As you may know, brand tracking is the process of measuring brand perception, equity, and health over time. We’ve previously written about what you can learn with brand tracking and why you need it. Now we're exploring what metrics a business can use to track its brand’s awareness and how potential and existing customers perceive the brand.
Tracking awareness with website metrics
A business can track certain aspects of awareness by measuring the online version of foot traffic—visits to the site. How many people visit the site tells you how many people are aware of and considering the brand. Further, how they get there (via your EDMs, social media, ads, or organic search) tells you what kind of awareness they have.
Users who arrive via generic search terms may have low brand awareness. Those who come from your newsletters are likely subscribers with high awareness and consideration.
You can measure your online presence and set metrics and goals to track your brand awareness over time. If traffic increases, that is often a sign of increased brand awareness.
Tracking awareness and perception with brand tracking surveys
Sometimes, the best way to understand what people think is to ask them! As part of your brand strategy, identify a target market. Collect potential customer and existing customer feedback to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
You can set metrics around positive or negative perceptions or connotations of the brand, as well as general awareness. Consider questions like “Have you heard of this brand before?” or “What are your perceptions of this brand?” However, using neutral language and avoiding leading questions is vital to maintain data validity.
Brand tracking measures typically start by mirroring the sales funnel where you capture:
- Brand awareness: What percentage of your target market have heard of your product or service?
- Brand consideration: What percentage of your target market would consider using your product or service?
- Usage: What percentage of your target market are using your (or your competitors) products or services already?
You can track each of these measures over time to see the impact your marketing and acquisition strategies have on the overall prominence of your brand in the marketplace.
Once you've established your brand's relationship with the market, you may want to dig deeper into your customer or prospect's perceptions towards your brand, this could include:
- Brand affinity: What is the emotional connection your target market has with your brand?
- Brand association: What attributes does your target market associate with your brand?
- Brand positioning: Where do your customers and prospects position you in comparison to your competitors on attributes such as support, quality or speed?
While this all sounds fantastic, in reality, brand research has a range of complexities you need to consider. There are three primary challenges businesses face in conducting their own brand research, these are:
- Knowing which questions to ask
- Reaching a large enough sample
- Weighting results for consistent tracking
To solve these challenges, you can engage a market research agency like Agile Market Intelligence. Together, we can identify the best metrics to measure for your brand. Read more about our brand tracking services or talk directly to one of our specialists with a free 30-minute consultation.
