Usage And Attitude Studies
A frequent change in consumer preferences is a vital phenomenon in the modern world. The contemporary consumer is not dependent on a particular brand or the product they purchase. Their choices are constantly changing. The frequent change in preferences represents the power of increased consumerism and competition worldwide.
To meet the needs of present-day consumers, marketers and business owners are often constantly questioning their products and services. They suspect whether the product they have developed creates sufficient consumer experience. They worry about how long consumers will be attracted to their product and what should be the next big thing to look out for.
To find the answers to these questions, marketers and business owners should conduct Usage and Attitude (U&A) studies. Through these studies, brands can access a whole new world of consumer psychology. It can help provide better customer insights and fill the gaps through innovative market research methods.
What are Usage and Attitude Studies?
Usage and attitude studies are survey-based studies designed to tap into the psychology of the consumers and the market. It aims to understand the market deeper by shedding light on consumer insights, beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and approaches towards purchasing products.
Objectives
Companies tend to conduct usage and attitude studies to achieve the following objectives:
Plan Ahead
When companies organize usage and attitude studies, they often do so to understand the brand's position in the market. Before launching new products or projects, companies need to clearly understand all aspects of their product or project. While the landscape concerning their product may drastically change, companies mustn't find themselves continuously chasing the goose.
2. To Implement New Changes
Legacy companies are known to have a rule book which is followed. More and more companies are starting to pivot away from the policy, "What worked before, must work again". Usage and Attitude studies are exceptional for finding significant bottlenecks in existing policies and allowing the company to transition into consumer-centric ones.
3. A Metric to Measure Impact
Usage and Attitude studies are helpful to quantify how certain policies shall affect the consumer. This metric can be beneficial for senior management to make critical decisions. For example, many clothing lines have shifted towards sustainable fashion due to a conscious awareness of ecological changes amongst consumers.
Methodology
While there are variable ways to carry out a Usage & Attitude study, we at Akademos examined and evaluated the following steps mentioned below to be a good starting point.
Benchmark the study:
Clearly define the business objective of the client
Understand existing knowledge of the client about their consumers and market
Explore available data and research conducted by client
Identify gaps in the previous research to shape the study better
2. Choosing the correct data sample
When establishing a sample, it is recommended that it has the following attributes:
It is representative of the brand’s target market in terms of demographics including age, gender, occupation, education, area of residence, income etc.
If possible, it represents the brand’s target market in terms of psychographics including beliefs, habits, values etc.
The sample should be random and stratified
The sample size is preferred to have 90-95% confidence level with a 5% margin of error. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended to conduct 385+ random & stratified surveys from a large population
Depending on the level of granularity the client expects in the analysis, the sample size can be increased. E.g., if we want to slice the data into subgroups (e.g insights of females of age group 35-45, belonging to socio economic class A+), the sample size should be large enough to substantially say something about each subgroup.
3. Designing the instrument
When designing the instrument, it is important to ensure all of the following are incorporated through specific questions:
Unprompted Recall to understand brand awareness
Attitude and usage towards your brand
Perceptions about competitors
Focus on specific pain points, needs and desires
Focus on each target segment
Purchasing and buying habits
Some additional things to keep in mind
Ensure Authenticity for Baseline: Establish that the sample you are surveying has no prior knowledge of the survey. If the responses are random and spontaneous, you can establish them as your baseline.
Present a natural setting: After you've established your baseline, now you want to find out their critical thoughts. Ask questions that encourage them to explain their position. Such as, why have you been using a particular brand? By asking these questions, you can understand how the audience perceives the brands and products in the market.
Question as much as you can: The more details your usage and attitude survey have, the more it can serve your client better. Ask about your brand and your competitors, find out what you've missed in your previous products and what you can offer that is missing in the market.
Pilot: Once the instruments are ready, it is recommended that a small sample of consumers are surveyed to test the methodology. It helps in optimizing the survey questions, length, field methodology, enumerator training etc.
The qualitative methods that may be deployed include In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) and Focus Groups, while field-based surveys collected digitally are deployed for a quantitative analysis.
Conclusion
Usage and Attitude studies are potent tools for organizations. Through these studies, brands access a whole new world of consumer psychology. It helps provide key customer insights and helps brands achieve excellence in consumer experience.
Authors Bio:
Abeeha is an International Relations student in Turkey. She is a voracious reader and a keen observer of geopolitical and economic developments in South Asian and the Balkan regions. Currently, she's a part-time Consultant at Akademos.
She can be reached at: www.linkedin.com/in/syedda-abeeha-hassan-b563a51b3
