If we think about a consumer experience around a product or brand, we can divide it into three distinct layers: Behaviors, Context and Emotions.

Revelation’s Activity-Based approach can help you get at each of these layers, and today I’m going to focus on Emotions. 

Emotions are the subtext to consumer experiences. If we can read the emotions, we can crystallize understanding of how people relate to their world.  Some good Emotional activities are: 

1. Image metaphors 
2. Personification
3. Storytelling

Emotions are often extremely difficult to put into words.  As Gerald Zaltman described in “How Customers Think,” using images as vehicles for metaphors are a powerful way to help people access their emotions.   A simple metaphor activity might ask participants to post an image that represents a particular product, brand, service or life event, and then describe why they chose that image.  The simple combination of picture and description often creates a powerful response. 

In personification activities, participants are asked to describe a series of events from the perspective of the product or object, rather than their own perspective.  An example of a personification activity is asking participants to describe a day in the life of their computer from their computer’s point of view. This seemingly small twist often elicits strong emotional content, as participants tend to transfer their emotions on to the object.

Storytelling can also be a powerful conduit to deeper emotions.  The key is how you set up the exercise. A good example of setting up a storytelling exercise is to introduce with the sentence, “Tell me about a time when you were surprised by…”

Activities: The Beginning of the Conversation 

These are just a few examples of activities that can get participants to open up in surprising and effective ways. Of course, the activity itself is just the start of the conversation.  Once a participant opens up through the activity, there is ample opportunity to probe for more depth and clarity.   

Revelation fully supports the activities described above. Best of all, you can find examples in our Activity Library – at your fingertips as you build your project.  Contact us to get started!