Marketers currently rely on consumers to accurately report on their behaviors, however, memory and opinion can skew perception. Although self-reported consumer preferences are important for understanding attitudes, the actual behavior reported is only as reliable as the recollections of the people.
For example, consumers can usually tell you places they’ve been, but the time frame can be difficult to accurately remember. When asked about their behavior over a long period of time, people will often say they visited somewhere when they were not actually there. A recent study commissioned by GoundTruth (formally xAd) through Placed Insights showed that 32% of people who said they went into McDonald’s in the past month did not actually go.
Foot Traffic location analysis can provide marketers with a real-life and real-time view of how and where consumers spend their time, along with their preferences and lifestyle choices.
For more examples of consumer perception vs. reality, and why foot traffic is essential for marketers.
