3 reasons why clients and colleagues don’t take actions following debriefs
There have been significant efforts by research agencies and often also their clients to understand how behavioural economics can help us better understand and influence consumers, physicians, business decision makers and other groups.
However, much less thought has gone into how we can use the same evidence base to improve the likelihood of clients and colleagues acting on research findings and recommendations.
Below are 3 reasons why clients and colleagues don’t take actions following debriefs:
1. NO NEW INFORMATION
Most simply of all, despite what you think (and what they, politely, say), your research may not have told your client or colleague anything NEW.
A combination of risk aversion and confirmation bias may have led to the key findings simply being a validation of existing beliefs.
2. TOO MUCH INFORMATION
However, it’s also possible you’ve told your client or colleague TOO MUCH.
“Choice overload” occurs as a result of too many choices being available – with a common outcome being inaction.
You may have thought you were over-delivering but your client or colleague may be left not being able to “see the wood for the trees”.
3. TOO DIFFERENT INFORMATION
Finally, and most subtly, the key insights / recommendations presented may be TOO DIFFERENT from how your client or colleague thinks about the problem.
The “backfire effect” occurs when people reject new evidence that “should” cause them to doubt their beliefs - instead strengthening their original stance.
If insights and recommendations are “fresh” – yet deviate too radically from how your client or colleague has (often for years or even decades) thought about the problem – there’s a strong chance they’ll be quickly discarded.
CONCLUSION
By incorporating knowledge from behavioural economics into the creation of research insights and recommendations, we can increase the likelihood that findings will be acted on.