Combining survey findings with existing data
Integrating survey research, social media and CRM data to get complete business intelligence
Businesses rely on data to review performance and identify opportunities.
For many years the survey was the first thing marketers would reach for in their toolkit. What better way is there to gauge where you are on key purchase funnel metrics such as awareness, consideration, intention and action?
But good business data can come from others sources too and it's vital that brands are plugged into these. Business insight can be derived by applying data science techniques to existing data such as CRM or sales figures as well as publicly available datasets, such as social media and ratings & review sites.
Using survey data to set the baseline for measuring change
We find surveys really useful for assessing spontaneous and prompted awareness of a brand or product. This is a good baseline from which the impact of marketing and investment can be measured. Survey data is also really good at helping to understand a consumer's engagement not just with the product but also with the category that product belongs to and what they think about other brands in the competitive set.
We also use surveys to understand how a brand is perceived, how front of mind it is in buying (or using) situations and for identifying social, economic and environmental barriers to buying (or using) the brand.
We also ask about intention. Asking people how likely they are to buy your product or use your service is a useful indicator of future demand. Be aware though that there is often a wide disconnect between what people say they will do and what they actually do. Nowhere is this truer than in stated intention to buy a product or use a service.
Use internal business data to model and predict
A brand will have a lot of data internally that can be mined for insight. Sales, CRM and other internal data and even historic brand tracking data, can be used to undertake predictive modelling, market mapping, marketing ROI, revenue forecasting and to construct churn and retention ratios.
All this is vital in the day to day running of the business.
Use social media and review data to identify market position and optimise customer experience
Of great importance is the sway that ratings and review sites have on purchases. A huge number of people look online for product reviews as part of their purchase decision. The really interesting thing is that the number of five star reviews is not the critical factor here. Instead, it's what people say about the product - negative and positive - that really matters. This means that brands really need to pay attention to what is being said about them.
Ratings and review sites can be mined for customer experience insight and for deriving key drivers of brand growth through the identification of features and their importance. Text analysis can be used to identify the attributes most associated with a brand and its competitors and how distinct it is from its rivals in the mind of the consumer.
Applying data analytics to user reviews can identify people who have moved from one brand to another and the reasons for the switch can also be identified. This is a very powerful analysis as it tells a brand how effective it is in acquiring new customers and from whom they are taking market share. It also alerts a brand to the factors that cause it to lose market share and the actions needed to retain customers.
If a brand has a presence on social media, a network analysis can be constructed. A network analysis is used to understand the relationships between organisations by mapping the accounts followed by followers of the brand and then mapping the accounts followed in turn by their followers. By graphing the connections between them we can see which accounts are the most influential over the network. A segmentation can also be undertaken based on followers. The information provides insight on discreet groupings of followers and on the people, events and media content that interests them. This information will help with more effective targeting of existing and potential users of the brand.
Putting it altogether
Survey data will only tell you so much about your brand, product or attraction. Respondent recollection of their experience can often be hazy and lead to inaccurate results. CRM data will tell you how many customers you have, how often they buy and how much they spend. But it won't tell you the key drivers of their purchase decisions, the strengths and weaknesses of your product and how it compares with rivals and what your place is in the market
You need this insight to grow your market share. This is where deep analysis of social media and ratings & review sites are so important. Here, you can add the real voice of the consumer to your internal and survey data and get vital feedback from people who have used your product or service.
At SPARK, we integrate social media and ratings and review data with survey and CRM data to understand the market in which a brand operates and their place within it.
We start by understanding your business, its market and your intelligence requirements. We then identify the research approach needed to meet these requirements. For example, is there a need for brand health metrics, price optimisation, trade off analysis, identification of drivers of satisfaction, purchase or use or 'what if' modelling scenarios. We then assess what insight is already available from existing sources that will provide the required intelligence and which data analysis technique do we need to use to extract it. Once we know where the gaps in data are we will then commission a survey to fill them.
We call it Complete Business Intelligence and it provides the insight needed for great decision making.
Contact us for a discussion on how we can use Complete Business Intelligence to help your business grow.
