Many companies across the globe use Brand Tracking to monitor and measure the performance of their brands over time. It’s an important tool for long-term growth plans because it helps businesses understand how their brand is evolving and where they may need to adjust to stay relevant and competitive. By tracking key performance indicators such as brand awareness, brand loyalty, and customer satisfaction, businesses can identify areas of strength and weakness, whilst staying agile and responsive to market changes. 

Traditionally, Brand Tracking is done using cross-sectional research. This is a a type of observational study that collects data from a sample of individuals at a specific point in time, to examine relationships between the variables. However, here at Nepa we do things differently. We believe that continuous research is far superior in several ways.

A continuous approach to research drastically expands the usefulness of data, compared to a traditional cross-sectional dip or an ad-hoc approach. Our aim is always to integrate with business results outside of what can be included into a questionnaire, and to do that we need a common denominator to be able connect the model universe in the data set to the real universe outside it. The most versatile and powerful common denominator is time.

Changes in data collected over time in a persistent way is always more reliable than the levels themselves at any given time. Data collected at a single point in time can be influenced by various factors such as random fluctuations and sample variability, which can make it difficult to draw reliable, actionable conclusions.

Ready-aim-fire has become ready-aim-steer. Many of the business problems we aim to solve for our clients focus on small, constant adjustments to reach a target over time, rather than one big change. Continuous does this infinitely better than ad-hocs or dips.

Brand Tracking at Nepa

We have a long history and a built in DNA of viewing the data we collect as a component in our delivery, not as the delivery. We also have a track record of guiding our customers to well thought through decisions on what data they need from us to solve their business questions, and to go beyond the questions they formulate themselves in the initial brief to us.

We have a clear take on the pros and cons of different methods and ways of collecting data and generally think one or two steps further than the average customer. On the surface, our data looks like that of our competitors’, but it’s most often not the same. The difference doesn’t show if you are looking at line-graphs or pie-charts; it starts to show when you start trying to make inferences based on the insights and connect or integrate it with other sources of data.

A prime example is our continuous collection of data in our Brand Tracking. Heraclitos said that “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”. What I think he meant is that there is constant change in both the environment and the agent, and that you have to adapt and continuously revise what you thought you know. That, one may think, should constitute enough of a reason to believe in continuous data collection, continuous analysis, and continuous action.

There is more to it though since a continuous approach will drastically expand the usefulness of your data. Let me elaborate on this. If you are satisfied with quarterly score cards and a temperature gauge of your brand health or brand experience, and you are confident that you can cram everything you need analyzing into the same questionnaire, you might as well do dips and save yourself some costs and some work.

However, if you aim to connect it to business results outside of what you managed to cram into the questionnaire, or if you didn’t quite manage to anticipate and fit all the factors influencing your KPI beforehand, the differences will start to show. Recent global events like the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation, Brexit, etc., has highlighted how incredibly hard it is to manage to foresee and include all relevant factors into a questionnaire before they happen. We live in a complex and eventful world and it’s not only global macro-economic factor like these that affect our brands and marketing efforts. There are a tenfold of industry or market specific circumstances that’ll have an impact on our company’s performance. Things like new competitors, changed competitor ad spending, product innovation, cross-segment merchandising, or any number of hard to predict occurrences within an industry. These are just some examples that either must be incorporated beforehand in the survey of a cross-sectional study to allow us to assess the impact or be left to guessing.

In a continuous approach this is not an issue. The beauty of continuous Brand Tracking is that we don’t need to predict the unpredictable and add specific questions to the survey beforehand. We can take it into account whenever it occurs and assess the impact of any unforeseeable event as to long as we can assign a point in time to it.

Continuous data collection, if done right, allows for a much broader and much deeper analysis, and consequently much more actionable recommendations. You can switch back and forth between respondents and time as units of analyses and connect the survey data to other sources such as Marketing Mix Models, tracking insight meetings, and campaign meta-analyses.

We have always had this approach at Nepa, and we tend to take it for granted. We have built all, or close to all, of our technical assets around this basic philosophy. Not just that they should be continuous, but that it should be possible to connect our insights to things happening outside the survey or tracker. That’s why we are best in class in continuous sampling and that’s why we are investing in continuous quality control, continuous analysis, media investment integration, data exchange protocols, “action triggers”/“notifications”, event driven processing, etc.

Our long-term commitment to continuous is what makes our trackers better than our competitor’s when trying to weave them into MMM-solutions. It’s why we can connect financial impact to brand health scores. It’s deep in our DNA and a philosophy much more than, and far beyond, a technical feature.

When interpreting consumer data insights, it’s essential that it translates into usable and understandable information. The clearer the information is, the better change you have of understanding what makes your consumers tick.

In 2022, consumers are becoming increasingly complex to understand, and to identify what is of value to them. The success rate of new products hitting the market and failing (estimated to be around 72%) is testament to this. However, one effective method to visually map consumer value is the Value Proposition Canvas.

As its name suggests, Alex Osterwalder developed the Value Proposition Canvas to break down value proposition into distinct parts, such as gains and pains. This enables marketers to address each factor individually and build a comprehensive proposition of value to consumers.

Simply put, it’s one of the best tools out there to interpret consumer data and map your products and services to their values and needs. Keep reading to find out how it can help your business!

What are the benefits of the Value Proposition Canvas?

The Value Proposition Canvas is crucial to a marketing strategy as it makes decision making and positioning much more methodical and easier. Using the canvas, companies can reassess strategy and positioning according to consumer values. But what are the benefits of the Value Proposition Canvas to an organisation?

Focused planning

The Value Proposition Canvas is a visual framework which maps out a consumer’s values right in front of you. Whereas ordinary, with ideas flowing in a creative team, it can be easy to lose track of what is important to the consumer. Keeping the canvas in mind removes these product-killing distractions from the equation and keeps businesses focused on what’s important to the consumer.

Improves marketing outreach

Promoting a product or service takes a lot of effort and resources in marketing and branding. At this stage, it’s essential to build a strong brand image in order to cement your business in the consumer consciousness. The Value Proposition Canvas is an ideal framework for doing this, as it highlights what to focus on and builds an action plan around that. This makes efforts to capture the attention of the desired consumer base much more effective.

Strong customer involvement

To have an effective brand, plenty of customer engagement is needed. To do this requires customer orientation which is only truly achieved from understanding and satisfying consumer needs and values. The Value Proposition Canvas connects these factors together, which can easily be extrapolated into a marketing strategy. Through conveying a strong value proposition, a brand can build strong relationships with the consumer.

Simple and practical

The beauty of the Value Proposition Canvas is that it lays out a simple overview of what your consumers really care about. Because of this, it’s a very effective marketing tool in which conveying true value to consumers becomes simple and effective.

The structure of a Value Proposition Canvas

So now you know why the Value Proposition Canvas is so effective, what does it look like and how is it used? At a glance, the canvas is simply a square, representing the value and a circle, representing the customer. It’s a simple structure but conveys the needs of the consumer and how to deliver them. However, within these shapes lie individual segments which each play a key role in determining value.

The customer profile

The customer side of the canvas is comprised of three segments that enable you to think as the end consumer does:

Jobs

Jobs are classed as tasks that the consumer is looking to solve – whether emotional, functional or social. These can be broken down into their basic psychological elements to determine why a consumer devotes efforts to these tasks. For example, social jobs are dictated by external societal conventions, leading to fear, optimism or aspiration. This would include buying an expensive coat for associated status.

Continuing the analogy, a functional job would be wearing said coat on a cold day for warm.

Emotional jobs would relate to how we feel when using a product. E.g. the feeling when we wear the coat.

Defining customer jobs can be a difficult task as they can often overlap, leaving a large grey area. Asking the right questions is the best way to define the jobs of your customer base. But, which are the right questions to ask?

– What function are the customers trying to perform?

– What social goals do your customers want to achieve?

– What are the emotional goals of your customers?

– Which jobs leave them feeling satisfied?

– How do the customers aspire to be perceived?

– How do the customers feel?

Gains

This relates to the positive aspects the customer wishes to achieve from purchase. A gain can be anything from the ordinary to existential. They are factors which encourage a customer to take up the product or service. What questions should be asked to identify the gains?

To define customer gains, try asking:
– Are time, money or effort factors that make your customers feel happy

– What are the expectations of the customer? How can these be managed or surpassed?

– What factors will simplify the work or wider life of your customer?

– What are the social aspirations the customer is seeking?

– What extras are they looking for?

– How would these gains improve the customers lifestyle?

Pains

These are the factors which prevent customers from finishing a job. These can range from light to severe but always block the customer from achieving their goal. Successful products or services typically unblock the customer’s pains and satisfies their jobs. This is the goal to which to aim for. But what are the questions which identify customer pains?

Questions which help to identify these blocks include:
– What does the customer perceive as costly?

– What makes them feel bad?

– Why don’t the current solutions suit the customer?

– What are the primary challenges your customer is facing?

– What social factors does your customer fear?

– Does the customer have financial, social or technical fears?

– What is stopping the customer from overcoming these fears?

The value map

Once you have completed the portrait of your customer, their values and underlying traits, you can map this into the square part of the canvas, which is where the value proposition is formed. In this, the product features can be constructed around what has been discovered about the customer, including its FAB’s- features, advantages and benefits. Keep in mind that the aim here is to fulfil the profile in the circle. The square is constructed of three distinct areas, products and services, pain reliever and gain creators.

Products and services

What features and products will be provided in order to complete their jobs? This is the section to list all these factors down. This is a good place to map out product or service variants also, including varying packages or trail periods.

Pain relivers

Building on the identified causes of pain to customers, this section focuses on how to relieve those blocks- as the name suggests. These relievers may vary for the various pains identified, so expect to have multiple relievers. It’s important to adopt the KISS philosophy here and keep it simple. The canvas is designed to keep things simple and straightforward. When listing the relievers, short notes are a lot more effective than extensive details.

What questions can guide identification of pain relievers?

– What savings does the product or service provide? Time, money or effort?

– Is the emotional state of the customer improved?

– Does it build on the shortfalls of existing solutions?

– Does it unblock the difficulties faced by the customer?

– Does the product or service allow the customer to overcome the social consequences and fears that hold them back?

– Does it reduce the risk the customer is afraid of?

Gain creators

Perhaps most importantly, this is the part where the value built around the product or service is conveyed back to the customer. Think of how this helps the customer achieve their goals. It’s important to keep this part simple and list everything that improves the user experience.

Questions to ask in this stage of the process include:

– Can the product or service create savings?

– Will this make the customer happier?

– Does it meet the expectations of the customer?

– Is it desirable to the customer?

– Does the product reflect the values of the customer?

– Will it create positive results amongst the customer base?

– Does it exceed the current solutions?

How to fill the Value Proposition Canvas

With an understanding of what each segment of the canvas does to help build a value proposition, the next step is to understand how to fill the canvas to one’s own ends.

1. Begin by choosing a customer segment to focus on. This is something that should already be established with detailed pen portraits.

2. List all the jobs relating to that segment and then rank based on priority to said segment.

3. Identify the segments pains and rank them.

4. Identify the segments gains and rank them.

5. Pick the top 5 most important pains and gains that affect the most important jobs.

6. Moving over to the square part of the canvas, list all the benefits of your product.

7. Based on the benefits, break them down into two lists.

8. List the gain creators

9. List the pain relievers

10. Analyse these creators and relievers, select the top three that make a positive impact to the customer segment.

11. Differentiate yourself from the competition and list all the ways you are better.

12. Combine the produced information to form value propositions that will resonate with your customers, build trust and make them brand advocates.

13. Check that the value propositions are free of any confusing jargon and that the message is easily understood.

14. Test the value proposition with the customer segment. Either with a launch or more methodically with focus groups and other testing methods.

How to get a fit between the Value Proposition Canvas and customer profile

Getting a fit between your customer profile and the value proposition canvas can be a challenge but should never be forced. Instead, the best way to do this is by putting yourself in the customers position to understand their pains and gains. It’s about asking as many questions about said customer to build up an accurate profile. The more accurate the profile is, the closer the fit when mapped on to the canvas.

One this is completed, it’s important to reach out to this customer segment to validate findings and assumptions. From here, businesses can gauge and make adjustments on how their proposition fits to said segment. This process should be repeated until the fit is the best it can be.

How to use the Value Proposition Canvas to identify opportunities for differentiation

Once the value proposition canvas has been mapped, opportunities can be identified to differentiate your product or service. To do so, pick 3-5 of the gain creators and pain reliever from the canvas. Form a proposition around how the benefits will solve the pains and jobs they need solving. Then it’s a matter of differentiating from competitors.

For example, taking Nepa, if a job to be done by our clients is forming a marketing strategy, a pain is lack of data and budget but a gain of purchasing consumer data insights creates gains of higher sales, creating brand presence and generally making the research process easier, this is the basic of building the proposition.

Pain relievers would be quicker, simpler and more accurate data insights and a gain creator would be better connecting to potential customers.

This establishes a clear profile of which customers to be targeting and value propositions can be constructed appropriately.

When to use the Value Proposition Canvas

If you’re not sure what your value proposition is, or if you want to ensure that your value proposition is clear and concise, then a value proposition canvas can be a helpful tool. Additionally, if you’re looking to create a new value proposition or improve an existing one, the canvas can be used as part of the process.

Common occasions when a business may choose to utilise a value proposition canvas include:

– Upon launching a new business

– Upon launching a new product or service

– When revising a product or service that’s not performing as well as expected

– After executing market research for a product or service

Tips and tricks for using the Value Proposition Canvas

Treat each component as a separate entity

The Value Proposition Canvas breaks down purchase factors into separate entities. As such, you can only achieve a full understanding of your segment’s value proposition by completing it fully. Thus, to truly turn this product into a desire, it’s important not to skip any one segment.

Run every customer segment through this canvas

A classic business mistake is to believe that one size fits all, when it comes to value proposition. However, each segment will have their own pains and gains which could trigger completely different values. As such, a canvas should be undertaken for each segment the business has. Furthermore, this makes positioning much easier due to being more specific.

Put yourself in the customer’s position

From mapping out segment pains and gains in this much detail, it puts businesses in a unique position whereby they can put themselves in the customers predicament. To think as the customer does enables a business to know what the customer expects from the product and how it will satisfy them. A good way to start this process is by asking the 5 W’s:

1. What are they doing?

2. Where are they going?

3. What tools are they using?

4. Who is this segment?

5. When do they do this task?

Focus on what the customer needs

It’s important to bear in mind that not all customer pains and gains can be met. I can sometimes be harmful to a product’s success to do this. As such, focus on the top priorities that the business can meet. This helps to set goals when developing the product or service.

Closing thoughts

In conclusion, the Value Proposition Canvas is a powerful tool for any business. By clearly outlining the problem that your product or service solves, you can more easily identify and target your ideal customer.

Additionally, by articulating your unique solution and the results it produces, you can more effectively communicate the value of your offering. Ultimately, the Value Proposition Canvas can help you to simplify and streamline your sales process, making it more efficient and effective.

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how Nepa can assist your enterprise with valuable consumer insights data.

What do consumers and shoppers want from brands in the future? Together with Unilever and DS Smith we’ll answer this question at Quirk’s London. Join our session to find out what we should be planning to make sure our brands are future proofed. With an Insights and Marketing expert perspective we’ll look at what the next 10 years has in store for a variety of industries including Food & Drinks, Health & Wellbeing, Entertainment as well as sustainability.

If you are going to be at  Quirk’s, London, please come by and join the panel discussions on Thursday May 5th 2022 at 10:45 to 11:15 GMT. Follow the link for more information and details.