The Hindu Business Line : Search for customers' attention share

There are many fables about how the word got into the marketing lexicon. From the branding of cattle in the Americas to the branding of casks of wine, the story goes on. Today the word `brand' is probably more closely associated with marketing than any other function.

Therefore, is brand a registered trademark that stands for a soap, cooking oil or TV set? Or is it a lot more?

Marketers see brand as a symbol of trust that helps simplify the complex lives led by today's consumers. In recent times, the word `brand' has grown to cover more than just products. A brand is more than a product, a service or an offering.

In simple terms, a brand is a `product + images' or `product + added values'. In fact, a brand stands for a complete set of emotions and feelings, a mental mosaic that is in a consumer's mind.

As the Indian market evolves from a commodity-oriented seller's market to a brand-oriented buyer's market, the concept of brands, the role of brands, and the brand-building will become more and more important, and in fact, vital for business success.

What is a marketing research problem?

A marketing problem is not a marketing research problem. It is necessary to define the marketing research problem first.

For instance, the marketing problem for a soap could be: `Loss of market share.'

The marketing research problem cannot be: `Studying loss of market share.'

This will lead to no actionable solutions.

First, re-define the marketing problem:

Loss in market share = Loss of old customers, less usage by customers and low attraction of new customers

These marketing problems could lead to the following marketing research problems:

Understanding the users' satisfaction level with the brand.

Understanding non-users' perception of the brand.

Identifying key problem areas in the marketing mix that will help retain customers/attract new customers.

The first step is to look at the marketing and marketing information systems and study the data. There could be some sales, promotion or competitor data that would answer the question. Next, define the variables affecting the problem, including: product quality; packaging; service levels; pricing; distribution; and image.

What are the key areas of measurement?

When we attempt to understand consumer behaviour through quantitative research methods, we are looking at the following three broad areas:

Behavioural data: What is consumer behaviour? What brands do consumers use? What brands did they use in the past?

Cognitive data: What do they know? What is their level of awareness? What are the brands they recall?

Attitudinal data: What are their beliefs about products? What are their attitudes towards the brand across various parameters?

Behaviour, cognition and attitude are three sides of a prism. Behaviour affects cognition/attitude and vice versa.

How to ask a question?

Quantitative research studies are conducted across hundreds of respondents, spread across the country. The questionnaires are used by numerous field investigators and can be a cause for confusion if not handled well. So while in qualitative research, a discussion guide could be quite simple and flexible, in quantitative research, the questionnaire has to be watertight and rigid.

A lot of time needs to be spent in fine-tuning the questionnaire so that there is no cause for doubt.

Types of questions

The questions used in a quantitative research questionnaire should be worded unambiguously and be simple, specific and clear. If language translations are planned, every word needs to be checked for various language translations, especially the adjectives and benefit/attribute listings used. (Imagine `sweet-sour' in all Indian languages!).

The best method to verify the accuracy of translation is the `back-translation' method. By this method one translator translates the original English questionnaire to Hindi and another translator translates it back to English.

It is always better to give the interviewers the questionnaire in the language that is to be used, rather than burden them with extra language translation sheets to refer to.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of questions — open-ended and closed-ended.

Questionnaire development process

Questionnaire is the backbone of any quantitative research and needs to be designed, developed and tested thoroughly. The broad flow of the questionnaire is as follows: Defining information areas to be covered; target respondents profile; geographic spread of research; finalisation of behaviour and attitude data to be collected; attitude scales to be tested and finalised; flow of questionnaire finalisation; coding systems finalisation; pre-testing of questionnaire; and field work.

It is important to follow through the process without compromising cost and time-estimates. The most crucial element is the pre-test. Often questionnaires have to be reworked after the pre-test owing to comprehension, flow- or time-related issues.

(Edited extracts from Understanding Consumers. Book courtesy: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd. www.tatamcgrawhill.com)

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Piracy in Red Sea

Why can't AS broker a marriage between costing and finance

Vacuum builders get willing accountants to attest

Search for customers' attention share

How Humpty Dumpty broke his crown