When you go into a mall, it’s grocery shopping day. You want to get some butter, toilet paper, and tape. You’d go for a most familiar product. You’d go for Lurpak butter, Kleenex, and Scotch tape (if those are your preferred brands). You’re not alone.

61% of consumers buy products from businesses that offer original content. 77% of buyers admitted purchasing brand names rather than the product itself.

Brand awareness measurement tells you how consumers perceive and engage with your brand. It’s a measure of the extent to which your target audience recognizes and recalls your brand name, logo, or products/services. This awareness is what successful brands are built on.

Your survey methodology determines what information you receive. An efficient brand awareness measure informs you about consumer perceptions, preferences, and behaviors.

In this article, we discuss the eight key metrics you can use to measure brand awareness in your survey.

1. Unaided Brand Recall

Your partner requests that you buy them lip gloss. The first brand that comes to mind without any prompt or cues is what you buy. That is what we refer to as unaided brand recall.

Unaided brand recall is the ability of consumers to spontaneously recall a brand from memory without any prompts or cues. Brands with high unaided recall are more likely to be considered for purchase when consumers make buying decisions.

How To Measure Unaided Brand Recall

We measure this metric using four different prompts:

Open-Ended Questions

In surveys or interviews, ask an open-ended question such as, “Can you name any brands of [product/service category] that come to mind?” This allows respondents to recall brands without any prompts freely.

Top-of-Mind Prompting

Respondents are asked to name the first brand that comes to mind when prompted with a product or service category. For example, they might be asked, “When you think of [product/service category], what is the first brand that comes to mind?”

Spontaneous Recall Tests

We use these recall tests in controlled settings (like focus groups or eye-tracking studies). Respondents are observed or prompted to recall brands without any assistance.

Recall Games or Exercises

Engage respondents in interactive activities, such as word association games or memory exercises. These games stimulate the recall of brands related to specific product categories.

2. Aided Brand Recall

Let’s go back to our previous analogy. If you could not think of a brand, and your partner showed you the logo or name, that’s an aided brand recall. You were given a specific prompt to jog your memory. Aided recall measures the extent to which consumers recognize brands when prompted.

Also Read: – What is the Difference Between Benchmarking and Competitor Research?

What to Consider in Your Survey Design

Here are some points to remember when designing surveys for aided recall:

• Carefully select prompts relevant to the brand and resonate with your audience. Prompts include brand names, logos, slogans, or product attributes associated with the brand.
• Use a variety of prompts to assess brand recognition, product associations, and brand attributes.
• Consider the order in which prompts are presented to respondents to minimize bias and priming effects. Randomize the order of prompts to ensure that the sequence of prompts does not influence respondents’ recall.
• Provide respondents with multiple response options or a checklist of prompts when assessing aided recall. This allows respondents to select the prompts that best match their memory of the brand.
•  Include control prompts or “don’t know” options to control for guessing and ensure that respondents’ responses are based on genuine recall rather than guesswork.

3. Brand Recognition

Brand recognition is an umbrella metric for aided and unaided brand recall. However, it’s a lot more specific to your brand alone. Did the customer recognize your brand logo, color, or symbol? These are the questions the metric answers.

The survey tips used here are similar to those in aided brand recall. But this time, the star of the survey is your brand.

4. Brand Association

Brand association is the mental connections and associations that consumers form between a brand and specific attributes. Simply put, what emotions or experiences does your brand remind your consumers of?

Brand association differentiates a brand from competitors by creating emotional connections with your consumers. Brand association actively influences purchase decisions.

Tips for Designing Survey Questions

• Ask respondents to associate your brand with specific attributes. For example, “Which of the following words or phrases best describe [Brand]?”
• Probe respondents’ emotional connections with your brand by asking them to describe the feelings evoked by the brand. “When you think of [Brand], what emotions come to mind?”
• Ask them to recall specific moments that stand out in their minds when thinking about your brand. For example, “Can you share a memorable experience you’ve had with [Brand]?”
• Assess respondents’ perceptions of the brand’s personality by asking them to attribute human personality traits to the brand. For example, “If [Brand] were a person, how would you describe its personality?”
• Use Likert-scale questions to measure the strength of brand associations on dimensions such as relevance, uniqueness, favorability, and salience. For example, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how strongly do you associate [Brand] with [Attribute]?”

5. Brand Perception

Brand perception is the overall impression, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings that consumers associate with your brand. It encompasses how consumers perceive a your image, reputation, personality, values, and positioning in the marketplace. Brand perception is shaped by your brand communications, their experiences, and interactions over time.

Survey Strategies

• Use open-ended questions such as, “How would you describe [Brand] to a friend?” to capture spontaneous perceptions and associations.
• Assess respondents’ perceptions of the brand’s reputation and credibility by asking… “Please rate your agreement with the statement: ‘[Brand] is a trustworthy and reliable company.'”
• Use a scale or checklist of personality traits (e.g., friendly, innovative, trustworthy) and ask respondents to indicate which traits they associate with the brand.
• Present respondents with a matrix or grid of brand attributes and ask them to rate the importance of each attribute and the brand’s performance on each attribute.
• Utilize semantic differential scales to measure respondents’ perceptions of the brand on bipolar adjectives (e.g., modern vs. traditional, innovative vs. conservative).

6. Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty refers to the degree of consumer commitment and attachment to a particular brand. Several metrics are used to measure brand loyalty:

• Repeat Purchase Rate
• Customer Retention Rate
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Brand Switching Behavior

7. Purchase Intent

Purchase intent measurement assesses consumers’ likelihood to purchase a product or service in the future. Understanding purchase intent helps you to forecast future demand, optimize marketing strategies, and drive sales growth.

Survey Questions Tips

• Ask respondents to indicate their likelihood of purchasing the product or service in the future on a scale (e.g., very likely, somewhat likely, not likely). “How likely are you to purchase [product/service] in the next [time frame]?”
• Inquire about respondents’ consideration of the product or service relative to alternatives. “When considering [product/service], how does it compare to other options available to you?”
• Probe respondents to determine their timeline for making a purchase decision. “When do you expect to make a purchase decision regarding [product/service]?”
• Identify any obstacles that may impact respondents’ purchase intent. “What factors, if any, would prevent you from purchasing [product/service]?”

8. Competitive Benchmarking

Comparing brand awareness metrics with your competitors gives your business extra protection. This metric helps you assess their Competitive Positioning, and helps you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

Conclusion

Researchers.me provides you with excellent tools and resources for conducting every assessment regarding your brand.

Visit Researchers.me today to leverage the power of competitive benchmarking and drive your brand’s success.