Consumer habits survey: What to include in the questionnaire?

Consumer behaviour surveys are part of the basic research that helps you to understand your consumers and to make many decisions based on it. Adapting to consumers and the way they buy and use products will help you improve your performance, whatever market you are in, and whatever product you sell. That’s why most brands in all sectors conduct regular surveys of consumer habits. Today we take a look at what you can include in your next consumer research study to get the most out of it.

What is a consumer behaviour survey?

A consumer behaviour survey is a market research survey that gathers fundamental information about consumer behaviour patterns in relation to a product category. Within a consumer behaviour survey, data can be collected in relation to purchasing habits, post-purchase product usage habits, motivations, attitudes, consumer profiles and anything else that is important to know in order to make any kind of decision with a complete understanding of the market.

The information gathered through a consumer habits survey can be applied to a multitude of strategic and tactical decisions. Unlike other surveys, such as a product test or an advertising test, which are done to make a very specific decision, behavioural surveys are useful to be consulted by the whole organisation on a regular basis. The insights from a habit survey will help you make many decisions over time.

Consumer behaviour survey questionnaire

A consumer behaviour survey is a very flexible research tool that allows you to include different chapters in the questionnaire. Here are some of the most frequent ones:

Purchasing habits

Thanks to these questions we will know all the details about the shopper and his or her habit patterns.

• Who buys the category? What is the profile of the buyer?
• What varieties are bought? What is the buyer profile of each variety?
• How much is purchased? Either at the level of units or expenditure in each act of purchase.
• How often? There are more regular and more occasional buyers, what is the profile of each?
• Purchase channels: How much is purchased online and how much in physical shops? In which online shops? In which physical shops?

Usage habits

The act of purchase is important, and so is how the product is used or consumed.

• Who is the user? There are many products that are purchased for the household and then used by specific individuals. What is the profile of the user of the category?
• Differences between varieties: Who is the end user of each variety within the household? Are there differences by age and gender?
• Patterns of use – what is the product used for? in what situation? at what time?
• Related products in the consumption occasion: Is it used in connection with other products (e.g. in cosmetic products)?
• Preparation How is it prepared if it is food?

Consumer attitudes

In a habits survey, in addition to usage patterns, information on consumer attitudes is often collected. This makes it possible to collect information on the motivations and reasons behind consumption behaviour. Knowing the reasons behind habits helps us to better connect with consumer segments that have common attitudes.

• Category attitudes. Beliefs and feelings in relation to the survey category. For example, what attributes they consider important for choosing the product, whether they use certain varieties in specific situations, or whether they feel that certain varieties or brands are suitable or close to them.
• General attitudes. In some cases, general attitudes about values or beliefs that go beyond the category itself are often included. For example, what importance is given to certain aspects such as health care, sustainability or the importance of family enjoyment when consuming.

Brands

A fundamental chapter in the surveys of habits is the one related to brands. In this way, a brand funnel can be constructed, both for the brand under survey and its competitors.

• Brand awareness in the category, both at a spontaneous and ‘top of mind’ level as well as at a suggested level.
• What is the repertoire of each consumer and how close are each brand in terms of buyer profile.
• Brands used and profile of different users.
• Reasons for choosing each brand
• Satisfaction levels
• Future purchase intention

Media exposure

Knowing which media are used by buyers or users of the category, or those of certain varieties, will allow us to connect with them efficiently. With this data, the agency’s strategy team will be able to design a plan that achieves the objectives of the campaign, making the investment more efficient.

These are some of the usual chapters in habit surveys. In any case, we suggest that you review surveys of consumer habits that you may have done in the past. Maybe you have asked questions that you want to get updated data on, or see if there have been movements that point to where the trends are moving. That would allow you to anticipate what will happen, and perhaps get ahead of your competition.

How often should I conduct a consumer behaviour survey?

Habits surveys are done more frequently today than in the past for two main reasons:

• The speed of change: Traditionally, habits and attitudes have been perceived as slow to change. This perception was shattered by the arrival of the pandemic. All consumers suddenly changed their habits from one day to the next and adapted them as the pandemic evolved. Just as we were getting back to normal, a rate of inflation unknown for decades once again altered our shopping habits. Such disruptive events have changed the perception of how often to conduct habit surveys.
• More agile market research: In the past, the cost of running a survey was high, so we tried to collect as much information as possible in that survey, which made them large and resource-intensive compared to other surveys. Fortunately, the automation of research has made it possible to reduce the start-up costs of the surveys, which helps to carry out smaller and more frequent surveys that help many companies to research more quickly what they are interested in at any given moment.

Every market is different and has its own pace of change, but if you suspect you are making important decisions with outdated data, don’t wait any longer to update your habit survey. You will be able to make decisions with greater confidence and certainty.

Consumer habits survey with We are testers

When planning your consumer habits survey, remember that our team of research experts is always at your disposal to help you with everything. From the conception of the questionnaire, to its programming, or even if you want the analysis. And if you prefer, you can do it all yourself on our research platform. And as for the sample, we will have 130,000 members of our consumer panel at your disposal. In some cases we will know in advance if they are consumers in the category, which will allow you to access them directly. If we don’t have your category information pre-coded, you can always enter the necessary filter questions to identify category shoppers or consumers to do the rest of the interview with.

So now you know, conduct your consumer habits survey with We are testers and start making decisions with up to date, essential information about your consumers!