Why Insights Should Never Be Written in the Voice of the Consumer

The word “insight” is probably the most overused word in all of advertising. It’s been the primary advertising strategy buzzword for at least as long as I’ve been conscious of the existence of advertising strategists. Over the course of my career I’ve seen many things called an “insight” (most of which I think incorrectly) and one of the biggest mistakes that I see all the time is writing an insight in the voice of the consumer. It seems counterintuitive but, insights should be written about people, not in their voice.

I suppose I should start by defining an “insight.” The definition I like to use (which was heavily inspired by other strategists) is that an insight is a previously unarticulated human truth that explains why someone thinks, feels, or does something. The critical word in that definition is “why.” Strategists who write insights in the voice of the consumer do so because they think the consumer’s voice gives the insight more power. The problem is, most people don’t know why they do what they do (and if they do know, they’d never say it loud). People can certainly post-rationalize their beliefs and actions but rarely is what people say the real reason for what they believe or do. The result is that if you write an insight in the voice of the consumer, you’re either simply defaulting to what you’ve heard them say in research or you’re writing something that they would never say — which is not very helpful.

Here’s what an insight about why teenagers post selfies on social media sounds like in their own voice, “I post selfies on social media every day because it’s fun and all my friends do it.” I’m sure this is an answer you’d get from a teenager if you asked them about their social media use but it doesn’t get to the true why. A true insight might be that teenagers post selfies on social media every day because they thrive on external validation from their peers and social media allows them to quantify that validation through likes — the more likes, the better they feel about themselves. This insight points to a deeper why that explains the behavior. But listen to how that insight sounds if you insist on keeping it in the consumer’s voice, “I post selfies on social media every day because I thrive on external validation from my peers and social media allows me to quantify that validation through likes. The more likes, the better I feel about myself.” No one would ever actually say that about themselves so presenting it as a quote lacks credibility.

Writing about the consumer but not in their voice allows us as strategists to be the voices of authority. This isn’t about copy-and-pasting quotes from research, anyone can do that. And it’s not about making up quotes from the consumer either. It’s about listening intently to the consumer and probing for a deeper tension and a richer understanding of why they do something or feel a certain way about something. Then using that to show the audience how they can resolve that tension. For the teenagers posting on social media, maybe that’s showing them that the most meaningful validation comes from spending time with people in person — a solution you wouldn’t have come to with an insight based on something they literally said.

I don’t think this is a popular opinion and it certainly isn’t an agreed-upon best practice. I’ve seen brilliant strategists write insights in the first person and I’ve even had a strategist who has published books and hosts a strategy podcast talk down to me as if writing insights in the consumer voice was obviously the correct way to do it. So it’s highly possible that I’m wrong on this one but I thought it was worth writing anyway. Or maybe I just thrive on external validation from my peers.