Explore this month’s highlights, examining why relying on purchase intent alone falls short, plus a powerful quote and insights on consumer trust.
CATALYX JOKE OF THE MONTH
HOW DOES PURCHASE INTENT DESCRIBE ITS THREE-DECADE LONG RELATIONSHIP WITH REALITY? – “It’s complicated, I’m about 0.18 committed.”
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
INSIGHT OF THE MONTH
In electronics, brands that turn technical features into clear benefits, even in entry-level models, consistently win consumer trust and stand out.
WHAT’S THE FUTURE FOR PURCHASE INTENT?
Did you know there’s only a 0.18 correlation between purchase intent and actual purchase behaviour?
Despite being known for over 30 years, many brands still rely on purchase intent as a key success indicator.
This persists because purchase intent feels simple. It offers an easy-to-understand metric, yet it overlooks the complexity of real-world decision-making. Consumers are driven by emotional triggers, social influence, and unexpected incentives, factors purchase intent fails to capture.
For example, a shopper may reject a product as too expensive yet still buy it because it satisfies a deeper need or appears at just the right moment. Real behaviour is far harder to predict than intent alone suggests.
This article is part of our Innovatively Speaking series. Explore the full library here.
From a research standpoint, purchase intent is also difficult to measure consistently. Phrases like “I will definitely buy this” mean different things to different people, making it unreliable when used in isolation.
At Catalyx, we still use purchase intent, but never on its own. We combine it with qualitative insights, exploring the emotions and behaviours that truly shape consumer choices. By focusing on unstructured data and deeper consumer responses, we help brands predict behaviour far more accurately.
But data alone isn’t enough. Success comes from analysing, interrogating, and reworking insights to uncover what’s really driving behaviour.
At Catalyx, we challenge assumptions, build hypotheses, and sweat the details to ensure we’re looking beyond the obvious. This allows us to turn data into clear actions that deliver innovation outcomes with the greatest chance of success.
Our Triple Diamond framework ensures innovation is built on stronger foundations, balancing consumer desire, product definition, and development to improve innovation success rates. This insight-led, consultative approach is why 75% of the world’s top 20 CPG companies trust Catalyx to help them build innovations that truly connect with consumers and win in the market.
Find out how our approach can make your innovation success predictable
We’re ready to unlock your innovation’s success, and won’t settle until our work does just that.
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(Independent research conducted by Catalyx)
