Predicting Behavior

Up until about three years ago, I had never ridden city buses in Austin. About fifteen years ago, my friend P.K. asked me if I'd try riding the bus. I said, "Sure, it will be educational". It took me twelve years to finally get around to doing it.

This sort of consumer behavior is common. You can't just ask someone what they will do and get reliable answers.

Fortunately, skilled product managers are familiar with principles that apply generally to branding and market research. Certain kinds of product names work better than others. Certain kinds of survey questions result in more reliable responses than others.

Anyway, for the past three years city buses have been my primary mode of transportation. P.K. probably will never know; I haven't seen her in thirteen years.

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