{"id":220341,"date":"2026-01-27T13:43:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=220341"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:43:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:43:25","slug":"let-people-talk-rediscovering-the-human-side-of-marketing-insights","status":"publish","type":"ama_marketing_news","link":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/marketing-news\/let-people-talk-rediscovering-the-human-side-of-marketing-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"Let People Talk: Rediscovering the Human Side of Marketing Insights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marketers have access to more data than ever, but that abundance can sometimes pull us away from what truly drives consumer behavior: human motivation. I\u2019ve spent my career studying why people make the choices they do (often irrationally) and helping brands connect those dots in ways that drive growth. If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned from years of research across categories like retail, entertainment, CPG, and technology, it\u2019s this: You can\u2019t automate curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first started out, I worked on the media agency side, long before digital dominated marketing budgets. Back then, all of our research focused on TV and print. I noticed I was spending all my free time online, but we weren\u2019t studying online advertising at all. So I reached out to our digital media teams and asked, \u201cIf your partners are running research, can I be part of that?\u201d That small step following my curiosity completely changed my career. I started publishing research on digital measurement, speaking at industry events, and eventually moving into platform-side roles at Twitter and Snapchat before joining Alter Agents. That willingness to fill the gap and meet a need turned out to be the best decision I ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening Is Still the Strongest Research Tool<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, the gap has changed, but it still exists. We\u2019re all swimming in data, yet marketers often struggle to translate it into understanding. I\u2019ve found that some of the richest insights come not from dashboards or benchmarks but from slowing down and listening<\/em>. Pause. Ask: \u201cTell me more about that.\u201d Give space for stories to emerge. When you do, you uncover the messy, contradictory truths that no metric can show you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our work, we use every kind of tool, from mobile ethnographies to agile neuroscience, to get at what people think and feel. One of my favorite examples is the Immersion method, which tracks variable heart rate via a wearable to measure the release of oxytocin, the same hormone tied to memory and trust. When someone\u2019s heart rate pattern changes as they interact with an ad or product, it signals that they\u2019re encoding it into memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to recent research published in the Psychology & Marketing<\/em> journal<\/a>, heart rate variability is \u201ca promising tool for identifying and evaluating consumer psychophysiological responses to marketing stimuli \u2026 broadening opportunities for marketing researchers to improve real-time consumer experiences.\u201d And in a blinded test<\/a> that Immersion did with advertising giant BBDO, they found that neural signals are able to predict actions and what will happen in the market. That\u2019s the kind of connection marketers crave: emotional engagement that drives real-world results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology Should Bring Us Closer to People<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course, AI is changing how we get there. We now use secure AI tools to analyze qualitative data such as transcripts, videos, and interviews to find themes faster. It doesn\u2019t replace human judgment, but it lets researchers spend more time thinking deeply about why people behave the way they do. That\u2019s what excites me most: using technology not to distance us from consumers but to get even closer to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, we can\u2019t lose sight of what really matters. If I could throw one marketing metric in the garbage, it would be clicks. In my experience, clicks don\u2019t represent people or motivations and can be wrongly conflated with these to incorrectly inform decisions. The overfocus on last-click data has trained entire industries to chase performance over perspective, ignoring, as a Fast Company<\/em> article<\/a> points out, earlier touchpoints in the shopper journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clicks tell you what\u2019s easy to measure, not what\u2019s meaningful. When brands optimize only for what\u2019s trackable, they miss the deeper story surrounding the relationships, values, and motivations that actually sustain loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Today\u2019s Audiences Really Expect<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s clear from the variety of research we conduct around the globe is that shopper motivations are shifting. Especially among younger audiences, brand purpose still matters, but integrity matters more. In some of our recent research<\/a> with Snapchat, we found that 70% of global Gen Zers say they would assign more status to a figure who advocates for causes on a global scale, and 60% said they only purchase items from brands whose values they agree with\u2014and Gen Z would also spend more when values align. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not enough to say the right thing. People (especially Gen Z) are looking to see if your brand has lived those values consistently. They\u2019ve grown up in public forums, where taking a stand is the norm, and they expect the same from brands. Authenticity, consistency, and action now define credibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So where do marketers start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n