Holiday Research Is a Terrible Idea—Except When It Isn’t

The winter holidays bring a flurry of shopping activity, emotional highs and lows, and unique purchasing behaviors. As a general rule, we in the consumer insights business would tell you that this not the time to launch a major research project. However, there are exceptions to every rule. 

If you find yourself trying to answer one of the following three questions, then the holiday season might actually be the perfect time to talk to consumers:

1) Where are our opportunities to drive gift-buying behavior?

The holidays are the only time of year when nearly every consumer is purchasing for others. This presents a great opportunity to dig into how consumers choose gifts. Do they go for practical or luxury items? Does brand loyalty apply here? What emotions or motivations drive their decisions—guilt, joy, or simply convenience?

Studying this behavior can help you uncover new strategies for positioning your products in ways that appeal to gift-buyers. It can also provide insight into how brand loyalty, personal preferences, or societal expectations influence decisions during this period.

2) What friction points exist in our omnichannel journey?

The sheer volume of shopping activity that takes place during the holiday season can make it ideal for observing omnichannel behavior and identifying gaps in your brand experience. 

Consumers may research online, buy in-store, have things delivered, or take advantage of "buy online, pick up in store" (BOPIS) services at higher rate than the rest of the year, which means they’ll be primed to provide real-life feedback about the experience. For better or worse, the high-pressure, time-sensitive holiday shopping rush will magnify any issues and make their impact clear. 

3) What can we do to drive sales during the holidays? 

The holidays offer us a unique glimpse into consumer behavior on the largest scale of the year. It’s an emotional time: People are buying gifts for loved ones, they may be stretched financially, and there’s often a sense of time pressure. 

If you want to be a go-to brand during this time, you should understand how emotions and stress influence your consumers’ perceptions of your brand. Does your target audience make decisions differently when they’re under stress? Is there a way that you could be easing their stress while simultaneously driving loyalty the rest of the year? Observing consumer behavior in-the-moment can reveal opportunities that would be lost if you waited to review the sales numbers and then ask them to remember what happened. Want to make the 2025 holiday season your best yet? Learn everything you can this year. 

Ultimately, the holiday season is a double-edged sword for consumer researchers. There’s a treasure trove of insights to be gained, but it’s equally important to recognize the limitations: 

• Trying to hold people’s attention at that time of year can be tough, so we always recommend shorter, targeted studies that are interactive (no omnibus surveys in December!). 

• Consumers are willing to stack their participation on top of what’s already on their list, but not add to it. We design our studies to take advantage of planned shopping activities vs. requiring simulations for research purposes. 

• You’ll need expert recruiting partners and be willing to pay higher incentives to your participants. (We think of this as a win-win, however, as you get access to fleeting, invaluable insights and consumers get a little extra spending cash for the holidays.) 

So, should you be conducting consumer research during the busiest, most chaotic time of the year? If you’re asking the right questions, absolutely. The holidays are a rare moment when consumer behavior is amplified—buying for others, juggling online and in-store channels, and making emotionally charged decisions under pressure. 

This time of year can be goldmine of insight, if you’ve got the right partners to know how to unwrap it.