Pricing Research

If you are trying to get a sense of what price to set for a product or service, there are three questions that will help you make a more informed decision:

• How much do you think this product or service costs?
• What would you being willing to pay for this product or service?
• What is the most you would be willing to pay for this product or service?

Different customers will answer this differently. In fact, there may be customer segments that value the product or service differently or who have the ability to pay more or less for the product or service than other customers.

In pricing a product or service, you must always consider your costs and the value of the product or service to the customer. Generally, unless you are pursuing a "loss leader" or a razor-razorblade pricing strategy, you must price your product or service somewhere between the cost and value assuming the cost is less than the value. 

You could explore and influence reference prices, that is, other prices that inform perceptions of your product's or service's price. You could create a price segmentation scheme, that is charging different prices for different customer segments, to maximize revenues and profits. And, if you are just entering a market with your product or service, you could pursue a penetration or skimming pricing strategy depending on what you are trying to accomplish. 

There are many other considerations when pricing a product including price elasticity/sensitivity, price thresholds, bundling/unbundling, sales terms, payment methods, subscription model versus outright purchase, etc. 

Having considered some of the other components of pricing strategy, these are still the most important customer questions to inform your pricing strategy:

• How much do you think this product or service costs?
• What would you being willing to pay for this product or service?
• What is the most you would be willing to pay for this product or service?

Make sure to ask these questions before you set your price. 

Politics, Brands & Research

Some politicians intuitively know what to say to motivate voters. However, there is generally much more science to creating political brand messaging than the average person might suspect. For instance, the first step would be to identify a voter segmentation scheme. And it should be substantially more nuanced than Democratic, Republican, Independent, Liberal and Conservative. Voters can be segmented across a myriad of beliefs, values, attitudes and other motivators.

For instance, here are some possibilities for voter segmentation:

• Staunch Democrat vs. Staunch Republican
• Staunch Liberal vs. Staunch Conservative
• Globalist vs. Isolationist
• Interventionalist vs. Non-interventionalist
• Think government can be helpful vs. think government is the problem
• Afraid of big-corporate control of government vs. think government should get out of the way of private industry
• Think some government oversight and regulation is necessary vs. think the less government oversight and regulation the better
• Deep down, view America as a white, Christian nation vs. deep down, view America as a land of opportunity for everyone regardless of ethnicity or religion
• Think diversity creates problems vs. think diversity strengthens and enriches our society
• Pro-choice vs. Pro-life
• Believe capitalism coupled with socialism works best vs. believe unfettered capitalism works best
• Believe federal, state and local governments all have a purpose vs. believe government should mostly be local
• Believe the primary purpose of the federal government is its citizens' physical safety and security vs. believe the federal government also has a role in its citizens' health, financial security and quality of life
• Believe in Keynesian Economics vs. Monetarist Economics
• Open-minded vs. Close-minded
• Believe the world is ultimately good vs. the world is ultimately evil
• Individualist vs. Collectivist
• Generally an optimist vs. generally a pessimist
• More cooperative vs. more competitive
• Have some connection with the military vs. have no connection with the military
• Prefer spectator and participatory sports vs. prefer culture and the arts
• Confident about one's place in society vs. insecure about one's place in society
• Successful in life vs. less successful in life
• Selfish vs. selfless and compassionate
• Focus on law, order and justice vs. focus on compassion and mercy
• Generally trust other people vs. generally do not trust other people
• Conspiracy theorists vs. people who are generally reluctant to believe in conspiracies
• Fear of global climate change and environmental disaster vs. no fear of these things
• Fear of nuclear war vs. little fear of nuclear war
• Fear of terrorism vs. little fear of terrorism
• Believe that racism exists and is a problem vs. do not believe racism exists or is a problem
• Believe in survival of the fittest vs. helping one's neighbor

I could go on and on with this list, but you get the idea. Once people are coded against these segmentation schemes, quantitative research can show which attributes are most correlated with voter choice.

Qualitative research, and in particular depth interviews, can provide much deeper insight into sub-conscious motivators, especially related to fears and deeply held beliefs and values. These interviews might last two to three hours with each individual and would include laddering, guided imagery and projective techniques among others. The attitudinal statements in the above list are often identified or explored in greater depth in qualitative research. 

Powerful wedge issues will be discovered in the depth interviews. And then key messaging for those wedge issues will be tested. Ultimately, one can determine the likelihood of changing each voter segment's vote by using each wedge issue statement.

Finally, you overlay the power of big data analytics to individuals and you can get most people to vote any way you want them to. And the beauty of this is that the voters tend to think that these carefully crafted messages were their own ideas, not some carefully thought through voter manipulation scheme. 

The final messages need to be powerful emotional triggers, usually tapping into deeply held, and often subconscious, fears.

Frankly, my greatest concern is that someone who has little to no interest in the health of our nation uses these techniques to be elected for personal gain - greed, power, etc. 

Market Research

Generally, market research should be left to marketing research professionals. The role of a brand manager is to clearly articulate the questions that the research needs to answer. Ideally, the answers to those questions will impact key decisions and actions. If deep insight is sought, usually some sort of qualitative research is required, such as depth interviews, focus groups and mini-groups. There are now a variety of online qualitative research approaches. Top moderators are skilled with a large array of techniques for probing including guided imagery, laddering and many different projective techniques. If something needs to be quantified, usually quantitative research is the answer.

Asking the right target markets and market segments to participate in the research is critical. Understanding the impact of sample size on confidence levels is also critical. If designed the proper way, quantitative research can be used to understand differences between market segments including those based on demographics, psychographics, product purchase behaviors and product usage behaviors. Question ordering is important so as not to bias subsequent responses. How a question is worded will alter the responses. If a rating scale is used, the number of points on the rating scale and its symmetry or asymmetry will make a difference in the range of responses.

Brand managers need to know what the research can provide and what it cannot provide before it is fielded. Sometimes clients ask for research outputs that the research was never intended to deliver. 

How one invites a person to participate in the research will affect the response rate but also any biasing or the lack thereof.

Today, there are countless marketing research methodologies. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. One of the roles of a competent marketing research professional is to determine the most appropriate technique for the questions to be answered. 

Brand Aid, second edition has one chapter dedicated to brand research and another dedicated to brand equity measurement. It also has a chapter dedicated to understanding the consumer and another to understanding the competition. You can order a copy of the book here.