Types of Studies
Buyers Choice Study
Perhaps the fundamental question in marketing research is “Why are buyers purchasing specific brands?” And it is easy to see that the related new-product question is “What set of features would lead to the greatest profitability if this product were introduced into the market?”
Applied uses a variety of techniques, such as AppliedChoice ™, to study buyer choice.
Examples: AppliedChoice ™ is a method for determining the impact of product features on buyer choice, and then using that information to run simulations comparing share-of-preference among competing products. We have used AppliedChoice ™ to help clients in widely diverse industries understand, for example, how household consumers will react to a new recycling program, how to design an employee-benefits program that saves money while maintaining high levels of employee satisfaction, and assessing which aspect of industrial filter bags represent the greatest value to buyers.
Market Segmentation
From our perspective, the most important aspect of marketing isn’t something you do. It’s something you understand: your customers and potential customers, their needs, their characteristics, how they differ from one another and how that plays out in the benefits they desire from products and services.
We use a variety of techniques to discover, describe and analyze market segments for existing products and even new categories. Our principals have been researching market segments for a combined total of more than 50 years, and Applied president, Jim Merrill, wrote his doctoral dissertation on the topic.
Examples: Applied developed a battery of motivational characteristics that describe the reasons veterinarians entered the profession and the rewards they derive from their service to clients. Using that battery, we used factor and then cluster analyses to formulate segments which we found differ on important behavioral and descriptive characteristics.
Using the results of an AppliedChoice ™ study, we were able to uncover need-based segments of buyers who were seeking different benefits from products. This segmentation based on choice profiles uses a technique called AppliedSegmentor ™.
Based on
Branding Research
Branding research encompasses several different types of research aimed at discovering the “personality” and value (to constituents) of a brand. In addition, many companies undertake studies to determine the extent to which a brand is expandable to include different types of products and services, or, stated another way, the extent to which a particular product or service “fits” the brand image in the customer’s mind.
Examples: Applied used a trademarked technique called AppliedBest ™ to determine the characteristics that best define the kind of company consumers would want to do business with. Following this study, we conducted a number of follow-up studies that assessed the brand’s perceived performance with respect to those important characteristics.
In another study, Applied investigated the “stretchability” of a brand by collecting consumer reactions to various new-product concepts.
Product Design and Testing
Although it is never fun to make a mistake, it is good to catch mistakes or to discover important improvements before taking the expensive steps of developing a new product. We conduct studies at the concept stage to determine the right mix of product features and pricing that will appeal to different important market segments.
Examples: Using its AppliedChoice ™ technique, Applied helped a client design the ideal automotive aftermarket product.
Working with a client in the pet food industry, Applied helped develop a set of measures to assess the sales potential of new products or extensions of existing products.
Prior to introducing a new mobile phone, a client used Applied to place the products in the hands of real consumers and to gather their likes,
In another in-home usage test (IHUT) Applied worked with a client to test a new type of chemical pool cleaner.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Testing
When you’re not sure how the advertising will “play” with target segments, it’s a good time to test your ad’s appeal to the various segments you have identified through other research. Applied tests advertising appeal of promotional messages at the concept, semi-finished, or finished stage and we report not only general
Once the advertising has run, we can conduct effectiveness testing and track it over time.
Examples: Using its AppliedBest ™ technique, Applied determined the top-scoring
Applied a battery of
Pricing Research
Determining the appropriate selling price for a product or service is one of the toughest management decisions. Consequently, it is one of the toughest
Using its AppliedChoice ™ technique, Applied has helped determine the “best” pricing level for clients in industries ranging from automotive products to
Using a technique designed to assess consumer perceptions of the price levels at which a product is unaffordable, too cheap to trust and a “good value,” Applied helped a client set price points for an engine-oil substitute.
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Once you’ve executed your marketing plans and customers have purchased and used your product, it is time to assess their experiences and likelihood of purchasing your product again – and why. Applied conducts satisfaction and loyalty studies for a wide variety of companies.
Applied has conducted customer satisfaction and loyalty studies for clients ranging from homeowners associations in communities with extremely high-end homes, to non-profit organizations to a direct-sales company wanting to assess customer satisfaction with its sales staff. In these studies, we analyze constituent answers using multiple regressions, structural equation modeling and a variety of other linear and non-linear methods.