Publicly Available Metrics That Add Value
The Five You Can't Afford To Miss
Recently we identified the 'magnificent' seven metrics that should be tracked in a market research brand tracker. To build a well-rounded understanding of your brand’s perception and position in the market, traditional brand-tracking surveys should be complemented with publicly available insights. These insights, derived from online sources like reviews and social media, can help you identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for growth.
Below are the five key metrics that will deepen your understanding of brand sentiment, competitive positioning and potential partnerships.
Sentiment Analysis Across Review Platforms
While volume of reviews is widely monitored, it’s crucial to dig deeper by analysing review sentiment—both quantitative ratings and qualitative comments across major platforms like Trustpilot, Amazon and Yelp. Tracking the overall positive or negative sentiment of your reviews over time provides insight into whether your brand experience is meeting, exceeding or falling short of customer expectations.
Why it matters:
By focusing on the sentiment trends, you’ll gain a clear picture of shifts in customer satisfaction and can identify specific areas requiring attention or potential risks to brand loyalty.
Reviewer Mentions of Competitors and Substitute Brands
A unique insight can be found in tracking the brands that your reviewers also mention in their feedback, either as competitors or alternatives. If your brand appears alongside certain competitors, you’re able to map your competitive set more accurately and monitor shifts in their relevance. Tracking mentions of complementary brands can even reveal partnership opportunities.
Why it matters:
Understanding your brand’s place in the market goes beyond self-assessment; it means staying aware of where you sit in the broader landscape. Identifying frequently mentioned complementary brands might also unlock potential alliances to enhance your market positioning.
Customer Pain Points and Product Gaps
Review sites and forums often capture specific pain points and unmet needs, creating valuable insights for refining or innovating products. By analysing recurring issues and product gaps in customer feedback, you’ll uncover potential areas for improvement and innovation, including design flaws, quality issues and feature requests.
Why it matters:
This granular level of insight helps prioritise product developments or fixes, ensuring that your brand evolves in ways that meet customer needs and expectations.
Engagement Quality on Visual Social Platforms
Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest provide brand-specific data points beyond just likes or comments. Instead, focus on measuring engagement quality—such as the depth of customer interactions or the sharing of brand-related content. Qualitative interactions, such as thoughtful comments, user-generated posts or story shares, reflect stronger brand resonance than casual likes.
Why it matters:
Meaningful interactions reveal how well your brand’s narrative resonates with your audience, indicating emotional engagement and loyalty that extend beyond passive followers.
Top Review Keywords and Themes
Keyword and theme analysis across reviews and social media comments highlights core perceptions and recurring associations with your brand. Commonly used descriptors and phrases such as “value for money,” “durable,” or “excellent customer service”, sheds light on the most significant brand attributes in the eyes of consumers. By examining positive and negative themes, you’ll understand the nuances of your brand image.
Why it matters:
Identifying dominant themes in customer feedback allows you to assess whether your brand is known for its intended attributes and provides actionable insights for refining your messaging and customer experience.
In Summary
With the right mix of these publicly sourced metrics, you can enrich your understanding of brand health and competitive position in real-time. These insights bridge the gap between brand tracking surveys and on-the-ground perceptions, enabling you to adjust your strategy in a data-driven way.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into optimising brand tracking across both survey and publicly available data, contact us for a complimentary consultation.
