Positioning & Messaging: Typical Engagements
Value Proposition, Product Development & Messaging: Software
A leading software company commissioned ConStat to design and manage a qualitative research effort for one of their products to uncover the most powerful and useful features from a customer perspective. The primary goal of the research was to identify the product's most compelling value propositions for use in upcoming marketing efforts.
Though it ultimately exceeded the product team's expectations, recruiting qualified participants for the 12 groups presented some significant challenges. Specifically, in addition to obtaining participation from IT managers who possessed experience in several specific areas of expertise (such as HR, Facilities and Operations), our team was also responsible for locating an appropriate number of Six Sigma professionals adequately familiar with the product and therefore able to comment on its usefulness from a business process point of view.
In addition to achieving the objectives, our team also successfully identified the new features participants felt would most likely persuade them to upgrade, if they were included in future versions. Finally, because a segmented and highly targeted screening process was employed during participant selection, this research also exposed valuable information that the brand team will be able to use in their efforts to penetrate several new, lucrative market segments previously not open to this particular product.
Product Positioning Study: Enterprise Software Solution
A manufacturer of an enterprise software solution commissioned ConStat to conduct an online test of alternate positioning statements and supporting messages in order to determine the message that yielded the greatest number of positive perceptions and trial interest.
With access to specialized sample sources, ConStat was able to expediently gain participation of an appropriate mix of senior executives and technical decision-makers and provide definitive and timely results to the client to guide the development of a multinational campaign.
The study design allowed the client to develop an index for each message in terms of its believability, likelihood to use and rank order preference, as well as diagnostics to assess the underlying factors for their choices. Moreover, the method would enable the client to compare with previous results and ultimately to build a normative database.
Positioning & Messaging: Web Hosting Services
A Web hosting service company retained ConStat to conduct research to understand the brand choice dynamics in the Web hosting category and determine ways in which the market could be segmented based on the needs associated with outsourcing Web hosting services. At the time of the research, the Web hosting services category was poised to experience significant growth and our client wanted to understand the needs and behavior of target businesses.
The research was conducted in two phases: The first was a qualitative phase consisting of in-depth interviews of 16 individuals responsible for decisions on Web site development and hosting at their company and, given their potential influence on company decision makers, six Web designers. This was followed by a quantitative phase consisting of 300 telephone interviews among persons with a high level of involvement in managing their company's Web site. The focus was on small-to-medium enterprises (companies with 5 - 499 employees).
Results from the qualitative research were used as input for the subsequent quantitative phase, which identified key factors considered when making brand selections within the Web hosting services category. The research also identified the specific product/service features that would best convey these factors, perceptions of principal competitors within the Web hosting services category and how best to position our client's brand relative to these competitors. As well, the research determined a potential means of segmenting the market by attitudinal-related dimensions, which gave the client a more direct way of identifying companies more prone to switching their current Web hosting service provider.