Small in stature, big in importance

Editor’s note: Valla Roth is vice president, product marketing at MarketTools, a San Francisco research firm.

They’re a major market force. They’re a top priority for marketers. But for researchers who want to study their opinions, tastes and preferences, kids and teens can be elusive. Here are recommendations for conducting meaningful, actionable research on this important and impressive group of consumers.

Don’t let their diminutive statures fool you: there’s nothing small about the younger generation as a market segment. There are 73 million individuals under the age of 18 in the United States alone, wielding a whopping $250 billion in direct spending power and influencing upward of $1 trillion more. And their influence starts remarkably early. Children as young as three years old express opinions that impact household purchases. Their first purchase is not far behind, with kids from four to seven years old buying their first item directly.

There is no question that marketers need to analyze, evaluate and understand this powerful segment. The question is how. Research with children can be complex and challenging, with special requirements and considerations. This article covers the important issues in conducting research with children and teens - a segment we’ll collectively call kids.

Complex process

Purchasing by and for kids is often a complex process of interactions among children and their parents. The kids may request a particular product, and that request may be subject to various levels or types of parental control. Even teens with their own disposable income can be subject to the control or veto power of parents.

Therefore, in designing your research, you must therefore identify the relevant parties and their respective roles in the purchasing decisions. First you will need to understand the category purchasing dynamics: How much of the category is purchased directly by children? By the kid influencing the parent? By the parent buying for the kid? Consider also the brand’s targeting and marketing strategy. Is it kid-driven? Focused on the parent as gatekeeper for the child? Addressing the entire family?

In cases where kids make their own purchases (such as snacks or magazines for teens) or have strong influence (such as toys for eight-year-olds) you should prioritize the kids’ choices in your research. In many situations, children don’t make the purchase but exert influence on their parents. In these cases, the degree of influence can be affected by the age of the child, family size, parenting style and other factors, so it can be critical to gauge the degree of influence along with how strongly the child will lobby for the product. The family dynamics of how effectively the child’s opinions can influence purchases will be critical to the product’s success, and the research needs to take this into account.

In other categories, parents make the purchasing decision with little or no input from the kids. This is especially true for younger kids, for more-expensive items and in categories where health is a key factor. Focusing on the parents’ choices is most important here.

In evaluating the entire picture, many factors will come into play, such as the price point and the purchase cycle of the product, whether other influencers such as teachers or grandparents giving gifts may play a role, and the relative influence of children based on country and culture. For example, if you are studying a product in a culture where children generally have little influence on their parents’ purchases, you will likely focus on the parents’ response to your concept. In cultures where children’s opinions carry more weight, you may focus more on the kids’ points of view.

In emerging categories or early in brand development, it may not be clear whether kid-targeting or parent-targeting is optimal. In this case, it’s best to develop a wide range of concepts and to interview parents and kids from separate households (the bottom section of the Table 1). From the data collected, targeting strategies will begin to emerge. For example, if a concept scores well among parents and only fair among kids, a gatekeeper strategy is suggested. If a concept is strong among kids and is just acceptable to parents, then targeting kids directly is indicated.

Many venues

There are many venues in which to interview children, including over the phone, in person and online. There are several advantages to online interviewing. Children are comfortable with the online environment; the current kid generation is the first one to grow up with this medium. Conducting research online is visual and engaging, with no interviewer bias. The Internet allows for interacting with the child in his or her natural environment: the home.

When interviewing online, children can be reached directly via kid panels or by way of their parents through their participation in research panels. Our firm reaches children solely through an invitation to the parent. The parent knows what the survey is about and gives permission before turning it over to their child. For younger children, the parent may need to help them understand the directions, so having the parent nearby is very helpful. And as we discussed earlier, many times it’s valuable to interview the parent as well.

Specific guidelines

There are specific guidelines to follow when interviewing children and teens, regardless of the interviewing venue, such as those published by ESOMAR (www.esomar.org ). Our company is a member of this organization and strictly adheres to these guidelines.

For children under 14 years of age:

  • You must obtain permission from the parent or responsible adult first, giving them sufficient information about the subject matter of the interview, along with any potentially sensitive issues. The identity of the adult should be noted, but written permission from the adult is typically not needed from the adult.
  • The adult should be nearby during the interview but need not be in the same room.
  • If the child is to test a product, the adult must be able to see it and try it if desired.

For children and young people under 17 years of age:

  • For product testing, the researcher must be assured by the supplier that the product is safe to handle or consume.
  • The researcher must make sure the child has no relevant allergies, and that using or consuming the product does not result in any illegal activity.
  • Also, the researcher must take into account the maturity level of the child and the subjects appropriate for him or her. Topics that may frighten, worry or disturb the child must be avoided.

If the topic is valid but potentially sensitive to some respondents, a full explanation must be given in advance to the responsible adult, and steps should be taken to ensure that the child is not worried, confused or misled by the questions.

Keep in mind the differences

Kids are not miniature adults. Children are more concrete and literal thinkers, less articulate and more egocentric than adults. Therefore, an adult questionnaire shouldn’t simply be modified for children. It’s best to start over and to keep in mind the differences in how kids are able to respond to stimuli and make choices.

Young children (7 years old and under) tend to focus on one aspect of a stimulus, perhaps a very trivial one to an adult. For example, a young boy may love the color of a toy because it’s the same color as his favorite sports team, yet he ignores the fact that it is remote-controlled and can maneuver around tight corners. These children tend to see the world as black or white, so survey questions need to be simple. Their reading level is not well developed, so they likely will need a parent to help them read any instructions and perhaps act as an interpreter when filling out the survey.

Tweens (8 to 12 years old) have better reading ability and can handle more verbal concepts. They can separate an idea or a product into its basic components, such as the taste and the texture of a food product. They are beginning to understand that not everything is black or white.

Teens (13 to 17 years old) have well-developed cognitive skills, similar to adults. They can use logic, reasoning and abstract thinking though not at the same maturity level as adults.

We recommend interviewing children no younger than 6 years old. At 6 and above, children are in school, so they’ve learned to focus on activities and have at least a basic reading ability. Regardless of the age, child interviews need to be short to match their attention spans.

Below are some general tips in designing kid surveys (see chart for recommended survey durations):

  • Give simple, clear instructions. Tell children that it’s OK to ask a parent for help if they don’t understand.
  • For young kids, have all responses be mouse-driven rather than needing to be typed.
  • Start with easy-to-answer questions. Consider a warm-up question for younger kids, one where the results aren’t tabulated.
  • Keep the survey very interactive and visual. Pattern a survey from a video game. Consider using sound as well as visuals such as voiceover instructions for younger kids.
  • Check stimulus download times; kids are used to immediate reactions.
  • Avoid matrix (grid) or constant sum questions.
  • Give them positive feedback along the way and show a progress bar.
  • If unsure, consult a teacher of that age group or pretest among a small group of kids of the target age.

About choices

Life is about choices - for children as well as adults. The type and the complexity of choices for children are, of course, different from those for adults. Choices are manifested in the ensuing behavior that occurs. For example, a child may choose a new cereal after seeing it on TV, and then ask his parent to buy it instead of his current favorite.

Because behavior is the bottom line, we believe in concentrating on the effects of the offerings, not the means. It’s more important to measure the behavior than the attitude behind it, especially for children who may not be able to understand or articulate their attitudes or feelings. It’s also important to measure the behavior alongside the alternative behaviors that could take place - in a choice context. Figure 1 shows an example of a choice-based behavioral question.

By providing the three visual choices, even younger children can understand and effectively answer the question, and differences between ideas can be found.

If children are responding to a number of simple stimuli (such as premiums that could go into a kid’s meal), they could sort the pictures or drawings in a similar behaviorally-based manner, as shown in Figure 2.

There are times when rating scales are desired, especially for older kids and teens when evaluating product attributes. A choice-based approach is best, putting what is being evaluated into a meaningful context.

We have found that star scales work best - even across cultures and countries - because kids can universally respond to the notion of “more is better.” When there are more than three scale points, kids can have trouble discerning differences in smiley faces. When using star scales, it’s important to stack the stars in the answer responses for better understanding.

Figure 3 is an example of a star scale diagnostic question suitable for a Tween.

If it’s important to discriminate between degrees of purchase interest, Figure 4 is an example of a star scale question that a teen could answer. Note that it is still portrayed as a choice-based question.

Finally, occasionally there are surveys that are largely attitudinal, not behavioral. These are not recommended for younger children and tweens because they usually can’t articulate or even understand their attitudes or opinions. Teens are developing the cognitive ability to express their attitudes on subjects relevant to them. Figure 5 shows an example of an attitude question that may appear in a study among high school kids.

Tapping into the natural communities of kids and the adults around them - parents, teachers, grandparents and others - can help you identify the trends and related product opportunities. For example, you can analyze the content posted on kid-related message boards that are frequented by your targeted segments. By listening in and understanding the authentic and raw opinions of kids and their parents, you can generate ideas for further investigation.

Critical to the success

Researching the preferences, opinions and behaviors of children and teens can be critical to the success of your brand. Following these guidelines on appropriate techniques, questioning methodologies and protocols for kids will ensure that you gather relevant data and direction. In conducting research with kids, you should: follow appropriate parental involvement approaches; identify the appropriate purchase and influence segments; and conduct surveys using engaging and age-appropriate methods.