Studying audience needs

Understanding your target audience will increase your company's financial performance. The desires of your consumers change from day to day. At the same time, up to 85% of consumers are ready to change a brand, provided that they are offered something better. What exactly to offer to consumers of competing brands is the task of researching the target audience.

Consumers in any market are forced to choose from the offered range of products or services, and service format. At the same time, there are always unmet needs for which a solution can be offered first in the market, thereby gaining an additional target audience and increasing your market share. This is the key marketing task of any company.

At the first stage, in-depth interviews are conducted: for each group of consumers, it is recommended to conduct at least 8-12 interviews. The minimum size of a representative sample for the quantitative stage per region is 400 questionnaires. By region we mean any territory for which separate analytics is required (this could be, for example, a city or country). The minimum period for such a survey is 1 business day.

The cost of a project to draw up a portrait of the target audience consists of the cost of collecting a selected number of questionnaires (payment is taken only for fully completed questionnaires) and the cost of analytics (usually no more than 10-15% of the cost of data collection)

You can calculate the cost of one questionnaire yourself using our calculator (you will need to enter the number of open and closed questions in the questionnaire, quotas)

The cost of such a study is from 2000 £ (the cost is indicated for a minimum sample).

Marketing research will help solve the problem. The needs of the target audience are studied using qualitative (in-depth interviews, focus groups, observations, home visits and much more) and quantitative techniques (surveys). As a result of collecting information, as a rule, a fairly large list of unmet needs is obtained. But how to choose the really important ones?

To select the so-called attractiveness parameters, the Noriaki Kano method (Japan) is often used. As part of the survey, consumers are asked to evaluate parameters in terms of presence and absence according to the following gradations:

1. I'm delighted with this
2. It must be mandatory
3. I don't care
4. I take it calmly or can come to terms with it
5. This doesn’t suit me/irritates me

Next, all data is analyzed, the parameters are divided into four types: necessary, linear, attractive and indifferent. The example of a TV remote control is very illustrative - from an object with a large number of incomprehensible buttons, thanks to analysis using the Kano technique, it turns into a friendly assistant.

It is worth noting that consumers are becoming more sophisticated every day, and competitors are becoming more active. And what was at the highest level (caused delight) yesterday, today becomes a mandatory attribute. Therefore, it is important to study the needs of the audience from time to time - at least once every 3-5 years - in order to be ahead of the market. The company's financial results depend on this.

BCGroup's research on identifying attractiveness factors using the Kano method is structured as follows:

1. An NDA (confidentiality agreement) is signed between BCGroup and the company;
2. A BCGroup specialist, together with the customer, draws up a proposed list of factors important to the consumer;
3. A BCGroup specialist agrees with the customer on the final version of the guide for in-depth interviews;
4. BCGroup conducts in-depth interviews and identifies a final list of factors that are important to consumers. Agrees with the customer on the final version of the survey questionnaire;
5. BCGroup specialists conduct a survey of the target audience in a short time (it is possible to survey up to 5,000 people per day);
6. Next, the BCGroup employee transfers the data array to the customer’s representative in Excel or SPSS format;
7. After 7-10 days, a BCGroup employee sends an analytical report to the customer based on the results of studying the needs of the audience. In addition to the report, recommendations are offered to improve the situation (sample reports)