more effective in acquiring and retaining customers, driving revenue, and building brand loyalty.

 

Understanding the True Needs and Desires of Your Target Audience

At Split Second Research, our expertise lies in providing you with comprehensive insights into your customer base. Through our extensive research and analysis, we can help you identify the different groups of customers that your business serves. We delve deep into the data to uncover patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent, allowing you to refine your marketing strategy and better target your customers.

At Split Second Research, we take customer segmentation a step further by creating detailed customer personas. Our personas go beyond basic demographic information and delve into the motivations, preferences, and behaviours of your customers. By understanding your customers’ needs and desires, you can tailor your products and services to meet their specific demands.

Our data experts use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather insights into your customers. We conduct surveys, focus groups, and interviews, among other techniques, to get a comprehensive understanding of your customers’ behaviour and preferences.

 

customer segmentation customer profiles, consumer personas
(This customer persona profile is for illustration purposes only)

Personalise Your Marketing Strategy

With our help, you can gain a competitive edge by creating personalised experiences for your customers. By knowing your customers intimately, you can tailor your marketing messages, product offerings, and customer service to create a more engaging and satisfying experience. Contact us today to learn how we can help you identify your customer segments and personas to help grow your business.

To learn more, or see what we can do for you today

Contact our experts

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]]> Split Second Research Scoops Up Two David Ogilvy Awards https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/11/29/split-second-research-scoops-up-two-david-ogilvy-awards/ https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/11/29/split-second-research-scoops-up-two-david-ogilvy-awards/#respond Sun, 29 Nov 2020 12:02:27 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/site2023/?p=1343 Split Second Research, with Edelman Intelligence and Hewlett Packard, took two awards at the ARF David Ogilvy Awards, September 2019.

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November 29, 2020
Geraldine Trufil
Split Second Research Scoops Up Two David Ogilvy Awards
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Split Second Research, with Edelman Intelligence and Hewlett Packard, took two awards at the ARF David Ogilvy Awards, September 2019.

We won GOLD in the category TECH & COMMUNICATIONS (beating Twitter and Samsung), and SILVER in the category DATA INNOVATION.

The aim of the marketing campaign was to reinforce HP’s leadership in diversity and inclusion. The goal of the research was to understand what Americans from all walks of life associate at conscious and unconscious levels with “The All American Family” . HP wanted to raise awareness that printed photographs have a powerful impact and are still relevant in today’s digital world.

With Edelman Intelligence, Split Second Research designed an implicit test with images of families that varied by their ethnicity, sexual orientation, presence of children, and number of parents. It assessed the extent to which an unconscious bias existed in their associations with what represents and “All American Family” and what does not.

The key finding was that “75% of respondents picture an all-American family as a white mom, dad and kids. However, census data tells us that in reality, only 25% of families match that portrait.”

The research inspired a marketing campaign that has helped HP achieve double digit growth in the quarter immediately following the campaign.

Read the case study here.

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]]> https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/11/29/split-second-research-scoops-up-two-david-ogilvy-awards/feed/ 0 Don’t shelve your market research, get testing online https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/03/18/business-continuity-in-these-unusual-times/ Wed, 18 Mar 2020 13:29:22 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/site2023/?p=1384 Business continuity during these unusual times

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March 18, 2020
Geraldine Trufil
Don’t shelve your market research, get testing online
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Don’t shelve your market research, get testing online

Business continuity during these unusual times

With social distancing and community lock-down, face-to-face research is becoming near impossible to do.

Online market research can be the perfect solution when focus groups or other central location testing methods are not possible.

Yes, these are strange times, but they do not mean that you have to abandon that piece of research you were planning, whether it is to validate your new design or identify how your brand positions against your competitors. If you are looking for an effective alternative to face-to-face research, online surveys can provide insights that are equally as good, if not better. The benefits of online research are many:

  • Data collection can be very quick – it is very common to fill your quotas within a day or so
  • Analysis can be done in real-time – you can preview the charts during the survey and then as soon as the target sample is reached
  • The flow of the survey can be controlled programmatically so that you can link in different kinds of questions and tools, whether these are qualitative, quantitative, or neuro-implicit methods
  • You can screen in your desired target group and screen the rest out
  • Online research is much cheaper to do than in a central location – respondent costs are much lower. A large sample size of respondents from the general population, for example, is very inexpensive
  • There are many techniques to identify low quality responses –for example, those who chose the same response or make poor or no discrimination at all – and we can report these to panel providers, so they are alerted to such people
  • There are many techniques to detect inattention and poor engagement – trick questions, rewording a question and checking for consistency, lie scales, and so on
  • Nearly everyone has access to the internet these days, and typically on a desktop computer or smartphone – online research can be device-agnostic
  • Online surveys have the advantage of randomization – the order of questions, the order of answer options, and the order of survey parts, can all be randomized or rotated. This reduces any bias caused by order effects
  • Rapid download speeds mean that these days, respondents can assess video ads in their own home, they can evaluate lots of images, it is also possible to simulate out-of-home experiences, simulate engaging with a product, and testing respondents in situations where you mimic some aspect of consumer behavior, such as the effects of in-store promotions

Used in conjunction with implicit response testing, online research can provide deeper insights than methods such as focus groups and interviews. When done correctly, they can reveal not only what consumers want to tell you but also what they can’t tell you and what is going on subconsciously – what they know intuitively but are unable to verbalize it. 

How does online research work?

Respondent Journey / Survey Flow

In a typical online survey, researchers use recruitment agencies who have hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life on their books. These ‘members’ are given a unique identification number or ID and have signed up to do market research in return for a fee or other reward. When a new survey becomes available, members with suitable demographics receive an email inviting them to the survey. When a respondent joins a survey, they are only known by their ID. To be sure that they are right for the survey, they are asked questions about their demographics. Those with the same demographics as those being targeted, qualify for the research. Those without the desired demographics are politely screened out.

Surveys can include qualitative elements, in the form of open-ended questions, or even through voice recordings if they give permission, as well as traditional quantitative questions (rating scales, multiple-choice, drag and drop, ranking questions, and so on).

Split Second Research also specialises in implicit response testing, a way of finding out how consumers feel objectively, without asking questions directly. Speed of response to flashing words and images can reveal how they feel about products, brands, or services. These response testing techniques, also known as IATs or IRTs, have a long history in cognitive psychology. IRTs can provide brand managers with reasons why consumers are interested or disinterested in their brand. In fact, a typical IRT provides around 30 of such reasons, and these are in the form of ‘attributes’ – they may indicate for example that your brand is perceived as high quality, very reliable, strongly family-orientated (and so on) but not perceived as trend setting or sufficiently authentic.

Respondents who successfully manage to complete the survey are redirected to the recruiter’s website which logs their ID, and their account is credited with a reward. While respondents come into the test, the screener makes a count of the number of respondents who have completed the survey and closes once the target has been reached. Quantitative data can be analysed within a few hours, and implicit data can be previewed online in real time. Qualitative data usually requires analysis later, often involving human interpretation.

Split Second Research has expertise in all of these areas and our team is ready to help in these unusual times. Thanks for reading and stay safe.

Get in touch with our specialists now via our

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]]> Call for Submissions Shopper Brain Conference https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/02/03/call-for-submissions-shopper-brain-conference/ https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/02/03/call-for-submissions-shopper-brain-conference/#respond Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:09:16 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/site2023/?p=1395 The Shopper Brain Conference is an international event on neuromarketing and behavioral science in retail. It is well received by shopper marketers and consumer insights professionals around the globe. Due to happen in 2020, and now scheduled for 2021, this unique event will be in

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February 3, 2020
Geraldine Trufil
Call for Submissions Shopper Brain Conference
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Call for Submissions Shopper Brain Conference

The Shopper Brain Conference is an international event on neuromarketing and behavioral science in retail. It is well received by shopper marketers and consumer insights professionals around the globe. Due to happen in 2020, and now scheduled for 2021, this unique event will be in Dublin.

If you like to share some Shopper Insights from the brain, please submit your speaking proposal.

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]]> https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2020/02/03/call-for-submissions-shopper-brain-conference/feed/ 0 AI & Market Research: From Neural Networks to Implicit Testing https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2019/11/13/introducing-our-new-neural-network-platform-emnet/ Wed, 13 Nov 2019 01:01:43 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/site2023/?p=1408 As I have a background in neural networks (I completed my PhD at the Neural Systems Engineering Lab at Imperial College London), I have for some time known that neural networks could be used to make sense of consumer data and give rise to predictions and insights that have been so far unavailable.

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AI & Market Research

From Neural Networks to Implicit Testing | Split Second Research

Contact our team
Our Academic Roots in Neural Networks

Long before AI became a mainstream topic, I was a protégé of Professor Igor Aleksander in the Neural System Lab at Imperial College, London University. This was during the same period when pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, Dave Rumelhart, and John Hopfield were making groundbreaking advances in machine learning and neural networks.

How AI Mirrors the Brain

Large Language Models (LLMs), neural networks, and implicit reaction time tests share a common foundation: associative learning.

  • The brain processes information by forming connections.
  • AI models, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek, work in the same way: predicting what comes next based on prior exposure to data.
  • These principles that underpin AI neural networks are the very same that underpin human implicit memory.

AI-Driven Market Research Platform

At Split Second Research, we’ve created an AI platform that goes beyond traditional research. It enables us to:

  • Map brand values (via reaction times and explicit choices) to behavioural outcomes.
  • Analyse outcomes such as purchase intent, spend, willingness to recommend, and loyalty.
  • Reveal the true purchase drivers behind consumer decisions.
Applications & Benefits
Our AI approach brings multiple advantages:
  • Deeper consumer insights beyond self-reported answers.
  • Predictive links between brand attitudes and behaviours.
  • Faster, scalable analysis with AI-assisted modelling.
  • Evidence-based strategies rooted in neuroscience and AI.

We are currently offering this service as part of our standard research offering. We have several interesting case studies which we have put together with a description of the AI app (with a brief introduction to neural networks). This six-page report can be obtained on request via the contact form.

You can request the report here via our contact form.

Great things can happen in a split-second

Fill out an enquiry form and start to see what we can do for your brand. Alternatively, please email Geraldine Trufil at info@splitsecondresearch.co.uk or call: +44 (0) seven eight seven 8 four double five 9 double four

Start A Conversation

Complete an enquiry form to arrange a meeting with us: 

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]]> How does an implicit reaction time test work? https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/2019/09/24/how-does-an-implicit-reaction-time-test-work/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 01:16:48 +0000 https://splitsecondresearch.co.uk/site2023/?p=1414 The commercial test is itself based on the evaluative priming paradigm in academic research (e.g., Fazio, et al., 1986)1. The first phase of the test is to detect target emotion words as belonging to either one category (e.g., Happy) or another (e.g., Sad).  On each trial in this first phase, the word appears and the respondent has to press one key for happy words and another key for sad words. This is a very easy task, and respondents can do this very quickly with few errors.

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September 24, 2019
Geraldine Trufil
How does an implicit reaction time test work?
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How does an implicit reaction time test work?

Clients often ask, ‘How does an implicit reaction time test work?’, so here’s a brief introduction.

The commercial implicit reaction time test is itself based on the evaluative priming paradigm in academic research (e.g., Fazio, et al., 1986)1. The first phase of the test is to detect target emotion words as belonging to either one category (e.g., Happy) or another (e.g., Sad).  On each trial in this first phase, the word appears and the respondent has to press one key for happy words and another key for sad words. This is a very easy task, and respondents can do this very quickly with few errors.

In the second phase, the task is the same but the target emotion words are preceded very briefly by ‘primes’. These primes are either congruent with the target word (the prime is Joy when the target is Happy, or the prime is Gloomy when the target is Sad) or incongruent (the prime is Gloomy when the target is Happy, or the prime is Joy when the target is Sad). So on some trials the respondent might see the word Joy flash on the screen followed by Happy. They respond to the second word by pressing a key for happy words. The task can be performed quicker and with fewer errors in this case because the prime and the target are congruent. On other trials, the word Gloomy is flashed on the screen followed by Happy. This time, because Gloomy and Happy are incongruent, respondents are a little slower to detect Happy in their key press. The response may be slower by only a split second, yet when repeated over several trials and over many respondents, it would become ‘statistically significant’.

So let’s take this test into the commercial arena. The primes might be the same (Joy and Gloomy) but this time the targets could be Adidas and Nike. Respondents who have a strong preference for Adidas over Nike are likely to be quicker to respond to Joy > Adidas than Joy > Nike, and quicker to respond to Joy > Adidas than Gloomy > Adidas.

In implicit response testing, we broaden the primes to refelct attributes related to brand equity, such as Trusted, Modern, Friendly, Cool, and so on. The targets can be more than just brands, and can be pack designs, celebrities, claims, and so on.

In fact, there is not only one type of implicit test but several, with each being designed to measure a specific aspect of consumer evaluation, such as ad testing, pack testing, claims testing, NPD testing, celebrity endorsement testing, as well as brand positioning.

So, how does an implicit reaction time test work? In short it is about how quickly the respondent can detect target words and how well brand statements can interfere with the detection times of those words.

 

1Fazio, R. H., Sanbonmatsu, D. M., Powell, M. C., & Kardes, F. R. (1986). On the automatic activation of attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 229–238. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.50.2.229

How an implicit reaction time test works 


Cartoon of how an implicit reaction time test works

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