On the starting point for field research

These days, LinkedIn feeds are overflowing with articles about 'predictions after the Corona crisis'.

And now, articles are emerging that express anger and opposition to opinions that are certain of these changes.

Original article: https://www.marketingweek.com/everything-change-forever-after-coronavirus/

As a business owner who is experiencing confusion, I also want to understand the context of the current situation and prepare for the future based on it. So much. But Because the daily lives of people who have served as the benchmark for observation are undergoing rapid changes, it seems very difficult to select clear subject areas and derive behavior patterns. It's almost like we're going through a war.

Despite this, I sometimes get asked.

“What will happen in the future?”

Since the situation is too early and the lack of information is clear, I would like to at least suggest three questions that will help those who read this article get a sense of the situation they need.

A starting point for confirming direction, not an organized execution plan, and the right questions for this. If you happen to have the same concerns, it would be appropriate to express it as a benchmark that you should ask directly to your key customers at each of your businesses and have a conversation.

A. What actions are no longer possible?

The ‘violation experiment’ discussed in social psychology creates a deliberate challenge and discomfort in a familiar situation and context, thereby providing an opportunity to understand the essence of that experience.

The changes in daily life that the Corona virus has forcibly created these days (dual-income couples who can't send their children to daycare, customers who can't enjoy shopping by visiting stores and touching products directly, etc.) It provides an opportunity to understand the meaning of existing familiar behavioral patterns. In addition, the changes in the target behavior that have to be taken to replace this can suggest the possibility of discovering hidden opportunities from the company's perspective, which are related to the formation of new habits.

B. What are the new things that customers are paying attention to?

A sanitation worker complains on TV news about the large number of masks people are throwing away on the streets. From the point of view that they are also someone's family, it is inevitable that they will feel uncomfortable picking up masks that may have the bodily fluids of an unknown person with their hands. And this phenomenon can be seen as connected to the 'anxiety about what comes from the outside, taking it home' that the Corona virus has clearly brought out.

This may be related to the need for companies to anticipate and prepare for the fact that customers' interest in and scrutiny of the origin of their products, sanitary conditions in the manufacturing process, and logistics processes may increase compared to before.

C. What is the scope of the new online experience? How far does it go?

News about indiscriminate defamation of teachers after online opening of schools and server crashes due to a rapid surge in the number of users are coming out one after another. This Corona virus seems to have brought about another clear benchmark for public institutions and corporations in terms of how far they should change online, on what basis they should invest, and what ethical standards they should use in dealing with each other in the anonymous space of online. This is a story that applies to the next steps of online medical treatment, which has been discussed in the medical field for over 10 years.

In addition, people's attempts to try live broadcasts on Instagram during the frustrating self-quarantine period and their online birthday celebrations seem to have been an opportunity for them to break down the barriers related to the scope and meaning of existing communication. It's very interesting how this branch of experience will grow in the future.

In summary, the scope of people's lives that need to be investigated and understood anew is too wide. At least I alone, the changes in people's daily lives, which seem rapid but will proceed slowly, are simply too huge. It seems difficult to understand this chaos until projects are created based on the issues that a particular company is concerned about.

Moreover, in Korea, people seem to have started their daily lives with Corona. Instead of being dazed and distracted by the predictions that are pouring out from now on, wouldn't it be best to focus on making opportunities to ask the 'customers in front of you' about their daily lives these days and strengthen your relationship with them?