Research in The PLUS Network

With political tensions on both sides of the Atlantic transforming even the most relaxed customers into partisan shoppers and trigger-fingered issue vigilantes, brands and their agencies need to keep a measure of the consumer mindset more than ever.

From responding to breaking news to understanding the impetus behind the latest hot-button issue, consumer research is the best way to gauge public sentiment. But it’s far more than a crisis management tool.

Consumer research is a great way of generating fact-based content to inform thought-leadership articles, press releases and the kind of content programs that have extra longevity—like “Stories in Motion.”. It allows spokespeople to talk with authority on any given topic, and marketers to measure the success of a new campaign. When a brand needs to assess the risk and reward that accompanies a specific sponsorship opportunity, consumer research provides the data necessary to make an informed decision.

Ultimately, consumer research should be an integral part of any PR or communications program.

Keep ahead of the curve

If you know a story is going to break, the ideal thing to do is to conduct a survey ahead of time so that you have a baseline level to work from. At YouGov we also have brand health measures that we track for over a thousand brands day in, day out, so we can look at how value, reputation and quality perceptions have changed, over the years.

Questions about whether the respondent is aware of the event (and the brand's connection to it), are a good place to start. You can then go on to compare people's likelihood to engage with the brand among people who were aware of the event to see the extent and reach of any effect.   

What to consider when creating questions for a survey

A good rule of thumb: keep it simple.

Questions about whether the public is even aware of a particular event (and the brands connected to it), for example, is a good place to start.

It seems obvious, but often it’s important to be bold and just ask the few questions you want answered. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to be creative, and to build a 360-degree profile of your audience, but if all you need to know is how a specific event made people feel, that’s all you should ask. Although simple might not feel groundbreaking or sophisticated, the way you use the results can be. Plus, a few simple questions make the survey quick, extremely inexpensive, and often engaging for your audience.

If you do nothing else, what one thing should you do when planning fast-turnaround research?

Like most things in business, the best consumer research comes from great communication. The more you can share with your research team — why you are doing the research, who will see the findings, and what message you’d like to convey with the results — the better positioned they are to design the best project possible. The least effective consumer research often stems from a set of questions emailed across that involved little conversation between the brand, the agency, and the research company.

Even when time is short, a quick phone call can clear up a lot of ambiguity. We look forward to talking with you…

By Jake Gammon, Head of Omnibus US, YouGov