Customer attitudes and behavior It’s what you do, not what you say.

The situation
It had been a few years since the Association of American Publishers (AAP) completed a study of students' and instructors' attitudes toward textbooks. This industry group wanted to track changes in customer attitudes and to address concerns that the earlier study may have yielded some biased responses. The AAP needed to gather an objective sampling of opinions and compare them to the earlier study. What was the perception of both students and instructors? Did they value books? And, could they be influenced to a greater perception?

The process
O’Donnell & Associates began the process with some informal qualitative research with students and instructors. Then, we designed a survey that focused on the gap between students' and professors' attitudes and their actual behaviors. For example, a professor might claim to value a textbook, but did she really use it and rely on it for the course? The survey was sent to nearly 6,000 faculty members and nearly 2,000 students at 112 colleges and universities in 12 target course areas.

The results
The new survey presented some startling revelations: there was a substantial gap between what instructors and students said…and what they did. The students modeled their instructors' behavior, not their attitude. That is, students were much more likely to value a textbook if their instructor relied heavily on it. And students considered a textbook less valuable when the instructor required it, but didn't base exams or class discussions on its content. What's more, O’Donnell & Associates learned that the instructor/student gap had widened significantly since the study three years before.

Armed with this information and understanding, the AAP planned a targeted promotional campaign to influence attitudes and improve textbook buying behavior. Sadly, the funding did not become available for the campaign. And, the trend has continued with fewer college students purchasing textbooks today…