A milkshake is never just a milkshake.
Not when you look at the moment it’s being bought.
At 7:45 AM, I’m in a McDonald’s drive-thru—not for dessert, but for something to get me through a long, quiet commute. I want something to hold, something to fill me up, something to break the monotony. In that moment, the milkshake isn’t competing with ice cream. It’s up against bananas, breakfast sandwiches, and boredom.
That same milkshake later in the day? It could be a treat, a reward, or a way to connect with your kid. Same product. Different context. Different meaning.
That’s the point. Choice doesn’t live in a vacuum. It plays out in the messy, emotional, and practical realities of real life. It’s about what role a product plays in the life of someone as they live it. Context doesn’t replace choice – it shapes how it shows up.
We believe deeply in the power of choice. People are intentional, even when that intention is layered with emotion, habit, or the chaos of everyday life. But choice is never made in isolation. When we understand the situation someone’s in—not just who they are—we get closer to understanding why they choose.
The consumer is character; market the stage
People don’t walk around as fixed personas. They shift roles constantly—parent, professional, caretaker, explorer. The same person may want different things in different moments, not because they’ve changed, but because life does, in the big and small sense of change.
A grandparent buying a grill isn’t just making a purchase—they’re creating a space for memories.
A woman changing careers in her 50s isn’t just pivoting—she’s rewriting the next chapter on her terms.
A recent grad booking a flight isn’t just planning a trip—they’re figuring out who they are now.
These contexts aren’t metaphors. They’re real-life drivers of decision-making. And when we treat people like dynamic characters rather than static segments, we gain deeper insight.
Context goes beyond input
Choice doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in a landscape of variables—some obvious, some subtle, all influential. Context isn’t just one factor; it’s the overall environment—what’s happening, how someone feels, who they’re with—that makes a particular choice make sense in that moment.
It shows up in layers:
- Situational: What’s happening around them?
- Emotional: What are they feeling?
- Relational: Who are they with, or thinking about?
- Cultural: What’s trending or feels relevant?
- Temporal: What stage of life or moment in time are they in?
These forces don’t override personal choice. But they shape how it plays out. And when we account for them, our insights don’t just get richer—they get more real.
Who is in the room?
Even when people believe they’re making decisions independently, there’s often an audience—real or imagined—shaping that choice. It might be a friend they’ll mention it to, a coworker they hope will notice, or simply the people whose opinions carry weight.
And we manage that, too. We choose where we want to be seen and whose feedback we value.
These audiences don’t have to be in the room to matter. Their influence can be subtle but real.
It is all part of context—not just what’s visible, but what’s perceived, anticipated, or felt.
The choice/context partnership
Here’s the core idea: choice and context aren’t in conflict. They’re two sides of the same decision.
Segmentation, modeling, and statistical frameworks aren’t just useful—they’re foundational. As someone trained in both psychology and analytics, I see them as essential tools for understanding behavior at scale. They help us quantify patterns, test hypotheses, and bring structure to complexity. Without them, we lose the ability to generalize from individual choices to broader insights. Without them, we market in the dark.
But models alone aren’t enough. To truly understand consumer behavior, we have to ask not only what people do, but why it made sense in that particular moment. That’s where context comes in—not as a soft overlay, but as a critical part of the behavioral equation.
Context doesn’t weaken the power of data—it deepens it. It adds texture, timing, and meaning to what we measure. It’s what reminds us that a milkshake isn’t just a product to be counted, but an experience to be understood—serving as breakfast for a commuter in the morning, a bonding ritual for a parent and child in the afternoon, or a small act of self-reward after a long day. The same transaction, on paper, looks identical; only context reveals the emotional and situational forces behind it. The models we deal in handle the complex, and simplify it. That’s what I love so much about analytics. As a former marketer, I don’t want a complicated solution; I want an effective one.
So let’s keep the models. Let’s keep the math. But let’s also make space for the moment—the emotional, situational, and social layers that make a choice feel right. Don’t settle for models that describe without explaining. Let’s stop settling for surface-level insight. Bring the data. Add the context. That’s how we drive better decisions.
Ready for insights that reflect the messy reality of consumer choice? Connect with Rob Kaiser, Chief Methodologist at robkphd@psbinsights.com to learn more.
