Mini tests, major insights: Closing some common say-do gaps

Are you the person you say you are? Do you really shop the way you think you do? Or snack? 

When there’s a measurable difference between what consumers say and what they do, we call that the “say-do” gap. Those gaps aren’t marginal – they represent the big difference between conducting surveys and researching real behavior that gleans truly valuable insights.   

To find out just how well people really know themselves, we ran two mini-tests to capture the difference between what people say they do versus what they actually do when it comes to common contradictions. Using in the wild testing, we discovered where discrepancies lie. By conducting our research, where consumers volunteer valuable insights without a person watching over a clipboard – that is, on social feeds – we’re able to capture what people are actually doing, not what they think you want them to be doing. 

Test 1: Are you a toaster or a truther? 

68% of people say they warm up their Pop-Tarts before they eat them.

We wanted to test just how accurate those survey responses are. Do people really put them in the toaster? Or do they skip the toaster and eat them as a quick snack straight from the wrapper. 

In any marketing campaign, the details matter. When you understand behavior, or the discrepancy between the consumer’s desire to be perceived a certain way (like as the kind of person who takes the extra three minutes to make something better rather than one who’s less culinarily inclined) you have the insight you need to develop a relatable campaign that speaks to that drives sales.  

When comparing messaging that favored toasted against un-toasted Pop-Tarts, we found that more people skip the toaster and fast-track their snack. 

Here’s are the engagement rates when it comes to toasted satisfaction:

• Say: they toast their Pop-Tarts – 2.32% audience engagement score 

• Do: eat without toasting – 2.91% audience engagement score 

• The “say-do” gap – 0.59% 
  

Here we find the gap between how honest Pop-Tart eaters are; whether it’s because they really imagine themselves as someone who toasts their tarts, or because they want to be perceived as someone who eats them as-advertised. Either way, turns out most of us are going to our Pop-Tarts for instant gratification, despite what we might believe about ourselves. 

Test 2: Gen-Z cares, but about what? 

38% of American consumers say they want companies to be socially responsible, with Gen-Z being 13% more likely to stake that claim – but we wanted to know how much that impacts real purchasing decisions. 

When we tracked clicks on ethical vs product-first brand messaging, we found an increase in clickthrough rates when positioning focused on product over ethics. 

The truth? 

• Say: Brand ethics are a priority – 0.73% audience engagement score 

• Do: Make purchases based on product value – 1.70% audience engagement score 

• The “say-do” gap – 0.97% 

There’s a stark contrast in actual purchase-driving factors. We’d all like to think we make our decisions based on our personal values, but real life is a much more complicated place than the world we hold in our heads. All kinds of factors can drive a consumer to choose value over ethics, like budgetary constraints, economic uncertainty, product longevity, and lifestyle fit among countless others. Believing ourselves to be motivated by the best parts of ourselves is nice, but real-world decisions come from much more than just that. 

While we’d all like to think of ourselves as the type to take a moment to toast our Pop Tart before just snacking straight out of the wrapper, or to only shop with the brands that share our values no matter what, we’re all a little more likely to waver than we understand, or maybe care to admit. When it comes to marketing, these say-do gaps represent a potential profit margin – knowing who you’re talking to with behavioral insights can mean all the difference in whether your campaign resonates or falls flat.