The magic NOW button

Using in-the-moment research to look into the future

Instant information, instant credit, instant connection, instant stuff on my doorstep. It’s the Now Economy. What else do people want from it?

At dscout, I work with “people nerds” — researchers and engineers who specialize in getting the bottom of what people think, do and feel. Together, they make software that everyday people use to show and tell us what’s happening right in the moment it happens — from anywhere in the world, at any time.

When our researchers became curious about what people would do if they could buy and receive anything at any moment, from anywhere — i.e., right now — they had exactly the right tool to find out. A group of research participants was asked to use their mobile phone video “record” button as a hypothetical “buy it now” button. Next time you realllllly need something, but can’t get it, press the button, and tell us what’s happening.

Then, tell us what you need but cannot get, and why. (Although it was hypothetical, purchases were limited to actual, for-sale items that people could afford — no requests for Star Trek tricorders or David Beckman or a Bugatti Veyron).

Over four days, dscout collected 486 of those moments.

Here are the categories those “purchases” fell into:

But the magic button wasn’t real. Did people really go buy all those the things they needed right away?

Upon reflection, people said just 20% of those 486 “urgent needs” actually led to an ASAP real-life purchase.

When you need toilet paper right now, you’ll get it as soon as you can. The need is real! And urgent. And shall remain so.

But what about the other 80%? Without a real magic button to automatically deliver on their immediate desires, the rest of all those immediate needs became…less immediate.

I need a dog! Well, ok, maybe I need to rethink that.

I need a housecleaner! Nah, I’ll just do it myself.

Most needs were eventually categorized as short-lived, easily remedied another way, requiring of more thought, or ultimately just not truly a need after all. Impulse confronted by friction led to patience, consideration, and forethought.

The Making of Magic Button?

After a week of pressing a magic button, people were asked who might make a Magic Button. The list was heavily weighted toward tech: We heard some Google and Apple and, most frequently, Amazon. Having achieved an image as both an innovative tech company and a reliable retailer, Amazon may be a signpost for the retail sector.

Researching In the Moment

It’s always been a challenge to define needs. Today, companies face the challenge to define now — a need that consumers themselves cannot easily articulate. Researchers are getting creative in how they gain understanding into these evolving behaviors — and the time to begin building that understanding is, of course, now.

Want more? Get a download of more detailed results can be requested here, and or watch a web clinic on the research design here.

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This article was based on a longer, more detailed version originally published on dscout’s blog. Kari Dean McCarthy directs content for dscout, an in-the-moment mobile research tool that captures thoughts, reactions and behaviors as they happen.