Competition in any industry is inevitable. How can a brand position itself as a leader among the masses? By listening to their customers with various market research methodologies.
Many brands try to solve issues or questions without using data, which means teams base decision-making off of assumptions. Data is better than assumptions.
A decision made off an assumption can be successful; brands do it everyday! The value of market research is being able to confirm and fine-tune assumptions to be even more successful.
The top three types of market research brands use to answer questions are:
- Voice of Customer (VoC) research
- Brand equity research
- Employee satisfaction research
Each of these market research studies are customized to the goals and objectives for a particular brand. We'll cover these research methods in greater detail below!
Additionally, there are several other types of market research brands may use. Learn more about different types of market research services.
Branding and success go hand-in-hand for every company. Utilize these 3 market research studies to stay current with industry trends, customers and competitors.
Using Voice of Customer (VoC) research to improve a brand
VoC research is used to gather information about customer satisfaction, customer experience, level of loyalty, and more. Depending on the goals and objectives of the VoC research, a market research company may opt to use an online survey, phone survey, and/or focus group.
Suppose a brand sees sales are not performing as well as they once were. The company decides to start offering promotions and discounts to help increase sales. Without doing proper research, the brand made an assumption about why sales are dropping and how to fix this business issue.
However, through VoC research the brand learns a consistent challenge among customers. The VoC research reflected customers experiencing website timeout errors when trying to place an order online. This in turn forces once happy customers to switch to a different brand out of ease for buying their product online.
It is better to find out what the problem is, then implement solutions. Offering promotions and discounts to a brand's products does not make the process of buying online any easier, therefore not moving the needle on an increase in sales.
Here's an in-depth guide to Voice of Customer (VoC) research.
Using brand equity research to improve a brand
Think of a brand equity study as trying to better understand all target consumers. Brand equity studies typically measure levels of awareness, perception, usage, and sentiment about a specific brand as well as its top competitors. This information helps brands understand how it falls in consumers minds in relation to competitors.
There are several other primary and secondary objectives which can be met through brand equity research. Depending on what this objective(s) is brands can choose to test interest in new products, awareness of advertising, types of media used most, and more.
A crucial piece to a successful brand equity study is to eliminate bias by using a third-party market research company. In order to truly test levels of awareness, perception, and usage the study must be blinded. This means survey takers do not know the brand sponsoring the study.
For example, suppose a survey respondent opens a survey and sees the logo for Drive Research. The survey respondent is then is asked about their awareness and perception of Drive Research. Because the logo is right in front of their face, respondents are more likely to say they have some awareness or perception of the brand.
In reality, the respondent had never heard of Drive Research, but because they saw the logo acknowledging the brand their "awareness" is more prevalent. Here in lies the challenge of bias in brand equity research. Blinding surveys helps researchers eliminate bias and increase data quality.
Learn more about how to conduct a brand equity study.
Using employee satisfaction research to improve a brand
Improving the way a brand is perceived on the outside, starts with making minor or substantial changes from the inside. If employees are dissatisfied with their company, it is less likely they will act as brand promoters to your customers. Or worse - leave your company to work for a competitor. In short, passionate employees can lead to improved sales.
Employee satisfaction research is one of the easiest studies to implement. There is a lot of research highlighting the benefits of employee engagement research and how it can lead to increased productivity, retention, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction.
Employee surveys are one of the most common ways to measure employee satisfaction and engagement. These surveys cover a variety of topics including:
- Mission and purpose
- Teamwork
- Quality and customer focus
- Compensation
- Feedback
- Workplace and resources
- Communication
- Opportunities for growth
- Personal expression
The results of the study can also be benchmarked to a specific industry to better understand how the brand compares to other employers in the same industry.
Here's how employee satisfaction research works!
Drive Research is a market research company located in Syracuse, NY. Trying to solve a problem or looking for data to help a brand? We can help!
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