The team sees the brand differently than buyers do
Owners and marketers think about their brand every day. Buyers recall it a few times a year, mostly at the moment of purchase. That gap makes teams overestimate customer loyalty, product uniqueness, and how well people remember the advertising.
Data on real buyer behaviour paints a simpler picture. Most customers buy the brand rarely, also buy competitors, and choose whatever comes to mind first. A strategy built on the team’s feelings works for an imaginary buyer. Research brings it back to the real one.
The second reason: people are bad at predicting their own behaviour. A “yes, I would buy” in a survey often diverges from what someone does in the store. So the valuable information is about purchases already made and concrete situations — not intentions.
Four studies worth starting with
| Study | Question it answers | Format |
|---|---|---|
| JTBD interviews | Why and in which situation people choose | 10–15 in-depth interviews |
| Mental availability | Which situations the brand is linked to | Quantitative survey of category buyers |
| Distinctive assets audit | What people recognise the brand by | Fame and uniqueness test |
| Physical availability audit | Where and how easy it is to buy | Channel and point-of-sale analysis |
01JTBD interviews
Talk to people who recently bought you or a competitor. Reconstruct the decision story: what happened, what they tried before, what they feared, what convinced them. That reveals the job the product does and the real competitors — including the non-obvious ones.
02Mental availability research
List the situations where people enter the category: “a gift for a colleague,” “dinner after work,” “a snack on the road.” Then ask category buyers which brands they link to each situation. The result shows where the brand is already strong and which situations are still open.
03Distinctive assets audit
Show people a colour, shape, typeface, character, or sound without the brand name. Count how many recognise you and how many name a competitor. Use strong assets everywhere; refine or drop the weak ones.
04Physical availability audit
Check whether the product is where need arises: in the right stores, on marketplaces, in search results, in delivery. The best positioning loses power if the product is hard to find at the moment of purchase.
How not to spend the budget on “pretty presentations”
- Start with the decision. Before you begin, write down which decisions the team will make from the results: pick a segment, change the pack, rewrite the message. If the study does not affect any decision, cancel it.
- Survey category buyers. Your own customers are the most loyal and least typical part of the market. Brand growth depends on people who buy the category and still choose others.
- Ask about behaviour. Instead of “would you buy,” ask “what did you buy last time and why.” Past actions predict future ones far better than intentions.
- Use what you already have. Sales, reviews, search queries, and support tickets often answer half the questions before the first interview.
- Turn findings into actions. End every finding with a “what we do” line. A report with no decisions goes to the archive with the budget.
Common mistakes
- Focus groups as the main source of conclusions. Group dynamics warp the answers.
- Betting on a portrait of the “ideal customer.”
- One big study every five years instead of regular measurement.
- Surveying only loyal customers.
Takeaway
Research turns strategy from a set of assumptions into a decision system. Interviews explain why people buy. Quantitative measures show how to lock the brand into memory and onto the shelf. A small research stage at the start costs less than a year of communication aimed at the wrong place.