Market Research Services
STRATEGIC RESEARCH
A broad view of brands and categories is often needed for planning, positioning, and product development purposes.
Market studies, awareness and usage (‘A&U’) studies, habits and practices studies, and segmentation studies are conducted by InnoProbe for its clients are designed to provide intelligent market perspective.
Typical Client Questions/Issues
- What is the size and growth rate of my market?
- Who are the major players in my market, and what makes them unique or different?
- What are the unmet needs in my market?
- What barriers to entry exist?
- What is our own brand’s equity: strong or weak?
- What demographic characteristics are most important for my company or brand?
- What decision criteria do customers use when selecting products or services?
- What do customers believe about my brand or company?
- How loyal are my customers? Who are we most vulnerable to?
- What market segments should appeal to that are more desirable/profitable?
InnoProbe’s Approach
In these situations, we recommend different types of studies, such as:
- Awareness and usage studies to address category and brand issues, such as buying behavior and usage occasions, buyer choice criteria, assess performance, and identify possible user targets.
- Segmentation studies to identify unique market segments based on demographics or attitudes linked to your brand. These can, in turn, be linked to media patterns and purchasing behavior.
InnoProbe's Measures
- Awareness
- Penetration and use
- Decision criteria (importance)
- Brand performance (ratings)
- Channel/outlet preferences
- Identify strengths, weaknesses
- Identify opportunities, threats
- Define segments a priori (e.g., by age, generation, income, lifestage) or revealed through statistical analysis.
Segmentation
An insurance company wished to understand the small business property and casualty market, particularly for business owner’s policies. a large research project was undertaken in which a series of attributes were asked to classify business owners based on attitudes and behaviors about coverages, price sensitivity, and their relationship with their insurance agent. Cluster analysis (segmentation) identified four distinct segments, each of which would later receive different sales and marketing messages based on business characteristics and demographics. The company was able to grow its portfolio of small business policies by 20% within two years.
Portfolio Analysis
A maker of over-the-counter pain relievers had multiple brands within the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) category. The positionings for each of the brands overlapped, causing consumer confusion and inefficiencies in media spending and targeting/messaging. Brand users were interviewed to determine perceptions of the unique benefits obtained by each of the products in the portfolio, and perceptual mapping verified that the brands could coexist if each brand stressed specific pain and neuromuscular symptoms. Some overlap between brands persisted for several years, but ultimately the brands grew more distinct and were then known for a narrower set of pain indications. The company was able to optimize media spending and improve profitability.
