The 5 Whys is a simple process of determining the root cause underlying a problem. The rationale is that if you only ask once what the problem is, you get a superficial answer. Only after asking a fifth time (more or less of course) can you really establish the cause. This has significant implications for an advertiser.Recently, a client of ours advised their webstore sales were slow, and it wasn’t worth investing in redeveloping. When asked why (the first time) it was because it didn’t generate any significant revenue for them in comparison to their instore sales. If we left it at that, nothing would change and they would be missing out on a fantastic growth opportunity. 5 Whys to the rescue.
We can’t justify redeveloping our webstore (the problem).
Why? – it doesn’t generate significant revenue (first why)
Why? – not many people are buying from us online (second why)
Why? – they can’t browse as easily as they can instore, and don’t know what shipping will cost (third why)
Why? – the existing webstore template restricts any design changes, and there is no shipping calculator or internal protocol (fourth why)
Why? – we don’t have a business plan for the webstore (fifth why)
Now we have something to work with. My job as a marketer is to illustrate to clients a benefit (ie a return on investment) for any initiatives we recommend. 5 Whys isn’t a rule, it’s a way of pausing to consider all facets underlying the brief rather than rushing in and risk arriving at an ineffective solution.
(Please note any opinions expressed are my own and not that of my company or employer)
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