• Measure corporate strengths and areas of improvement:
  • Leadership
  • Stability
  • Knowledge and attitude of your sales force
  • Service
  • Support programs
  • Cost versus value
  • Competitive comparisons
  • Etc.
• Learn how to respond to market situations
• Discover staff perceptions
• Compare performance with competitors
• Offer as a value added service to clients
• Methodologies: mail, phone, online, focus groups

2. Market/Positioning Studies

• Define market segments/audiences of opportunity
• Define who uses your product or service
• Define who influences the purchase of your product
• Uncover product strengths/weaknesses
• Identify market positions that will cause customers to reach more positively:
  • Quality
  • Effectiveness
  • Speed
  • Value
  • Support services
  • Etc.
• Pinpoint the positions actually owned by your product (and your competitors’ products):
  • Who is the market leader?
  • What secondary positions are owned?
  • Are existing positions eroding?
  • Are new ones being established?
• Discover answers to the toughest positioning problems:
  • How can you avoid the “me too” product trap?
  • How can you position your brand against generics?
  • How can you balance cost versus quality, from a marketing standpoint?
  • Etc.
• Methodologies: mail, phone, online, focus groups, malls

3. Product Concept/Perception Studies

• Determine product/company awareness and perceptions
• Before making decisions, discover how the market currently views your product:
  • Product quality
  • Product availability
  • Ease of use
  • Effectiveness/efficacy
  • Cost
  • Perceptions versus competitive products
  • Etc.
• Test potential improvements/redesigns:
  • New applications/delivery systems
  • New sizes/dosages
  • New packaging
  • New pricing
  • New merchandising approaches
• Conduct pre-launch tests
  • Are the features unique?
  • Are the proposed benefits meaningful?
  • Is the pricing realistic?
  • How exclusive is the product versus its competitors
  • Who do customers view as your likely competitors ... and why?
• Test by market segment
• Compare results with competitors
• Offer as a value added service to clients
• Methodologies: mail, phone, online, focus groups, malls, in-home
  

4. Customer/Subscriber Satisfaction Studies

• Stay focused on customers:
  • Is your product reflecting the market’s current needs?
  • Do your marketing efforts position your product as a solution to your customer’s problems?
• Determine which way customer satisfaction is trending:
  • Availability
  • Quality
  • Ease of use
  • Cost/value
  • Service/support
  • Etc.
• Learn if customers are thinking of switching to competing brands:
  • To which product is customer loyalty shifting?
  • Why are they making the switch?
• Identify market trends and opportunities
  • Are customers’ needs being met ... what will they want in the future?
  • What product, service or marketing changes are required to continue competing in a changing world?
• Develop qualitative and quantitative results
• Methodologies: mail, phone, online, warrantee cards

5. Beta Qualitative Evaluations (BQE)

• Supplements quantitative research
• Test prototypes, packages, ad strategies
• Test ad strategies and ad copy concepts
• Measure product acceptance
• Conduct taste tests
• Learn employee attitudes
• Conduct disaster checks
• Use Beta’s on-site recruiting
• Use Beta’s trained moderators/interviewers
• Use Beta’s own upscale suburban location
• Methodologies: focus groups, one-on-one interviews

6. Advertising/Marketing Communications/Packaging Evaluations

• Determine the right message for different audiences
  • Consumers
  • Professionals
  • Target market segments
• Gauge ad copy and graphic effectiveness
• Discover how well graphics will stop readers
• Gain qualitative and quantitative intelligence
• Gather information during concept or final ad stages
• Compare multiple approaches
• Rapid turnaround
• Offer as a value added service
• Methodologies: mail, online

7. Direct Marketing Studies

• Appropriate for:
  • Magazine subscriptions
  • Books, videos
  • On-line services
  • Continuity clubs
  • Affinity credit cards
  • Catalogs
  • Membership clubs
  • Associations
  • Services (insurance, healthcare, etc.)
• Before rolling out, test concepts with a limited sample:
  • Is the basic position correct?
  • How well does the copy communicate?
  • Are the graphics effective?
  • Are there two few, or too many, elements in the package?
  • Is the offer something that can’t be refused?
• Find out what it takes to earn new subscribers or customers:
  • What are their hot buttons?
  • What obstacles must you overcome?
  • What alternative publications, services or products are they reading or using?
  • What’s the right price?
• Discover what it takes to renew subscribers or customers:
  • How many mailings?
  • What offers work best?
  • How early should you mail?
  • Can you bring former subscribers back to life?
• Determine the relative efficiencies of alternative approaches:
  • Which new approaches might beat your control?
  • What can be deleted from your package without affecting response?
  • Which customers are worth more in the long run?
• Discover subscriber/member reaction to line extensions
• Methodologies: mail, focus groups

8. Customer/Prospect Panel Studies

• Use for proprietary research or as a value added service
• Recruit panels from subscribers lists, customer lists, market lists
• Determine how products/publications are used or viewed
• Learn opinions of potential line extensions
• Build customer databases
• Gather input for future marketing efforts or new products/media (concept testing, perceptions, positioning, copy testing, etc.)
• Generate ideas for editorial content
• Gain information to support ad sales
• Determine how markets are changing ... demographics, psychographics
• Distribute product samples
• Methodologies: mail, telephone, online

9. Attitude and Usage Studies

10. Product Tracking Studies

• Measure performance periodically
• Measure product trials, recommendations, purchases or uses
• Profile proven customers
• Determine level of awareness
• Determine attributes associated with your product
• Spot product and market trends
• Assess competitors’ performances
• Gain results by market segment
• Determine product awareness
• Methodologies: mail, telephone, online

11. Product Testings (In-home Usage/In-mail Testing)

• Assess new products in real-life settings
• Evaluate key variables in your product line
• Determine key drivers for purchasing
• Develop historical data for benchmarking
• Position your product against competitors
• Determine consumer behavior for product preparation and usage

12. Brand Equity Evaluation Studies

13. Info•Check Studies

• Gather data from actual users
• Obtain reaction to specific stimuli
• Obtain consumer reaction to product introductions
• Identify users/triers to develop a profile for follow up research
• Obtain product usage information
• Identify the competitive landscape for a product
• Obtain in-market reaction to packaging and/or product changes
• Monitor product quality
• Conduct research among doctors, lawyers, and other professionals
• Obtain information from buyers of newsstand magazines
• Methodologies: checks in selected packages or products

14. Taste Tests

• Determine acceptance of existing products
• Test new products
• Generate ideas for product enhancements
• Methodologies: in-home testing

15. Product and Placement Studies

16. Segmentation Studies

• Analyze customer/market segments for targeted campaigns
• Identify and evaluate new segments for product expansion

17. Communication Tests

18. Custom Research Projects

• Beta Research welcomes the opportunity to custom-build research projects that help achieve your objectives.  Ask us for input.