How to be confident in your decision making – getting more than the basics right

Are you experiencing stretched marketing budgets and research cutbacks as a result of Covid-19?

Savanta Essentials is a practical range of cost effective, fast turnaround research solutions to solving key business issues

Kyle Gollins, VP Client Development at Savanta, explains how Savanta Essentials can help you build knowledge quickly and efficiently to make business-critical decisions in the current climate. 

Savanta has been tracking small, medium, and large businesses since the beginning of March to understand the impact Covid-19 has had on performance. Both large and small businesses report negative impacts from the virus, with nearly half experiencing revenue decreases and only 15% seeing increases.

Sadly, due to decreased revenue, 40% of businesses have laid off employees, and more than half of companies surveyed (56%) have a negative outlook on the overall economy. Most businesses believe that Covid will continue to impact them for the next year. Businesses are scrambling to adapt to the changing consumer environment, with 60% looking into accelerating their digital transformation due to the crisis.

I can’t help but feel uneasy when I see the dramatic effect Covid-19 has had on consumer behavior. Savanta data shows 64% of Americans are worried about contracting the virus. 49% of these consumers report feeling higher anxiety levels, and 48% report feeling of isolation. Nearly 40% of consumers are working from home due to Covid-19, and 6% of those surveyed have lost their job. These numbers, along with roughly half of Americans changing their holiday plans due to Covid, indicate that consumer behavior will continue to evolve in the upcoming months.

To me, understanding the changing business models and consumer behaviors as a result of Covid-19 is urgently required.

How do we adapt our research methodologies with smaller budgets and changing consumer behaviors?

The answer: Savanta Essentials

Introducing Savanta Essentials:

When the only certainty is uncertainty during this disruptive climate, how can brands use insight to be extra-agile without over committing time and money to individual insight projects? The answer: Savanta Essentials.

Savanta Essentials is a suite of tools we designed to provide a cost-effective approach to research. It provides a standardized offer, using pre-built questionnaires to ensure quick access to consumer panels delivering actionable findings, combined with benchmarked data, within as little as 24 hours. Tools include:

• Brand tracking: A robust brand tracking solution that delivers a deeper understanding of your brand’s performance relative to competitors to identify strategies for growth and optimize its position in the market

• Concept testing: Evaluate, optimize, and prioritize concepts by identifying strengths and weaknesses to determine winning ideas, maximize launch and in-market success

• Pitch Winner: Capture your target audience’s emotional responses to proposed creatives and concepts; use the key insights to support/enhance proposals and increase your pitch success rates.

• Pre & Post Campaign evaluation: Identify which platforms are over or under-performing comparative to spend by understanding the contribution any marketing channel has on brand metrics and KPIs.

The key benefit of Savanta Essentials is that we do the legwork. We build a research toolkit that suits your needs, using quality data and methods, in no time, without breaking the bank.

For more information on how our Essentials range can help you, please get in touch 

To download our Essentials summary, click here 

Why use Savanta Essentials?

Business models are changing. A recent Savanta survey, in association with Next 15, highlighted that just 15% of brands say that their business models will remain the same over the next 12 months, with one in five saying that plans will change dramatically. Another critical transformation will be how brands take products to market, where 36% believe there will be significant changes. Ultimately, how businesses reach their customers has and will continue to be a major challenge for brands going forwards.

These changes make the value of research even more important. Our recent Intelligence Capital™ report (launched alongside the Market Research Society (MRS) in May), revealed that 61% of insight professionals from client-side organizations believe that insight rarely feeds into strategy. Also, only 14% think that data and insight result in action based on evidence. The stark results should be a major concern for brands.

• Mindsets are changing. Commissioning research is often overlooked to help inform decision making due to other budget priorities, but unfortunately, this can be a false economy. Don’t miss a critical opportunity to make better decisions. A change in mindset is often needed to ensure research is central to driving strategy.
• Innovation is happening. Whether it’s to retain a number one status or survive in-market, brands have a constant need to innovate. And whether you’re a marketer, brand manager, or insight professional, the need for quick answers to understand consumers’ emotional engagement with your brand’s products or services is vital. Whether you’re at the ideation or innovation stage, honing the perfect proposition, understanding consumer needs, or a gap in the market, there is a need to be informed, quickly and with minimum expenditure, to facilitate the decision-making process. However, in the current climate, activities may not warrant (or, more often, budgets don’t allow for) a full in-depth evaluation.

For more information on how our Essentials range can help you, please get in touch

To download our Essentials summary, click here