In today’s fast-paced consumer landscape, data is everywhere – but not all data tells the full story. CPG brands are increasingly turning to Empathy Treks as a way to go beyond numbers and get to the human side of consumer behavior. These immersive experiences allow businesses to connect directly with the people they serve, observing their actions, hearing their stories, and understanding their emotional drivers.

At its core, an Empathy Trek is a form of qualitative research that helps companies develop authentic consumer insights. Instead of relying purely on focus groups or surveys, brand and product teams step into everyday scenarios – like kitchens, grocery aisles, or family rooms – to experience firsthand how consumers live, shop, and make choices.

The Power of Seeing Through the Consumer's Eyes

Unlike more passive research methods, an Empathy Trek is about active participation and human-centered learning. It provides context for how people behave and why, helping uncover unspoken needs that influence decision-making. For CPG companies, this can include understanding:

• How real users incorporate products into daily routines
• What packaging hurdles shoppers face in stores
• Why consumers gravitate toward (or avoid) certain brands

These immersive experiences reveal emotional triggers, frustrations, and unmet needs – insights that are difficult to capture through traditional market research alone. The result is deeper empathy for the customer and greater clarity when making design, messaging, or distribution choices.

Unlocking Brand Insights to Drive Innovation

CPG brands use Empathy Treks to fuel innovation and strengthen their value propositions. Whether developing a new snack product, optimizing household packaging, or navigating new shopper demographics, the insights gathered help brands:

• Refine product positioning based on real-life use cases
• Improve marketing messages that resonate emotionally
• Identify white space in crowded categories

Brands that integrate consumer immersion into their decision-making process are better equipped to meet consumers where they are – not just physically, but emotionally. In a competitive industry like CPG, those emotional connections can be the defining edge.

Why Decision-Makers Should Pay Attention

For business leaders, investing in Empathy Treks is more than a creative exercise – it’s a data-backed way to humanize strategy. It complements other research approaches, allowing companies to build roadmaps driven by emotion-informed insights as well as analytical rigor. When used alongside surveys, analytics, and broader quantitative work, Empathy Treks complete the picture of the modern consumer.

One of the most effective ways to understand the impact of empathy treks in CPG research is to see how they are used in the field. From kitchen counters to retail shelves, these real-world examples show just how versatile and valuable consumer immersion can be in capturing authentic behaviors and emotions.

In-Home Research: Learning Where Products Live

Imagine visiting a consumer’s home to observe how they prepare breakfast or clean the kitchen. This type of in-home research provides access to the environments where products are actually used. CPG teams can observe:

• Storage habits, such as where pantry goods are kept
• Preparation routines involving food, beverages, or cleaning items
• Packaging frustrations and usability issues in real-time

This human-centric lens helps brands go deeper than what people say in interviews. For example, a consumer might claim they always choose healthy snacks – but an in-home visit might reveal a cabinet full of indulgent options. These inconsistencies are powerful clues for brands aiming to align with true behaviors, not just intentions.

In-Store Observation: Understanding the Buying Journey

While homes reveal consumption patterns, retail environments unlock insights into purchasing behaviors. During in-store empathy treks, teams shadow consumers through grocery aisles, taking note of:

• What signage catches attention (or goes unnoticed)
• Decision-making moments at the shelf level
• Comparisons between brands based on price, packaging, and perceived benefits

This type of shopper research captures real-time behaviors that structured interviews may miss. A consumer might stop comparing products entirely because one brand dominates shelf space. Or, they may be swayed by an unplanned discount. These experiences inform in-store behavior strategies and guide improvements to merchandising, package design, and promotional tactics.

Hands-On, Not Hypothetical

What sets empathy treks apart is their ability to reveal context. Unlike focus groups, which rely on self-reporting in artificial settings, these on-location sessions show what’s really happening. Consumers don’t always articulate pain points – but by witnessing their journey firsthand, brands can uncover nuanced opportunities to serve them better.

Here’s a quick comparison for clarity:

• Focus Group: Participants talk about past shopping experiences
• Empathy Trek: Teams observe shopping experiences as they happen

Whether conducted in homes, stores, or other real-life spaces, these techniques are a cornerstone of qualitative research techniques for CPG brands seeking to humanize their customer understanding. At SIVO Insights, we’ve seen firsthand how these real-life journeys deliver findings that inspire smarter, insight-driven strategies.

At first glance, Empathy Treks might sound similar to traditional consumer research methods like focus groups, surveys, or even in-store intercepts. But what makes an empathy trek unique lies in its immersive and human-first approach. While other market research techniques ask consumers to recall or summarize their behavior, Empathy Treks bring researchers directly into the world of the consumer – capturing actions, decisions, and emotions as they happen.

Empathy Treks vs. Focus Groups and Surveys

Traditional focus groups and online surveys are structured around recall. Participants are asked to describe their experiences with a product or brand in a controlled environment. However, this limits how much they can accurately share due to memory gaps or social pressure.

In contrast, an empathy trek is observational. It's about stepping into the consumer's environment – whether that means an in-home cooking session or a real-time grocery shopping trip. This kind of consumer immersion gives brands direct access to context, emotion, and decision-making that can’t be fully understood through discussion alone.

Going Beyond the Script

Another key difference is flexibility. Many structured research methods follow a pre-written discussion guide, leaving little room to explore something unexpected. Empathy Treks, by nature, are fluid and encourage researchers to follow real-time insights – such as a shopper’s spontaneous reaction to a store display or a child’s involvement in meal planning at home.

More Human, Less Hypothetical

Empathy Treks allow CPG brands to witness authentic behaviors, not just reported ones. This method doesn’t rely solely on what someone says they do – it shows what they actually do, think, and feel. Often, what people say in a focus group may not reflect how they behave at the shelf or in their kitchen. Empathy Treks bridge that gap.

Integrating Emotion-Based Insights

Behavioral data is important, but understanding the why behind it – the emotions, values, and subconscious triggers – is critical in crafting products and experiences that truly resonate. That’s what makes empathy trek methodology so impactful in the world of CPG research.

Empathy Treks offer unique advantages for brands seeking a deeper and more authentic understanding of their consumers. As part of qualitative research, this method brings the human experience to the forefront, offering insights that often go beyond numbers and charts. Here’s how CPG companies benefit from using Empathy Treks as part of their insight strategy.

1. Uncover Unspoken Needs and Behaviors

Standard surveys and interviews may not capture the nuances of everyday routines or subconscious decisions. But with in-home research and in-store behavior observation, researchers can spot things consumers don’t even realize are influencing them – like storing cereal in a different cabinet than expected or always skipping a certain freezer aisle.

This gives brands the chance to discover unmet needs or user behaviors that were never considered in planning meetings.

2. Inspire Innovation Grounded in Reality

Keeping product development grounded in real consumer experience helps avoid costly missteps. Whether you're creating a new snack pack size or designing eco-friendly packaging, insights from empathy treks ensure these decisions are inspired by how people actually live – not just by concept testing results.

3. Strengthen Shopper Research with Context

In-store observations help uncover how shoppers navigate categories, make decisions at the shelf, or get distracted during a trip. Pairing this information with emotional cues – excitement, frustration, confusion – helps brands refine planograms, signage, promotions, or even brand messaging strategies.

4. Build Stronger Brand-Consumer Connection

When brands take the time to enter the world of their consumers, it creates empathy-driven decision making. It’s no longer about “target audiences” – it’s about real people. Using empathy treks to understand shoppers helps brands build products and campaigns that feel personal, authentic, and truly useful.

5. Generate Cross-Functional Insights

Because empathy treks yield such rich detail, insights from them can support multiple functions: marketing, innovation, shopper insights, supply chain logistics, and more. A single observation during dinner prep might influence how a product is formulated, packaged, and advertised – all grounded in one shared insight.

If you’re new to empathy treks in CPG research, getting started can feel a bit overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be. These human-centered, qualitative research methods can be scaled, customized, and adapted based on your business challenges. Here are a few practical steps to help you launch your first empathy trek successfully.

Start with a Clear Objective

Like any research project, defining your goal is critical. Do you want to understand morning routines, shopping behaviors in a specific aisle, or the role your product plays in family dinners? Narrowing your focus will guide your method – whether it’s in-home consumer research or in-store shadowing sessions.

Choose the Right Participants

Select consumers who match your target audience, but also consider diversity in lifestyle, geography, and behaviors. The more varied the setup, the richer your pool of brand insights. Work with a research firm (like SIVO) to recruit participants who align with your goals and are comfortable sharing their world.

Prepare to Observe and Listen

You’re not there to lead a discussion – you’re there to immerse yourself. Taking notes, capturing photos (with permission), and asking genuine, open-ended questions all help surface the unfiltered truth. Plan to attend with a small, unobtrusive team trained in observational research methods.

• Bring minimal equipment to avoid disruption
• Let the consumer lead the experience
• Document not just words, but behaviors and emotions

Collaborate on Insight Synthesis

Once the fieldwork ends, the real value begins. Discuss observations across your stakeholder team. Pull out recurring pain points, wow moments, or conflicting behaviors. Empathy trek analysis is just as much about what you felt as what you saw.

Use Your Insights to Spark Action

Finally, apply what you learn. The best empathy treks result in change – to packaging, shelf strategy, marketing tone, or innovation roadmap. Give your insights a direct connection to strategy, and maintain momentum by sharing the stories behind the data throughout your organization.