Consumer Insight

CONTEXT CONSUMER INSIGHTS:

SIMPLEXITY

UNCOMPLICATE

ENGAGEMENT

Simplicity and complexity are converging. With more happening faster in our lives than ever before, we’re left looking for ways to organize and make our lives more simple while at the same time finding ourselves using more and more complex ways of getting things done – via new technologies, products and of course the Internet. The phoenix that will rise from these two poles will be a synthesis, yet something distinctly different. Simplicity’s offspring is simplexity. Google’s homepage with its veneer of simplicity is an apt symbol for simplexity.

Simplexity suggests new directions for consumers and marketers. One direction is the need to uncomplicate the message, the product, the service. Consumers whose behavior shows the desire for simplexity will make the effort to learn all they can about an offering and they are willing to make the necessary behavioral change to make it work. What companies need to do is make sure they do not dumb down nor overly complicate their products and services. Netflix does a great job uncomplicating its offering. Take Netflix’ “How Does it Work?” (netflix.com) page and find an easy diagram that uncomplicates their offering and perfectly primes the consumer to pull the trigger and join.

Uncomplicating offerings for consumers leads quickly to establishing trust with customers and establishing a sense of belonging and community. Such consumer engagement is an essential pillar in maintaining the bonds that come with simplexity. An example of consumer engagement is Method soap’s
(“People Against Dirty”), which offers consumers a way to engage with issues much greater than themselves through Method’s products. At the same time, Method builds grassroots marketing and word of mouth via their “enlist to fight dirty” and “enlighten someone” application. Giving consumers much more than what they bargained for (in a positive way) is key to creating consumer engagement and satisfying the hunger for simplexity.

About Context Consumer Insights

Context Consumer Insights provides a lens into consumer behavior based on our ethnographic research. This year, we cover the Grounded Consumer. We will identify key pieces that comprise this insight, illustrate examples from the marketplace and offer recommendations on what to do with this information from a marketing and product development standpoint.

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