Description
The purpose of the 5 Whys technique is to identify the root cause of a problem. This technique was originally developed at the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1950s as a way to improve manufacturing processes. It has since been adopted in different forms and in different fields as a way to iteratively interrogate a problem. In marketing, 5 Whys is often used as a way to identify consumer insights. Often, marketers rely on facts and observations rather than insights into what fundamentally motivates consumer behaviour. The 5 Whys forces marketers to dig deeper by challenging early assumptions and conclusions.
Questions
The 5 Whys technique helps to answer marketing questions like:
What is motivating a consumer to behave this way?
What is our target consumer fundamentally seeking?
Steps
For marketers using 5 Whys to understand consumer motivation, begin by identifying the specific consumer choice or behaviour you are interrogating. What exactly do you want deeper insight into?
Review this consumer choice or behaviour and ask yourself “why is this happening?” Identify the different causes for this action. Select the primary cause based on your best facts and knowledge.
Consider this cause, and again ask yourself “why is this happening?” and write down the primary cause. Repeat this step 3 more times, or at the point where you are no longer able to identify useful causes.
Review the final cause that you have identified to see if it is a useful consumer insight. Does this capture a consumer’s motivation in a way that will help your marketing? If not, repeat the previous step.
Finally, stress test your work by reviewing your 5 Whys reverse. For each cause, ask yourself “does this happen when this happens?” This will help ensure that symptoms and causes are separate and aligned.
Considerations
If you identify different causes worth exploring, capture as branches connected to your originating statement
The number 5 is purely anecdotal, ask ‘why’ as many times as you need to arrive at a useful insight
A useful insight is relevant to your brand, differentiated from your competitors, and actionable for your marketing
References
The 5 Whys was created by Taiichi Ohno, Former Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation