A Good Product Name in the Semantic Network: Implicit Methods for Naming

Effective market research is able to predict consumer behavior. However, relying only on consumers’ conscious statements can often lead to wrong conclusions, because consumers often do not even know why they prefer a product or brand. Implicit methods are not affected by this deficit, since they do not ask consumers for their opinions but rather capture their deeper, usually unconscious attitudes. Implicit methods therefore often provide better information about the unconscious impact level of brands and products. This chapter will introduce you to the topic of implicit methods in the context of market research by working out answers to the following questions step by step. What role do semantic networks play in purchase decisions? How can implicit associations be measured? How can implicit methods be applied in the practice of market research? Furthermore, we use application examples to show where the limitations of explicit surveys lie and what the advantages of concrete, implicit methods are in return. However, we would like to emphasize that explicit and implicit market research are not mutually exclusive but, on the contrary, complement each other perfectly.