Market
Research
Assess marketing effectiveness in terms of member and potential member awareness and
perception of a credit union, it’s brand, products, services, etc. Through focus
groups, in-depth personal interviewing and quantitative methodologies, it can be
determined whether a proposed marketing campaign is likely to make the intended impression
as well as determining the current awareness and perception in the market area served by
the credit union.
Based on a market feasibility analysis, documents current and future competitors in a
market area, including an existing or proposed subject, and estimates their respective
future shares of overall demand. Takes into account current performance and such
competitive characteristics of each operation as location, visibility, access,
product/service mix, pricing, and the quality and effectiveness of marketing and
management efforts. Provides a basis for subsequent analyses and comparative assessment of
alternative business plans.
Often carried out for those financial institutions that garner much of their revenue
from an organized effort to infiltrate the business community. This typically involves key
leadership interviews with existing business customers regarding their needs, preferences
and plans. Such a study is typically supported by a secondary examination of factors
affecting the suitability or attractiveness of a city, county, or other area for the
conduct of business. Factors may include taxes, access to suppliers and markets,
availability of suitable workers, etc. The outcome of such a study is that the financial
institution begins to understand the needs facing its business portfolio and can use that
information to drive future decisions involving pricing, distribution and product or
service development.
Assess realistically the cost/benefit aspects of needs and preferences through the use
of constrained choices and options. This is typically completed through the use of
qualitative and quantitative assessment o current product or
service usage as well as
determining planned usage of products and services, estimated probability of financial
institution of choice receiving proposed business and the impact on prioritization of
potential directions from strategic planning.
Measure satisfaction with particular products or services and likelihood of purchasing
again. Identify reasons for dissatisfaction, if any, and ways to improve. Most
importantly, identify the drivers of satisfaction from the variables that comprise the key
elements of a credit union or bank’s existence and prioritize the drivers in such a
manner that the credit union knows where to focus and how to achieve meaningful and
actionable recommendations.
Determine whether the balance of anticipated supply and demand regarding a particular
type of financial product, service or proposed development will be favorable for a credit
union, taking into account the performance of existing and future competitors and trends
in sources of demand. This type of study may include a competitive market share analysis.
Assess characteristics of competitors, reasons for consumer preferences and relative
appeal of alternative offerings. In today’s competitive environment, this has become
a MAJOR study for those organizations realizing that they must become more than the sum of
their parts. They must move beyond feature/benefit categorization by the member/customer
in order to secure a prominent position in the future competitive landscape.
Identify, characterize and quantify member/customer and potential customer segments and
their respective needs and preferences with regard to either the financial institution in
total, a particular type of financial product, service or marketing approach.
Evaluate member responses to functional design alternatives of a prototypical product.
This approach often involves face-to-face interviews or focus groups and the use of visual
aids and constrained choices to assess realistically the cost/benefit aspect of
preferences.
Determine awareness of price differences, perceptions about price-quality-quantity
relationships, affordability thresholds and other aspects of pricing.
A very critical information piece for those credit unions focused on a community
charter. The old saying used to be, "perception is reality." The new saying is,
"reality is reality." This study indexes the strength of a financial
institution’s image relative to it’s current geographic competitive environment.
Assess effectiveness of service delivery standards and procedures to the public or
members. This is only for those financial institutions considering the implementation of
some form of continuous improvement schema and has allocated the necessary resources to
insure that the program will last over time.
Our experience in conducting internet research and analysis to date includes:
- Audience identification and profiling
- Banner ad testing
- Customer segmentation and targeting
- New concept/product development and evaluation
- Site performance and usability
- Technology integration to improve customer loyalty and retention
- In addition, we offer a proprietary Internet research technique, Website Mystery
Shopping.
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