If you’re a business owner, it’s essential to keep track of consumer research so you can stay ahead of trends and understand your customers. By visiting up-to-date on consumer attitudes and preferences, you can better tailor your products and marketing strategies to appeal to current and potential customers. Below is more info on consumer research for brands.
How Can Brands Use Consumer Research to Achieve Specific Business Goals
Brands can use consumer research to achieve specific business goals. For instance, some of the significant goals businesses have are increasing brand loyalty/brand awareness, improving customer service and retention, reducing customer acquisition costs, and gaining insights into emerging markets.
Understand Consumer Mindsets and Preferences
Brands can conduct qualitative research to understand consumer mindsets and preferences better. Qualitative research helps brands make decisions regarding product development, branding/positioning strategies, packaging design, etc. Consumer focus groups, where members of a target audience discuss their thoughts on a topic with a moderator, are a good way for brands to learn more about consumers’ motivations, preferences, values, attitudes, etc.
Inform on Target Audience
Research can also help inform brands about what services their target audience demands more of and where they want to see more innovation. This type of insight can influence how businesses design websites, create mobile apps, design customer experiences, structure the buying process for their products or services (e.g., changing the steps involved in an accounting process or creating a phone ordering system for customers) etc.
Insights into Emerging Markets
Research can also afford valuable insights into emerging markets of interest to brands. This is important because these markets often have unique needs, preferences, and buying habits. Understanding these helps businesses create products specifically targeted to meet those needs and preferences (e.g., building products designed for specific cultures or regions, like Pokémon Go).
Most Useful Consumer Research for:
Brand Awareness
To understand how consumers perceive brands, research can determine what specific benefits and features appeal most to customers. This information can inform new product development initiatives (e.g., creating a new line of products or adding more health benefits to an existing product), guide branding strategies (e.g., using the same logo on all products or changing the logo to a different color to appeal to a particular target market), and inform how brands position themselves in the marketplace.
Company Growth
Research can help brands identify emerging opportunities, which allows them to grow. For instance, studies have shown how fast-food chains like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks constantly evolve to meet consumers’ changing preferences (e.g., adding unlimited flavors/toppings for drinks or changing the breakfast menu).
Company Rebranding
Research can also help brands with rebranding efforts. For instance, Burger King recently changed its branding to appeal to a younger audience. One of the company’s advertising campaigns was themed “Whopper Freakout,” where patrons at a fictitious restaurant were angry about not being able to order Whoppers as part of a nationwide temporary menu change.
Customer Satisfaction
Research provides insights into customers’ expectations, which can help businesses provide better customer service. This includes both direct interactions with consumers (e.g., phone support) and indirect interactions (e.g., product quality, delivery speed).
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Brand Perception
Research can help brands identify how customers perceive their brand, which is a critical component in determining its strength and competitive stance. For instance, one study found that consumers generally believed American companies were better at caring for the environment than Chinese companies but still preferred products from China over those from the United States.
Consumer research can help companies understand what their brand means to consumers and how it stacks up against the competition. NetBaseQuid is a data enrichment company that specializes in conversational data. We can help you achieve your business goals by customizing a research brief to capture relevant consumer insights. In addition, we have a team of data scientists with PhDs from top universities who can process your data and turn it into actionable business intelligence.
