Major consumer brands: 5 questions to ask your consumers

In a constantly changing market, consumer goods brands are not exempt from the rule and also face numerous challenges: the rise of e-commerce, discount retailers, and the proliferation of niche brands are part of it. Consumer expectations, which are becoming increasingly demanding, have also evolved by placing environmental, social, and societal impacts of their purchases at the center of their concerns.

In light of these changes, it is crucial for consumer goods brands to know in detail the needs of their audience by gathering relevant and actionable insights. What are the 5 key questions to ask your consumers during your next surveys? And what are the various types of studies that can help answer them? That's what we will see in this article!

1. Do consumers know you?

How do consumers perceive your brand and products compared to your competitors? What is your position in your market?

Not all consumer goods brands have the privilege of enjoying the notoriety of Coca Cola, Nespresso or Ferrero Rocher, 3 players that have managed to establish an instantly recognizable brand image. Understanding your positioning and the profile of your buyers is essential to communicate more intelligently about your products.

Brand awareness study: This type of consumer study is the ideal tool to answer these questions. It allows you to make a true assessment and understand your strengths and weaknesses within a competitive market. Specifically, the brand awareness study focuses on measuring your awareness through a spontaneous awareness question (without showing a list containing your brand name) and then an assisted awareness question (based on a list). It will also allow you to identify the channels that make your brand known, determine the image that experts have of it, and precisely define the profile of your target audience. Valuable insights to refine your communication strategy! ‍

2. What are the real needs of your target audience?

What is the daily life of your audience like? What behaviors and habits shape their needs and guide their consumption?

To succeed in capturing new market shares and competing with niche brands, these insights should be central to the development of your next concept.

The success of niche brands: The success of companies focusing on a niche market is not trivial. Their small size and their proximity to consumers on social media allows them to adapt to their environment quickly and flexibly. Brands like HappyVore and Heura Foods have succeeded in entering supermarket shelves by offering meat-based vegetarian products. A promising market that major brands have been slow to seize.

The study of usage and attitudes: The study of usage and attitudes allows you to deepen your knowledge about your audience by creating an accurate portrait of your personas. Niche targets, unfortunately very difficult, if not impossible, to recruit via traditional study methodologies, become accessible through social media. This gives you the opportunity to adjust your commercial strategy and successfully enter the niche markets too! 😉‍

3. Do consumers appreciate your next concept?

What is the potential of your product in the market? Which version of it will best meet your target's expectations?

Knowing your consumers' opinions prior to the commercialization of a new concept is essential to achieve the best market penetration rate.

The concept test: This type of consumer study takes place upstream of marketing and allows you to easily identify its strengths and weaknesses for the target population. If you are hesitating between several concepts to market, these will be randomly proposed to identical groups of individuals to clearly identify the version that will be the most successful. You will thus have all the cards in hand to better understand the potential of your concept, optimize its positioning, and identify the most relevant marketing channels!

4. Have consumers seen your ad (online or offline)?

How are your campaigns perceived, and what effects do they have on your image and your sales?

Thanks to your audiences and their authentic opinions, you will be able to identify areas for improvement for your future campaigns, and ultimately optimize your advertising and media investments.

The advertising post-test: This type of survey takes place after your campaign has been released and effectively measures the impact of your communications, whether displayed in public spaces or broadcasted online. In the case of physical advertising, the study is conducted on targeted respondents locally and precisely in the areas where your advertising campaign is displayed. The advertising post-test also allows for identifying the profile of consumers most aligned with your campaign and the offer in question. To carry out an even more in-depth analysis, this type of study can be complemented by a pre-test that collects benchmark data for comparison (before and after the campaign).

5. Are consumers satisfied with your offer?

Consumers often consider that large brands conduct marketing that is too impersonal. Conducting a survey to determine the satisfaction level of your buyers towards your product will allow your brand to strengthen its promotional strategy, thus avoiding falling into this criticism!

By obtaining insights into the strengths of your offer, you can thus determine the best possible communication angle. Like Michel & Augustin, who in their latest campaign produced entirely in-house features its own employees. A brilliant idea to reinforce the artisanal spirit and connect with consumers that contributed to the brand's success!

The satisfaction survey: The satisfaction survey is very useful for improving your understanding of your consumers' expectations, and thus being able to offer them an offer that is even more in line with their needs in the future. The NPS (Net Promoter Score), which evaluates the intent of targeted users to recommend your offer, is one of the indicators we use in this type of consumer study. Ultimately, the satisfaction survey is essential for all major consumer brands looking to advance their commercial strategy!

Conclusion

With 4.6 billion active users worldwide, social networks are today the best playground for questioning your audience and conducting all your consumer studies. These platforms allow us to recruit respondents with varied profiles, from the broadest targets to the most niche, who are not regular survey takers.

With our method, designed from the start for mobile use, respondents no longer feel like they are filling out a questionnaire but rather participating in a conversation. All these elements ensure the authenticity of the responses, and therefore the generation of relevant insights for your brand!

To learn more about the different types of consumer studies we offer, feel free to download our Guide.

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