We understand the marketplace is dynamic, and can design a marketing research program to help you respond to market changes and ensure the sustained growth of your product.

Understand Product Users and Nonusers with Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is an essential tool in understanding product acceptance. MRSI uses focus groups, mini-groups, and in-depth interviews, as well as advanced query techniques, to deeply probe how consumers feel about your product compared to competitive offerings.

Conducting qualitative marketing research among users and non-users can be very revealing. In-home visits can also show you how consumers actually use the product in their homes, and offer interactive learning opportunities.

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Gain Insight at Point-of-Purchase
In-store (point-of-purchase) research is particularly valuable after product launch. The moment of purchase is the most critical point in the entire marketing cycle. It is when a shopper best recalls why they made a particular brand choice. All of the imagery perceived for the category, your product, and your competitor's product is top-of-mind at this moment.

Point-of-purchase research also helps focus attention on the package, which can be the pivotal factor in a product's success or failure. Many other variables converge on the store shelf to make it an ideal laboratory for truly understanding consumer behavior.

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Reassess Your Market
Many category assessment studies conducted in the Market Understanding step are appropriate to repeat in this step. Your product launch has impacted the market and may have dramatically changed the competitive landscape. These effects need to be fully understood to manage the brand for maximum sales and profit.

MRSI helps you gain a thorough understanding of your market and your target consumers by designing a custom marketing research program that will likely combine qualitative insight with quantitative methods. Key types of studies include:

• Habits & Practices
• Attitudes & Usage
• Customer Profiling
• Brand Image
• Purchase Drivers
• Segmentation

A benefits & barriers study can also be conducted for your product. This identifies key barriers to trial of your brand and reasons for switching to another brand. It also defines the relationship between trial and repeat purchase, key drivers of product choice, product substitution, and source of volume. MRSI provides an in-depth analysis of how consumers perceive your brand and competitors using state-of-the-art data mining, mapping, and modeling techniques.

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Keep Your Brand On-Track with Tracking Research
Tracking studies provide a true indicator of brand health as your product moves through its life cycle and are essential to understanding your product category, how your brand fits, and how these change over time.

Tracking a product at the introductory stage or a major point of change such as a new advertising campaign, a product restage, or a new formulation, is critical to long-term success. MRSI will design a custom tracking program for your product that tracks the right information at the right time, either via phone or our Online iN-Site Internet interviewing system.

A well-designed tracking program allows you to:

• Monitor the success of changes in your product or marketing strategy
• Identify and correct problems early
• Formulate strategies to fine-tune your product, image, and marketing program

There are two types of tracking research, continuous and point-in-time (at regular intervals or waves). A continuous program offers advantages such as the ability to always know what is happening with your brand and to do "true trending" of the customer attitude or behavior.

MRSI's On-Track program tests large volumes of data for change, and generates an "exception report" to identify only significant changes. Continuous tracking also monitors for potential brand "wear out" where consumers may begin to switch brands.

Key measures may include:

• Brand and Advertising Awareness
• Advertising Recall
• Brand Usage
• Brand Satisfaction
• Brand Image

The questionnaire can be set up as individual modules to address category nuances or new issues. This type of modular system is ideal in a continuous tracking system because relevant new product information can easily be inserted.

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Maintain Satisfied Customers
Customer satisfaction measurement (CSM) may be included in the tracking program, or assessed more in-depth in a separate study. This usually begins with a qualitative study that identifies key drivers of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and customer retention. The quantitative study then measures these variables and how they interact.

MRSI also classifies your customers, and those of competitors, as secure or vulnerable and profile each group. The needs of vulnerable customers are not being fully met, and they may switch to a competitor. On the other hand, vulnerable customers of your competitors are prime for capturing, if you can better fulfill their needs.

In a tracking study context, MRSI recommends a key measure of satisfaction be selected to use for possible follow-up purposes. CSM tracking research gives consumers an opportunity to voice their dissatisfaction with a brand's performance.

We think it is important to develop a system that enables corrective action to be taken. Our ALERT service notifies you if we encounter a dissatisfied customer. Specific satisfaction criteria can be inserted into the survey, which if met, triggers a final survey question asking consumers if they would like someone to contact them to discuss their problem.

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Maximize Promotion Effectiveness
Your marketing program may include specific promotions such as coupons, sampling, or print ads. MRSI is skilled at designing marketing research that measures the success of these programs. The marketing research usually includes a pre-wave (before the promotion) and one or more post-waves (after the promotion). Key measures include:

• Awareness of the promotion
• Product trial
• Purchase intent
• Usage behavior

The results can be used to fine-tune your ongoing marketing efforts.

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Why MRSI?
Clients tell us it's our comprehensive capabilities, proactive client service, and ability to consistently provide accurate, actionable results that set us apart. If you've used our services before then you know you can count on us to deliver the same quality results throughout your entire product development process. If you're new to MRSI consider this: Since 1973, we've delivered on our promises. That fact is best reflected in our clients' loyalty, with long-term partnerships dating back to our founding and referrals from satisfied clients generating the majority of our new business.

Contact Us
For more information on how MRSI's product development research services can help you achieve product success call 513-579-1555 or use our online form to quickly request additional product development information right now!