SensoGram 4: What Consumers Say They Want ... vs. What They Really Want   What consumers think they want in a product may not be what they want at all! This is a perennial problem for marketing, although it often goes unrecognised. If we take the consumer's response at face value, we may actually be led in the wrong direction! Let's take an actual example. Sales of frozen pizza fall away, and marketing looks to focus groups for a diagnosis. The outcome of these discussion groups seems clear enough: consumers claim there is a product problem; the pizza needs more cheese and more meat. But does it? When pizza is made up with more cheese and more meat, just as the focus groups suggest, we find that consumers like it less than the original! This happens because what consumers think they want and what they actually want can be two different things. The solution is to set about a program of sensory research, in which we test a number of product prototypes varying in cheese content and meat content. Only then do we find out that what consumers really want in a pizza - but don't know it - is more cheese and less meat. The cheese, not the meat, drives pizza liking. There are many similar instances, of course. Food manufacturers have found to their dismay that, although consumers claim to want "no-salt" products, they don't really want to eat no-salt products. The notion of "salt-free" may be appealing, but the consumer doesn't appreciate the vital role of salt in food. It does far more than add saltiness. It adds impact - the hit - and without it many products are just about inedible. In product research, we shouldn't always take the consumer response at face value; merely talking about products and actually using them are different operations.