The Challenge
How does one of the largest companies in the world take on the challenge to encourage girls to dream, grow, aspire, create and imagine? That was the mission of one of this retail company’s subsidiaries - to celebrate the potential of girls age 3 to 12.
In an ongoing effort to support this mission, that company needed to measure their customer’s satisfaction and experience, and turned to Actionable Research for marketing research that could answer the following questions:
- Are customers satisfied with our brand?
- Are customers satisfied with their retail store experience?
- Why do customers return to our brand and stores?
- How can we improve the retail experiences of our customers?
- What can we do to help our customers have meaningful and memorable experiences in our retail settings?
The Approach
Actionable Research designed a number of surveys to help the retailer answer these specific questions, wording the questions in a way which would allow both the girls and their parents to provide relevant feedback. To keep the data applicable and fresh, surveys were redesigned and re-released annually. The primary goal of the surveys was to discover where customers believed the brand could improve their retail experience.
Following survey design, Actionable Research programmed and hosted the survey. Links to complete the survey were distributed to customers on receipts from an in-store or at-kiosk purchase. Surveys were available for a set amount of time, which was pre-determined by Actionable Research and our client. To obtain the most complete customer experience picture possible, there was no limit set on the number of surveys which could be completed in that period of time.
At the end of the pre-determined time, Actionable Research began analyzing the results, looking for trends in the data which would point to the reasons customers came back to the store, and those areas which did not meet the customers’ expectations. While there are many potential ways to group customers, the results in this particular case were grouped by region. Regional grouping allowed the retailer to look at multiple store and kiosk results specific to areas of the country.
In addition to this big picture look at the customer experience, Actionable Research also reported on the customers’ willingness to recommend the brand to others (a huge factor in sales growth), and the attributes which affect that decision. With so many attributes affecting such a decision, it can be difficult for some companies to find effective ways to report findings. Actionable Research used a four-quadrant graph to display survey results. The quadrants showed which product/service aspects to leverage and which to maintain, which should have their resources allocated to other areas, and where to invest and improve. Our client was able to see in one graph those aspects which both positively and negatively affected their recommendation rates.
The Results
With the results of Actionable Research surveys, our client was able to use solid metrics to improve the retail experience of their customers, highlighting their areas of strength and improving in those areas customers had indicated were falling short of their expectations. Over the long-standing relationship this brand shared with Actionable Research, the company expanded, opening new stores to receptive markets. This expansion was due, in part, to the marketing research which helped them effectively compete with similar companies, while ensuring that they were, in fact, encouraging their young customers to dream, grow, aspire, create and imagine.
Actionable Research can help your company too. Our research methods are specialized to the markets we work within. Whether short, ongoing studies designed to trend satisfaction, or full-service custom research that makes the most of a periodic trip to the field, Actionable Research has vast experience helping clients meet their marketing research needs. Contact us today to set up a brief, non-committal call to discuss your next project, and see how we can help.
