If a picture tells 1,000 words, and the average person uses 5-6 metaphors per minute, then typical market research is just hitting the tip of the iceberg in accessing the 5,000+ wpm that customers process internally. Zaltman shows how to tap into the subconscious and nonverbal elements by using metaphor-based research methods. The 1st part of the book contains a lot of neat facts although it is written in a rather academic style, but the middle section gives how-to and examples of metaphor-based research. Overall I found the book to be eye-opening, thorough, and useful ... in fact, essential for superior brand/product positioning and customer experience improvement. For a quick read on driving progress of customer programs I also recommend this book with step-by-step tips: Metrics You Can Manage For Success.

If a picture tells 1,000 words, and the average person uses 5-6 metaphors per minute, then typical market research is just hitting the tip of the iceberg in accessing the 5,000+ wpm that customers process internally. Zaltman shows how to tap into the subconscious and nonverbal elements by using metaphor-based research methods. The 1st part of the book contains a lot of neat facts although it is written in a rather academic style, but the middle section gives how-to and examples of metaphor-based research. Overall I found the book to be eye-opening, thorough, and useful ... in fact, essential for superior brand/product positioning and customer experience improvement.

Disappointing. If you have read some bestsellers touching on with recent findings in neuroscience (e.g. Antonio Damasio) and memory (e.g. Daniel Schacter) then what's left of this book for you is largely an advertisement for Zaltman's commercial and patented (!!) market research technique called 'Zaltman's metaphor elicitation'.

Yes there are good reasons to doubt focus groups (more reasons than Zaltman discusses), as well as management intuition, and market research that asks consumers why they bought what they bought. But that doesn't mean we need to resort to Zaltman's consultancy which bears a strong resemblance to some of the excesses of 1960s motivational research. Anyway Zaltman makes a very poor case for this logical leap, he really presents it as a fait accompli (I believe so so should you).

For marketing managers the greatest weakness of this book is the lack of integration with known facts of buying behaviour. The discoveries of even 20th Century marketing science are ignored. So there are no facts in this book about how consumers actually buy, or consume media. And so such facts aren't used as a check against Gerry's ideas. Indeed there is no testing of any ideas.

The marketing examples are purely anecdotal, and often very vague - suggesting a lack of first-hand knowledge (they read as if they were mentioned by 3rd parties to the author at the end of a seminar or over a chat). I can't recall anything convincing about sales results, or anything public that could be externally validated, the anecdotes have to be taken on trust. Even so, surprisingly, they tend to make very weak vague claims:

e.g. "managers at Coca-Cola's German office found that new research on memory contradicted many of their prevailing assumptions about how memory worked and how to design effective advertising campaigns. By applying several key findings about memory.. [they] launched a successful marketing program in that country." You don't say, wow ! What assumptions, what research, what sort of advertising program ? All we readers get is:

"Specifically, the company created more meaning (sic) and effective advertising by understanding the reconstructive nature of memory and the various factors affecting the encoding and retrieval of memory".

It would perhaps be acceptable if that sort of anecdote came at the start of the book - you'd expect more exciting, harder, detailed evidence to come later once the reader was familiar with the book's key concepts. But this example comes from page 258 - this sort of feeble anecdote is about as good as it gets as far as evidence that this book has any real-world application value.

As other reviewers have noted it's also an overly long rather abstract book, with somewhat indulgent structure, for example the third part is about management thinking not "how customers think". This book talks a lot about insight but doesn't deliver much.

This is a disjointed, rambling and under-edited compendium of topics from market research. The author swings from brand development to product development to service experience as if they were fundamentally about the same thing. The number of U.S. automotive examples in the book is truly dispiriting since last time I checked, the market share loss was continuing unabated in spite of all of these allegedly successful studies. His section on focus group usefulness is far too negative. There are far better topic specific books on the market about brand, product development and service experience development. Buy those.

This book is a great cross between a psychology book and a marketing book.

I was interested in this book because it talks a lot about understanding how and why customers buy. Clearly no business is successful without customers.

One challenge my company, SYNNEX, has is addressing needs of many different customers, many of which have different needs. What might be seen as essential for one customer is not even valued by another. I believe all companies are best for specific types of customer and the more within the target range a customer fits, the happier they are. And the opposite is true. Where I see dissatisfied customers, they normally do not fit the specific ideal customer type. We cannot be everything to everybody.

He uses many examples of optical illusion and how perception in some cases is more important than reality in the mind of the customer.

Marketing can alter perception. And measuring perception can be very difficult.

I dont know if this is a marketing book!!

Too much text for less benefits

Ideas are not integrated with each other specially when connecting science with Marketing

Not too many marketing examples.

Even the examples did not show what where the exact results of the specified theories conducted

At the end of the book he fills it with text about creativity, oh please!!! this is supposed to be a book about marketing and how I am supposed understand customers not how to be creative

One more thing, he argues that products are how they are perceived in the mind of the customer and not what the products are in reality. Well, this is a very old idea, maybe the writer should read books for Al Ries and Jack Trout about Positioning.

I dont know if this is a marketing book!!

Too much text for less benefits

Ideas are not integrated with each other specially when connecting science with Marketing

Not too many marketing examples.

Even the examples did not show what where the exact results of the specified theories conducted

At the end of the book he fills it with text about creativity, oh please!!! this is supposed to be a book about marketing and how I am supposed understand customers not how to be creative

One more thing, he argues that products are how they are perceived in the mind of the customer and not what the products are in reality. Well, this is a very old idea, maybe the writer should read books for Al Ries and Jack Trout about Positioning.

The title holds much promise. The introduction intriguing. Yet as I trudged through this tomb, it finally dawned on me that there is much less here than the first glance promises. Two major problems: 1. The author puts forth a rather simple, yet vague theory of unconscious thinking, then discusses at length the utility of metaphors, but nowhere is the connection made between the two concepts. What is unconscious thinking that metaphors can magically make visible? What proof is there of any connection? This slight of hand left me shaking my head. Where is the model? Where is the empirical evidence? 2. The writing is at times entertaining, but beyond the introduction it is more and more rambling, redundant and scattered. It appears no technical editor was allowed anywhere near this manuscript. bottom line, I know no more about how customers think after reading this book, than I did before. However, I do now know how bad focus groups are (even though the empirical data appears absent.)

This is perhaps the best text I've read on understanding the mind of the consumer. Zaltman takes potentially complex information and presents it in a form that is relatively easy to digest.

Zaltman explains how new brain science research indicates that the confidence marketers have placed in focus group methodology has been based on a number false assumptions including the following: 1. Consumers think in well-reason, linear ways to evaluate products and services. 2. Consumers can reasonably explain their emotions, feeling, preferences and behaviors - and translate them into words; and 3. Consumers' memories are accurate reflections of their experience.

According to Zaltman, the reality for consumers is really quite different. We live in a world where culture, emotions and desires play a larger role than logical decision-making. We receive and interpret information from the marketplace within a unique context. And, as consumers, much of our thinking takes place on a subconscious level, making it difficult for focus group participants to explain their behaviors. Our memories of what led us to make specific choices are far from perfect. On a conscious level we typically rationalize our decision-making without giving the underlying contextual complexities for our product and service choices.

In summary, Zaltman's text is a great place to learn more about current thinking on the mind of the consumer, the limits of traditional focus groups and some reliable methods for tapping into consumer insights.

1. Rohit Deshpade noted that over 80 percent of all market research serves mainly to reinforce existing conclusions, not to test or develop new possibilities. Managers act as if endorsing current views merits 80 percent of their resources.
2. Recent studies of the effects of brain lesions demonstrate that when neurological structures responsible for either emotion or reasoning sustain damage, the affected individuals lose their ability to make the kinds of sound decisions permitting a normal life.
3. The operation of our memory and emotions occurs below our threshold of awareness. Why do people purchase expensive things? One answer reveals an important feeling relating to self-esteem. Once realized the company strengthens its relationships with the purchasing agents by acknowledging the feeling most closely related to self-esteem during sales calls.
4. The Western view of the mind states the mind does not exist absence the brain, body, and society.
5. Emotion allows the mind to reorganize, innovate, and produce something better and more useful. Memories are metaphors. People generally do not think in words, they think in metaphors. Metaphors help the individual to perceive the world, help to see new connections, and draw meaning from experiences. Without imagination nothing in the world would be meaningful. Without imagination we could not interpret our experiences. Without imagination we could not reason toward knowledge of reality.
6. When customers are exposed to product concepts, company stories, or brand information, they don't passively absorb those messages. Instead, they create their own meaning by mixing information from the company with their own memories, other stimuli present at the moment, and the metaphors that come to mind as they think about the firm's message.
7. Poor quality thinking cannibalizes high-quality thinking. Quality thinking takes time. True understanding takes time.
8. Many consumers view their clothing as a personal container or an extension of the self.
9. Largely ignored, are the Emotional benefits of the product or service. The goal is insightful consumer analysis feed by understanding how consumer mental activity occurs.
10. The more skilled marketers are in listening to customers, the more effective their marketing strategies will be establishing the value of the firm's offerings
11. The more clearly current and potential customers understand the value of the firm's offerings, the larger the top line will be.
12. Skillful listening tells the management team how large a challenge they face, especially in terms of meeting latent needs.
13. Michael Tomasello, states that cognitive skills have been learned fast because of social and cultural transmission.
14. When we encounter new ideas through verbal communication, they root themselves within a preexisting system that gives them relevance. Different cultures emphasize different thoughts.
15. 80 percent of communication occurs non-verbally.
16. Joseph Turner, reason and emotion are not opposites; they are partners who occasionally disagree but depend on one another for success
17. Logical thoughts are much easier to articulate than emotions.
18. Managers who deeply understand their consumers may accurately anticipate their responses to a new product before the firm presents it.
19. Unconsciously a buyer believes that the national brand works better and is therefore better for loved ones (severe sympthoms, self or spouse or child)
20. Fast stimulus to messages occurs when the message is flashed subliminally.
21. People perceive messages transmitted by a baby-faced person as more sincere because they see babies as innocent and honest.
22. The exact same dinner tastes different depending on whether one is dining with a close friend or an unpleasant stranger.
23. The correlation between stated intent and actual behavior is low. 12 percent of the time, customers actually purchases items that they verbal indicated that they would purchase.
24. Customer predispositions create feelings and thoughts toward the brand and unconsciously influence their reaction to the brand.

1. Rohit Deshpade noted that over 80 percent of all market research serves mainly to reinforce existing conclusions, not to test or develop new possibilities. Managers act as if endorsing current views merits 80 percent of their resources.
2. Recent studies of the effects of brain lesions demonstrate that when neurological structures responsible for either emotion or reasoning sustain damage, the affected individuals lose their ability to make the kinds of sound decisions permitting a normal life.
3. The operation of our memory and emotions occurs below our threshold of awareness. Why do people purchase expensive things? One answer reveals an important feeling relating to self-esteem. Once realized the company strengthens its relationships with the purchasing agents by acknowledging the feeling most closely related to self-esteem during sales calls.
4. The Western view of the mind states the mind does not exist absence the brain, body, and society.
5. Emotion allows the mind to reorganize, innovate, and produce something better and more useful. Memories are metaphors. People generally do not think in words, they think in metaphors. Metaphors help the individual to perceive the world, help to see new connections, and draw meaning from experiences. Without imagination nothing in the world would be meaningful. Without imagination we could not interpret our experiences. Without imagination we could not reason toward knowledge of reality.
6. When customers are exposed to product concepts, company stories, or brand information, they don't passively absorb those messages. Instead, they create their own meaning by mixing information from the company with their own memories, other stimuli present at the moment, and the metaphors that come to mind as they think about the firm's message.
7. Poor quality thinking cannibalizes high-quality thinking. Quality thinking takes time. True understanding takes time.
8. Many consumers view their clothing as a personal container or an extension of the self.
9. Largely ignored, are the Emotional benefits of the product or service. The goal is insightful consumer analysis feed by understanding how consumer mental activity occurs.
10. The more skilled marketers are in listening to customers, the more effective their marketing strategies will be establishing the value of the firm's offerings
11. The more clearly current and potential customers understand the value of the firm's offerings, the larger the top line will be.
12. Skillful listening tells the management team how large a challenge they face, especially in terms of meeting latent needs.
13. Michael Tomasello, states that cognitive skills have been learned fast because of social and cultural transmission.
14. When we encounter new ideas through verbal communication, they root themselves within a preexisting system that gives them relevance. Different cultures emphasize different thoughts.
15. 80 percent of communication occurs non-verbally.
16. Joseph Turner, reason and emotion are not opposites; they are partners who occasionally disagree but depend on one another for success
17. Logical thoughts are much easier to articulate than emotions.
18. Managers who deeply understand their consumers may accurately anticipate their responses to a new product before the firm presents it.
19. Unconsciously a buyer believes that the national brand works better and is therefore better for loved ones (severe sympthoms, self or spouse or child)
20. Fast stimulus to messages occurs when the message is flashed subliminally.
21. People perceive messages transmitted by a baby-faced person as more sincere because they see babies as innocent and honest.
22. The exact same dinner tastes different depending on whether one is dining with a close friend or an unpleasant stranger.
23. The correlation between stated intent and actual behavior is low. 12 percent of the time, customers actually purchases items that they verbal indicated that they would purchase.
24. Customer predispositions create feelings and thoughts toward the brand and unconsciously influence their reaction to the brand.

In one way I enjoyed reading the book as it pulled together various studies and experiments related to aspects of cognitive psychology and the use of some techniques (e.g. metaphors), but in the end the book simply does not deliver on the title.

For me, the failure of the book is that it does not propose any coherent, overall model of "How Customers Think" (or more importantly ... how purchase decisions are sub-consciously arrived at), just simply some interesting observations on different aspects of thought with little or not integration. I suspect that most people would read the book and think "interesting ... but what the heck do I do now?"

I'm waiting for a better book on the subject to come along ...

Great information, but unless you're well seasoned in psychology topics you will find yourself re-reading each page to understand it. I thought it was more of a marketing book than psychology, but nonetheless it's pretty good.

Why do I like fast cars? If you ask me, I'll tell you that as a purely rational man, I read the automotive press, can speak intelligently about my Quad Four engine and my Northstar System, and always make highly intelligent buying decisions. The reality is that forty years ago, I was standing in front of the Dart Drug in NW Washington, DC, and I was holding my father's hand at the curb in the parking lot when a red convertible flew past us driven by guy in sunglasses with a big smile and next to him was a beautiful, laughing girl. My father looked down at me and said, "son, do you know who that was? That was Sonny Jurgenson, the quarterback of the Washington Redskins." He said it with respect, and my father wasn't a very gushy kind of guy. And that's the real reason I like fast cars.

What goes on deep in the subconscious is where the real truth lies and often it can only be reached by deep metaphor elicitation. The above only came back to me when reading this book and considering deep metaphor in my own frame of reference. I've used Olson Zaltman Research and the techniques work -- his isn't the only way to get at this type of data, but it works.

The book makes several other important points, including his lambasting of focus groups -- deadly accurate -- and very truthfully pointing out that the vast majority of research is done purely to support decisions that have already been made.

How Customers Think is very much worth reading for anyone in the marketing profession who is a buyer, consumer, or provider of marketing research. I'd like to think that this kind of book can help resurrect a profession that has damaged its reputation from years of corner cutting and avoiding heavy lifting. If marketing spent more time being a science and less time manipulating fluff and personal opinions, you'd see CMO's keeping their jobs longer.

Why do I like fast cars? If you ask me, I'll tell you that as a purely rational man, I read the automotive press, can speak intelligently about my Quad Four engine and my Northstar System, and always make highly intelligent buying decisions. The reality is that forty years ago, I was standing in front of the Dart Drug in NW Washington, DC, and I was holding my father's hand at the curb in the parking lot when a red convertible flew past us driven by guy in sunglasses with a big smile and next to him was a beautiful, laughing girl. My father looked down at me and said, "son, do you know who that was? That was Sonny Jurgenson, the quarterback of the Washington Redskins." He said it with respect, and my father wasn't a very gushy kind of guy. And that's the real reason I like fast cars.

What goes on deep in the subconscious is where the real truth lies and often it can only be reached by deep metaphor elicitation. The above only came back to me when reading this book and considering deep metaphor in my own frame of reference. I've used Olson Zaltman Research and the techniques work -- his isn't the only way to get at this type of data, but it works.

The book makes several other important points, including his lambasting of focus groups -- deadly accurate -- and very truthfully pointing out that the vast majority of research is done purely to support decisions that have already been made.

How Customers Think is very much worth reading for anyone in the marketing profession who is a buyer, consumer, or provider of marketing research. I'd like to think that this kind of book can help resurrect a profession that has damaged its reputation from years of corner cutting and avoiding heavy lifting. If marketing spent more time being a science and less time manipulating fluff and personal opinions, you'd see CMO's keeping their jobs longer.

This book has some good concepts, but the majority of the text deals with the workings of the brain, neurophysiology and neuropsychology. The book is entirely mislabeled as a business/marketing book when only 10% of the overall text addresses business, marketing or even consumer science. It is a cleverly disguised neuropsychology book.

The book has over 300 pages, and is written in a very elegant style. Most likely - you will require multiple passes to get the nuggets out; what worked for me was to make notes of key ideas as I went through it. The connections to such key ideas I found were woven in multiple places, and in different ways. There were times the same ideas were presented in a different light.

This by itself is not necessarily bad - rather it enhances the utility but at the expense of the volume of reading required.

Also - since the field of neuroscience is rather new, and we as a species have only recently started gaining an understanding of brain function, supporting everything with hard data can be difficult. Nevertheless - the author does an excellent job at explaining the connection between behavior and the events that take place in our conscious, and unconscious. Some readers may find that rather troubling, and that is understandable. Further - as alluded to by the author - hard data is not that objective after all.

If you are looking for simple cookie cutter answers that will quickly jump out at you - look elsewhere. If you are willing to invest the time to read, digest, and reflect - it will reward you in many ways.

Enjoy!!!

what a load of rubbish - I very rarely give bad feedback as I know that it is easy to criticise BUT really this book is absolute rubbish. Claims are made but not substantiated, putting a reference does not validate a claim. The title is attractive and the summary compelling but the actual content insults any experienced marketing, or for that matter any business, reader's intelligence. If you want a laugh go to page 31 where the author says ""What happens when a "marketer pyramid" and a "consumer pyramid" come together...The result appears in figure 2-2". Figure 2-2 shows two triangles with lines joining bits up BUT there is absolutly no content!!! - I laughed so much people sitting next to on the plane looked at me and I showed them the page. Five other people read the page and laughed at the audacity of what was being presented. I will never buy another book from HBS Press. Where is the peer review? Where is the editorial control? Heaven help us if the current and future generations of HBS graduates are being taught, and accept(!) this garbage.

The consumer research theory introduced in this book is of breakthrough importance if, indeed, it is valid. It's an exciting theory, but truly, one could learn of it by reading a ten-page article. A 200 page book isn't necessary. I'm kind constantly surprised at the high praise this book receives. I think it's because people are hesitant to criticize Harvard Business School professors.

I'm an avid reader of business and marketing books, but I found this turgid. I've actually given up. I can tell there are some interesting thoughts in there, but my eyes just glaze over. Could be just me.

For most of its pages, "How Customers Think" is a silly book which conceals shallow content with glib explanations, pseudo-scientific rationales, and marketing / management jargon. Since it assumes the basic principles of marketing research without explanation, it is not useful to a beginning research practitioner or buyer. However, an experienced practitioner will find some interesting ideas, provided (s)he is willing to spend some time cutting through fluff to get to the meat.

The book's greatest flaw is its author's misconception, common to many authors in marketing and related fields, that books about marketing should themselves be examples of marketing. Much of the book reads like advertising copy for the marketing research methods and management principles expounded by the author. This slick style tries, but fails, to conceal a serious lack of content.

Most of the book's content falls into one of three categories, all useless. The first category: explanations of traditional qualitative questioning techniques, such as projection using pictures or collages. These methodologies are rehashed without any really new content or in-depth explanation. The second category: discussion of recent findings from cognitive science, along with case studies showing how these findings lead to better MR methods. Unfortunately, the author's own understanding of cognitive science is too shallow, and the connection between cognitive science and his successful case studies so tenuous, that one suspects cognitive science is nothing more than window dressing intended to sell services to clients. The third category: principles for successful business management. The author essentially proposes creativity and flexible thinking as magic bullets for business success, with apparently little understanding of how useless is the *mere* recognition of these principles.

"How Customers Think"'s one saving grace is its fourth category of content: genuinely innovative data collection and analytical methods, primarily for qualitative research. Most of this content relates to so-called "metaphor elicitation", a proposed technique for teasing out the language (and thus the concepts) relating to some core idea; and "consensus mapping", a proposed technique for systematically recording the results of many respondents' metaphor elicitation in a way that reflects the cognitive structure of the core idea. While these techniques do not represent a huge breakthrough, they are useful nonetheless. It's unfortunate that they take up such a small part of the book.

In this thoroughly researched, documented, footnoted book, author Gerald Zaltman opens a gateway into a deep, fertile field for marketing professionals. After a thorough review of traditional marketing research techniques based on the abysmal failures of consumer surveys and focus groups, Zaltman addresses the importance of the subconscious in framing consumer attitudes and behaviors. He cites a wide variety of interdisciplinary sources, including results from biochemical research about brain function. This is definitely not a light read, but it has insight and offers great potential for dedicated, large corporation marketers who have a background in behavioral science. While the book is interesting and challenging, it is also dense and sometimes repetitive. The book explores an interesting metaphysical discussion and uses apt case studies to drive home key points, yet its practical application is open to discussion. For instance, how can marketers practically find the intersection between their subconscious and the consumer's subconscious, as Zaltman suggests? We recommend this thought-provoking work to all research-oriented marketing executives.

I have read ten of the latest books on branding and marketing in the last year, and this is solidly the best one. Zaltman's research technique of metaphor elicitation is one I have used often in my work but I had never appreciated the robust underlying thinking and rationale behind why this approach works so well to uncover consumer insights. I'd say the last couple of chapters are a miss because they move from the cognitive science basis of metaphor and meaning into top 10 lists of how to run your business- which is a lot more like the usual rehash you get in other marketing books.

REVIEW SUMMARY: "How Customers Think" will help you peer into the mind of your market in a way you never thought possible. It is new, fundamental, and essential for any marketer who wants to succeed. . In very understandable language the author explains how buying decisions are influenced by the complex interactions between mind, brain, body, and society. We also learn how the minds of marketers can distort their perceptions of customer's responses. Zaltman introduces the technique of metaphor elicitation to uncover and truly understand consumer wants and needs. This technique encourages consumers to use metaphors in talking about companies, brands, products, needs, etc. The author reports that by one estimate, we employ nearly six metaphors per minute of spoken language. Why? Because they facilitate the making of connections, helping humans understand the world that surrounds us. Metaphors, as defined by the author, are essential for understanding and communicating with the market (and all human interatcions for that matter). The book is important, interesting, applicable, and a pleasure to read


FULL REVIEW: It is a fantasy that many of us have experienced at some time in either our personal or professional lives: being able to peer inside someone else's mind to learn what exactly that person is thinking. The ability to understand another person's thinking, and the reasons for the thought process, has an enormous potential to reduce the friction inherent in human interactions. Imagine how it would reduce communications friction between you and your significant other if you could know exactly what your partner wants, and exactly why he/she wants it. With this information we could tailor our communications and interactions so that both parties get what they want and both are satisfied with the process.

Marketing, in essence, is about understanding the needs of a group of people called a market, creating a valuable solution to address the market's needs, communicating the differentiate value you have created, and pricing it in such a way as to induce a transaction where both parties are satisfied.

Zaltman helps us peer into the mind of the market in this very significant book, "How Customers Think." He tells us how people think from a neurological level. In very understandable language the author explains how a customer's buying decision is influenced by the complex interactions between mind, brain, body, and society. We also learn how the minds of marketers can distort their perceptions of customer's responses. It becomes clear that not only do we need to understand how customers think, but how we as marketers think.

In this book we learn some important facts about buyers and their thinking:

1. Consumers don't think in well-reasoned, linear ways.

2. Consumers cannot plausibly explain their thinking and behavior (because 95% of our thinking takes place in our unconscious).

3. Consumer's mind, brains, bodies, and culture can only be studied in relation to each other.

4. Consumer's memories may not accurately reflect their experience and those memories can change over time.

5. Consumers do not think primarily in words. The unconscious mind reveals itself as metaphors (similes, analogies, allegories, personifications, and proverbs).

6. Customers rarely can absorb a company message and interpret it correctly. They constantly reinterpret these messages in terms of their own unique experiences.

If consumers don't think in linear ways, 95% of their mental processing is unconscious, their memories are malleable, they don't think in words, and they reinterpret our marketing messages, how are we to understand them? Zaltman recommends the technique of metaphor elicitation to uncover and understand consumer wants and needs. This technique encourages consumers to use metaphors in talking about companies, brands, products, needs, etc.

A metaphor is a figurative language, referring to the representation of one thing in terms of another. The author reports that by one estimate, we employ nearly six metaphors per minute of spoken language. Why? Because they facilitate the making of connections, helping us understand the world that surrounds us.

Need an example of using a metaphor to communicate an abstract concept? Most people have never tasted frogs' legs, but they have an idea of what they taste like because they have been told they taste like chicken.

You will have to read the book to learn more about metaphor elicitation and how to use the data to more effectively market to your target segments. Or, to use a metaphor, Zaltman's book will be the key to unlocking the treasure chest of new information on communicating with your target market.

Of course, nothing is perfect and How Customers Think is no exception. The part on consensus maps could have been expanded while the section titled "The 10 Crowbars for Creative Thinking" could have been left out and covered in a separate article. And it's not a "how-to" book that will give you steps by step instructions for metaphor elicitation. Nor should it be, this book is an excellent introduction to an important and complex new marketing tool.

Bottom line: An excellent book with brilliant insight. It left me breathless as new and useful insights were revealed on almost every page. I was glued to the book as it it was a best selling mystery novel(Use of metaphors intentional!)

In the beginning, it was a bit of a difficult read...but then WHAM! Things started to make sense. What I already knew, I then understood in GREATer detail. BUT, what I didn't know well...that will remain a "Secret" between me and the other readers of this book. If I were anyone reading this, I would get this book and put in a little effort and time in understanding every ounce of information in this book. You don't need to be a brain surgeon to understand it but, buy it, grab a highliter and some of those little "colored tape-like flag things" or post-its and get to work.

If you have a business, then prepare for MAJOR Growth!

With "How Customers Think," Zaltman provides an interesting perspective on the field of market research as it relates to consumer behavior. According to Zaltman, (1) thought is based on images, not words; (2) most communication is non-verbal; (3) metaphors are central to thought and (4) memory is fragile. The book is very well researched (and footnoted) and well written, with abstract concepts presented with real-life examples that support the thesis being presented. In the end you may not buy into all of the conclusions reached by Zaltman, but the material is sufficiently compelling to least warrant serious consideration. The material will clearly make you think about previous assumptions. If you do market research or make decisions based on market research, Zaltman's book should be part of your professional reading for 2005.

This is the best book about marketing research and understanding both your customers & yourself that I have ever read. Having applied lots of cutting-edge research results from other disciplines, such as philosophy of mind/psychology and cognitive science makes this book a must read for those in today's bloody business world, not just traditional marketing peoples. Much valuable than those books with fashion titles as "experiential marketing".

With the advances made in the last 15 years on brain research and understanding, creating advertising is a whole new ballgame.

Consumers conscious thoughts are only 5% of their thinking, so it is often that most research doesn't address the incredibly important 95%. Zaltman explains how to do it and how to do it effectively, of course plugging his own firm here and there.

Being in a big ad agency, I know that most work isn't produced with solid research behind it, but instead for a client who has "dictated" what the advertising needs to do or how it should appeal to consumers. The best account planners and managers can take the knowledge from this book and guide their clients to understanding the benefits of this type of research (through ROI) and ultimately achieve better results.