Abstract
Worldwide, salt consumption exceeds the World Health Organization’s recommendation of a daily intake of 5 g. Customer journey mapping is a research method used in market research to understand customer behaviors and experiences and could be useful in social marketing as well. This study aimed to explore the potential of customer journey mapping to better understand salt-related behaviors performed during the preparation of household cooking. We tracked the journey of four women in their kitchens for approximately two hours to observe the preparation of lunch. Individual journey maps were created, one for each woman, that were composited into a single journey map. We found that customer journey mapping was a suitable research method to understand how food preparers made decisions around adding salt and artificial seasonings at each stage of the journey. In contrast to the interviewee’ responses, it was observed that the four women added salt and artificial seasonings consistently and incrementally with little control and without any standard measure. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of customer journey mapping in a novel context and nudge social marketers to include this tool in their repertory of research methods to understand human behavior.
Highlights
One medical condition that currently affects approximately 626 million women and 652 million men around the world is hypertension, and over 1 billion people with hypertension live in low-and middle-income regions [1]
We found that customer journey mapping was a suitable research method to unpack the complexity of salt-related behaviors that take place during the cooking process
Through this study we have shown that customer journey mapping is applicable to the field of social marketing to investigate and promote healthy eating behaviors, thanks to its capacity to unfold complex behaviors that are not perceived or captured by traditional research methods
Summary
One medical condition that currently affects approximately 626 million women and 652 million men around the world is hypertension, and over 1 billion people with hypertension live in low-and middle-income regions [1]. Hypertension is caused by the combination of physiological, social and cultural factors, and one of its major contributors is high intake of sodium, a mineral present in salt [2]. The primary source of sodium intake varies by region and country. In many low-and middle-income countries the primary source of salt is adding salt during cooking or at the table, referred as discretionary sources. Given these heterogeneous contexts, health initiatives should shape salt reduction strategies according to local dietary patterns [4]
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