Segmentation, the identification of different consumer groups in the market, is a powerful tool for designing products and services that meet consumers’ needs and is ideal for identifying target audience characteristics beyond basic demographics and category behaviors.

W5 views segmentation as the study of consumers’ responses to specific attitudinal, behavioral, psychographic, and category- and brand-related questions. During analysis, consumers with similar attitudes and thought processes are bundled together to create an audience segment.

Segmentation is beneficial to company’s seeking a reliable understanding of their consumers based on stable, real-world criteria. W5 leverages a mix of applied approaches to ensure resulting segments are actionable and capable of informing product and service refinement, brand positioning, and communications strategies related to specific consumer groups.

W5’s approach to custom, strategic segmentation research will:

• Determine what consumer segments exist and reveal the relative size of each segment
• Evaluate the potential economic value of each segment
• Identify the behaviors, attitudes, needs, and underlying psychographics of each segment and how these differ by segment
• Inform strategies for reaching and relating to segments of greatest opportunity

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Strategic tracking research monitors a brand’s perceptions and marketing communications over time through industry-specific metrics. Through a periodic or continuously-fielded quantitative survey, consumer insights are measured and compared to one another to track changes and guide decisions based on past activity and predictions for future activity. Strategic tracking supports decision making by examining market changes from one measured period to another.

W5’s approach to strategic tracking goes beyond measuring brand and advertising awareness to explore an evolving marketplace, bringing depth and context to consumer behavior and attitudes. By conducting strategic tracking research you can understand the relative health of your brand and scratch below the surface to determine its perception and fit in the marketplace.

With this in-depth “state-of-the-brand” understanding, W5 can help you:

• Measure and monitor brand health (awareness, consideration, usage, advocacy, etc.)
• Understand which brand strengths contribute to overall brand and product performance
• Understand brand positioning and opportunities relative to competitors
• Assess the impact of branding initiatives, advertising campaigns, and other marketing communications efforts
• Profile different audiences’ relationship with the brand and advertising

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The message testing process begins with creative stimuli and copy and ends with a refined message to share with consumers. Quantitative research plays an important role to ensure message effectiveness by eliciting consumer feedback on appeal, relevance, and call-to-action.

The W5 approach to message testing provides multiple viewpoints on stimuli through a proto-monadic survey design where copy variations are assessed independently and randomly before comparative questions are asked. The result is dual perspectives on clarity, appeal, relevance, and call-to-action of each stimulus providing context and support for winning concepts.

The goal of message and copy testing is to illuminate the best path forward for marketing and advertising. Armed with this insight, you and your company are better positioned to:

• Select a message or set of messages that will resonate in the marketplace based on a reliable, robust analysis of a large set of target consumers
• Inform nuanced creative decisions around specific copy, imagery, media channels, etc.
• Address hypotheses and outstanding questions about how best to communicate brand strengths, differentiation, and relevance

Conjoint analysis explores the value consumers place on your products or services and their specific features. Through a series of conjoint (two or more parallel) questions in an online survey, consumers evaluate different sets of attributes (and the various attribute options, or levels) and make “trade-offs” between services or features.

Response across the scenarios generates a robust data set that is processed using sophisticated modeling techniques. From there, W5 can gauge your consumers’ priorities, identify optimal bundles with market relevance, and explore demand and price sensitivity related to variations in marketplace offerings.

Conjoint/trade-off analysis can help you:

• Understand the unique contribution each attribute and level of that attribute brings to a product or service offering
• Determine minute differences between a series of nuanced product offerings
• Inform development of customized product offerings to specific target audiences
• Model and explore consumer demand and price sensitivity based on a robust and reliable primary research data set

Audience Identification and Profiling research paints a detailed picture of a core market – their demographics, basic category behaviors and attitudes, the psychographics underlying those behaviors and attitudes, and their opinions of the competing marketplace. This method is a critical step when introducing a new brand or product to market and can be a cost-efficient alternative to a segmentation.

Beyond basic statistical profiling, W5 explores the relationship of consumer lifestyles, life stages, beliefs, and habits to enrich consumer understanding and define their potential engagement with the brand and/or product.  Audience Identification is best used to identify a target audience for a product, service, or message. This strategic market insight will help your company:

• Identify a core market within a broader target
• Estimate the scope of opportunity for a brand or product with that target market
• Inform strategic brand or product positioning
• Develop meaningful and resonant messaging

Attitude and Usage (A&U or AAU) research answers essential questions of “what?, “where?”, “why?,” and “how?” regarding consumers’ product and services decision making both within and across market categories.

A&U studies provide a robust and reliable snapshot of consumer sentiment and behaviors at a moment in time, but can also be conducted to inform future strategy. They are a valuable tool for exploring market hypotheses, exploring brand and product appeal and opportunity, and identifying the impact of recent or forthcoming marketplace changes.

With a comprehensive knowledge of what consumers do, think, and value – and understanding why – W5 can provide insights to address consumer needs and desires, enhancing your market position.

Attitude and Usage research can help your brand or company:

• Identify nuances of consumer behaviors in the category
• Understand consumer rationale for category perceptions and decisions
• Gauge your competitive positioning
• Resolve hypotheses and assumptions of consumer behaviors and mindsets