954.485.5448
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About M4M
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Connect
  • Contact
Mad4Marketing
  • Home
  • About M4M
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Connect
  • Contact
Select Page

Surveying: How Much is Too Much?

by Chris Madsen | Jun 14, 2010 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Collecting a random survey group to test products and offer unbiased feedback is one of the bedrock systems of marketing. Whether this method means dragging a clipboard outside for street polling or years of formal data collection, one thing is for certain: As technology advances, so do survey methods. But how advanced is too advanced? And when does surveying cross the line between enlightening and overblown?

Well-known soup brand Campbell’s recently conducted extensive surveying to test how a remodel of their iconic logo would go over with consumers. Understandably, tweaking a design that’s been used for more than one hundred years is not a decision that the brand would want to take lightly. But they didn’t just ask what people thought of different images. Rather, they hooked participants up to monitors that would gauge their biological responses as they viewed various soup cans. This process is known as neuromarketing.

Campbell’s decided to use this tactic rather than polling or verbal surveying to avoid the discrepancies that traditionally exist between what people say they like and their actual buying habits. Executives decided not to rely on consumers to accurately report what they liked. Instead, they based their decisions on pure physical responsiveness such as pupil dilation, heart rate, sweating, breathing and posture. Scientists and specialists monitored participants as they went on simulated shopping experiences and browsed the aisles for soup. Campbell’s new soup can design is based on these results. For example, if survey members salivated over a soup can displaying a bigger bowl of soup, that bowl would now be on the label. This testing took place over the course of two years.

It would probably take a lot of surveying to determine if this sort of investigation is considered worthwhile in the conventional world of marketing. But one thing is certain: Most businesses cannot afford to dabble in the same kind of pricey testing as Campbell’s.

A more realistic option with time-tested results is a focus group, which can be arranged by a marketing agency such as Mad 4 Marketing. Unlike the Campbell’s technique–which cuts consumer opinion right out of the picture as if it’s out of style–a focus group really explores what select candidates think and feel about brands, services and products. Unlike a poll, which can be out-of-context and impersonal, focus groups go more in-depth as participants familiarize with the topic at hand. And rather than cutting a broad swath of random survey participants, a focus group can be tailored to really reflect a company’s audience. If you’re selling women’s sneakers, for example, you’d collect a group of athletically inclined females who regularly shop for gear, as well as those who have expressed an interest in becoming more active. Naturally, the process of choosing participants would be based on previously collected data and demographical information that would also be used in all future marketing endeavors for that campaign.

Overall, focus group testing is shorter and simpler than neuromarketing—plus, it’s a much more cost-effective research method. And despite what Campbell’s seems to think, asking people what they want and letting them provide thoughtful and voluntary responses is still a viable technique when it comes to marketing.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Archives

  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
© 2023 | Mad 4 Marketing