Make your brand equity studies more actionable
Using correlations to streamline brand perceptions
One of the most important insights a Brand Equity study can provide is how consumers perceive a brand and whether these perceptions align with what is important to them when shopping the category. For example, when I purchase individual sized yogurts, I typically buy FAGE. I think FAGE is the thickest and creamiest yogurt brand out there and eating a yogurt with that texture is important to me. Sometimes I buy Chobani because it has fun flavors and that makes me feel like I am having a treat.
The process of compiling the list of perceptions to include in a Brand Equity study requires deep knowledge of the brand, the strategic goals of brand, the competitors and the category as a whole. This is not something a client should expect their research agency to determine in a vacuum, without their input. To create this list of perceptions, the marketing, advertising and consumer insights teams need to work together to ensure that it will be useful in guiding brand decisions. When discussing perceptions with our clients, we ask them to think of the following:
1. What is the brand known for? What does it currently stand for?
2. What is the future of the brand? Do you want to move it in a different direction? What does the brand aspire to become?
3. How do you talk about the brand in your marketing and advertising?
4. What do your biggest competitors stand for?
5. What areas are important to the category but may not be currently associated with any brand (i.e., opportunity)?
Compiling a concise list of perceptions that cover these areas is not a simple task. We advise our clients to identify about 15 perceptions, however, most times, our clients come up with many more and have a hard time deciding which ones make the final cut for use in their Brand Equity study. Having a concise list of brand perceptions helps brands make more actionable decisions on how to position themselves including what marketing messages or activities are important to consumers and should be focused on.
In the cases where we have too many perceptions, we can use intercorrelations to help cut down the list to make it shorter, more differentiating and useful.
What are correlations?
Correlations are the associations of two or more variables. They show whether the variables are related and to what degree. It is a common misconception that correlations show causation between variables, however this is incorrect. They only show association.
How we do that
We use the data collected for the Importance question: How important are the following to you when considering what brand to purchase. This question should include all the attributes from the study with a 1-5 rating scale.
We run Pearson Correlations using all attributes both as dependent and independent variables. The result of this is a grid that shows how each attribute is correlated with all the others in the list. It’s a large amount of data, so knowing what to look for is key.
We look for variables that are highly correlated with each other. These are great candidates for removing since they have been statistically proven to be duplicative of each other. We determine which of the highly correlated variables to keep or remove based on the preliminary questions (i.e., what is the brand known for, where does it want to go in the future etc.), as well as how important these variables are to consumers.More important variables are more likely to stay in the list over less important variables.
Here is an example from the Brand Equity study we ran in the individual sized yogurt category. We included 29 attributes, with the intention of trimming the list once we understood how they correlate with each other. To do that we determined:
1. How important each one of these attributes is to consumers’ shopping decisions
2. The strength of their correlation to other variables.
Based on our analysis, the attributes ranked from most important to least important when buying individual sized yogurts are:
Tastes delicious
Has rich, smooth flavor
I can easily find it where I shop
Comes in a variety of flavors
Satisfies my cravings
Is a good value for the cost
Made with high quality ingredients
It’s good as a snack for me and/or my kids
Is a good source of protein
Has unique flavors
Has indulgent flavors
Is my favorite yogurt brand
Makes me feel like I am taking good care of myself and my family
Supports gut health
Makes me feel like I am rewarding myself
It’s easy when you are on-the-go
Continually comes out with innovative products and flavors
It has less sugar than other yogurts
Is a premium brand
It’s different from other yogurts
Is committed to fair trade practices and humane treatment of farm animals and farm workers
Is a leader in this category
It has less fat than other yogurts
It has less calories than other yogurts
Has eco- friendly packaging
Made with organic ingredients
Is a popular brand
Has packaging that makes it stand out from the other yogurts
Comes in milk alternative options
Below are a few examples of variables that were highly correlated and which ones we decided to remove from the list.
We decided which attributes to remove based on whether they were correlated with many other attributes, on their importance ranking, and how companies and consumers typically think about these brands (for example, do they think in terms of fat or in terms of calories?). At the end of this process, we determined we could remove 10 attributes and cut down the list from 29 attributes to 19 attributes.
This makes the attributes we ask in a Brand Equity study more differentiating and makes the survey taking experience more pleasant for respondents – and most importantly, it makes the data more actionable for brands!
Lab42 is a full-service quantitative market research firm that fills a gap in the industry by combining a highly consultative, professional approach while still being cost effective and nimble. The Company’s offerings include a full suite of market research services - from brand equity, PR studies, optimization studies (like ad tests and concept tests) to advanced analytics and infographics.
