Watch Out! Hispanics Rate Products Significantly Higher

30.0KSHARES
0
0
30.0K
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

I find it interesting that some market research agencies recently discovered what Hispanic marketers have known for quite some time. Give Hispanics a product to be rated, and you will get much better marks than with non-Hispanics. Ask them to tell you what is wrong with it, and you may end up getting a list longer than a mile! That is the reason many good Hispanic Market research specialists will add open-ended questions to help qualify the close-ended ones or take different approaches to research altogether.

Why the contradiction? It’s in the culture. Read more about it in the following article:

Results Could Have a Significant Effect on the Products Targeted to Hispanics in the Future.

Hispanics, especially those who are more recent arrivals, give higher ratings in product surveys than their non-Hispanic counterparts, according to a study designed by Jeffry Savitz, President of Savitz Research Companies and Professor of Marketing Research at the University of North Texas. The study found that Hispanics rate products significantly higher than what they may actually feel. In the study, Hispanics and non-Hispanics were asked to assign a numeric value to five rating labels using a scale of 0-100 with 100 being the best. The rating labels, “Excellent,” “Very good,” “Good,” “Neither Good nor Poor” and “Poor” are common in survey research. Hispanics consistently gave higher marks than their non-Hispanic counterparts to each label except “poor.” The average difference was 5.9 making it statistically significant.

In this landmark study, Professor Jeffry Savitz a graduate of Columbia University, found that Hispanics rated Tylenol 85.7, significantly higher than non-Hispanics at 80.6 implying Hispanics favor the brand. However, after the adjustment of 5.9 points, the ratings were at parity. Among cellular providers, ratings of Verizon, 65.4 and 68.1, were similar. After the adjustment was applied, however, the ratings indicated that Hispanics do not like this provider nearly as much, 59.5 versus 68.1. In the soft drink category, Hispanics rated Fanta 80.0 versus non-Hispanics at 57.6, a highly significant difference. Even after the adjustment the result was still significant implying Hispanics are more favorable toward Fanta.

Hispanics Rate Products Significantly Higher than non-Hispanics

The results of the study have significant implications on multicultural advertising and marketing as well as which products and services should be offered to Hispanics. “This study finally sheds light on the reason some Hispanic research ends up with faulty conclusions or results. This ‘cultural lift’ must be taken into account,” says Juan Faura, author of two books on Hispanic marketing. “Hispanics are taught from an early age that it is in poor taste or inappropriate to openly criticize or berate when asked their opinions.” Savitz says, “The article discusses levels of acculturation, consumption of Hispanic media and country of origin, but more research is needed to measure the effect of the ‘cultural lift’ on various categories and other factors.”