A company is only as good as its customers perceive them to be. Brand perception combines a customer's feelings, experiences, and attitudes about a product or service. It is what customers believe a product or service represents, not what the company owning the brand says it does. It’s a general judgment of your company based on a customer’s experiences with you as a business. Regardless of what image you aim to represent for your brand, your brand perception will be defined by what people think your product or service represents. The most common types of brand perception are; Quality, Value, Visual, Senses, Personality, Reputation & Legacy, Status & Culture.

Leaders at every company are curious about what customers think of their brand. And that’s when a brand perception survey can help you. A brand perception survey is an important tool for organizations to find out what their target audience thinks about their products and services. It is so important for the companies that they run it at various levels. The outcomes of these surveys can help the stakeholders with key insights that can affect their strategy and define a path further. Here are some reasons that a brand perception survey is important:

ü  It's a reflection of what consumers think about a company and its culture.

ü  Positive brand perception can build consumer trust and boost revenue.

ü  Having a strong brand perception might make it easier for a company to launch new products, expand to new markets or develop brand partnerships.

ü  It can affect brand value and equity.

Until target customers have experienced your product, believed your brand promise, and developed a sufficiently positive perception to buy (and rebuy) it, your brand will not grow. When a brand delivers or exceeds customer expectations, it has the potential to establish a whole lifetime of loyal brand equity.

Brand Perception Survey collects feedback from:

• on-customers that have no knowledge of your brand
• New customers who have experienced it for the first time
• Current customers have the experience of purchasing a product
• Long-term repeat customers that enjoy using your brand
• Former customers that did not enjoy using your brand

In this way, you would gain customer perceptions from different perspectives along the customer sales cycle, helping you focus on process and product improvements.

Distinguishing yourself in a market is challenging enough. When that market is competitive, it becomes even more of an issue. For brands looking to find an edge, having a positive brand perception is key to being remarkable in the space. Brand Perception Surveys can help you learn more about your target audience. They contain open-ended questions that allow consumers to give their honest opinions while still providing the value you're looking for to track brand perception. Running a survey cycle every quarter may provide the most current information about your audience. 

Brand perception is critical to any company. Understanding how people perceive your brand, and how you can manipulate or change this perception is an integral part of developing a strong business. The more you understand your customer’s view of your company, the more you can shape your brand identity. Hopefully, the guidance above has given you some useful insights into the importance of brand perception and how you can use this concept to your advantage.

Whenever the need arises to conduct a brand perception survey for your company, remember you can always reach out to Precise Management & Research Consultancy team at info@precisemrc.co.zw or +263 783 108 747.