One of the most common frustrations in the dating world is that it’s so difficult to know what a potential partner thinks of you, so you never know if you’re investing time in a great future relationship or just barking up the wrong tree. The same is true in the relationship between brands and consumers: it’s impossible to guess what consumers think of you. So ask them.

Brand equity research is all about getting into your consumers’ minds and finding out how they perceive you (if they do at all). Let’s take it a step further and look at how brand equity research works and the top questions you need to ask.

What Is Brand Equity?

The word “equity” can have multiple meanings, so let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Brand equity refers to the ultimate financial value of your brand – in this case, equity is referring to value like in “home equity,” not referring to fairness as in “equity and inclusion.”

To have strong brand equity, your brand needs two core components: it must be widely known and positively perceived. The old saying, “Any publicity is good publicity,” is only true in certain industries and circumstances. If you have a brand that’s famous for bad quality or a negative experience, it won’t help your brand equity because it hurts your revenue instead of helping it.

Asking the Right Questions for Brand Equity Research

The only way to find out how many people are aware of your brand and what they think of your brand is to ask directly through a brand equity survey. The most accurate type of survey for this type of research is an AI-driven survey like GroupSolver.

Brand equity surveys are more accurate if you can get your respondents’ authentic, unfiltered impressions and recollections. In fact, a key type of question you should ask is called unaided or top-of-mind questions, such as asking respondents to list the brands in your industry that they’re aware of. This is why it’s important to use a survey tool that can help you easily analyze free-text responses.

For example, GroupSolver uses conversational AI that allows consumers to write their answers freely and authentically. Most importantly, GroupSolver can process those replies using advanced AI to give you concrete, quantitative results from those qualitative answers. This unique survey platform also parses out common perceptions and what respondents agree on by showing respondents some of the previous answers and asking if they agree or disagree. All this combines to create accurate, authentic, and usable data from your brand equity survey.

Top Ideas for Brand Exploratory Questions to Ask

You can only get answers to questions if you ask them, so how do you design your brand equity survey in a way that gets to the heart of the matter? It helps to break down your brand equity questions into a few categories.

1. Brand Awareness Questions

The first component of your brand equity is the overall awareness of your brand and determining what percentage of your target audience knows about you. Some questions you can ask to assess your brand awareness include:

• List all the brands in this industry or category that you are aware of.
• What is the first brand that comes to mind in this industry/category? What about the second brand and third brand?
• Review the list of industry/category brands below and select those that you are aware of.
• Are you aware of this brand?

2. Brand Consideration Survey Questions

Once you know how aware consumers are of your brand, you need to find out whether your brand is on their radar when they make a purchase. Ask questions about how much consideration they give to your brand on its own and in comparison to competitors. These questions can include:

• How likely are you to consider this brand when you make a purchase?
• Among the below list of brands in this industry/category, which ones would you consider?
• Between this brand and Competitor Name, which brand are you most likely to consider?
• Would you consider this brand if your favorite brand were unavailable?

3. Brand Perception Questions

The next type of brand equity information you want is the perception that consumers have of your brand. You want to know what they associate you with, how positively or negatively they perceive you, and so on. To get the answers you need, include these brand image research questions in your survey:

• What is your general opinion of this brand?
• What words come to mind when you think of this brand?
• Of the two opposite words below, indicate with the slider which one better reflects your perception of this brand.
• Has your perception of this brand changed recently? If so, why?
• How do you perceive this brand in comparison to competitors?

4. Brand Ambassadorship Questions

Some of your best salespeople are satisfied customers who spread the word about your brand. To find out if your brand carries the weight of customers’ recommendations, you can include these questions in your brand equity survey:

• How likely are you to recommend this brand to a friend?
• Have you ever recommended this brand to anyone?
• If you were to recommend this brand to others, what type of people do you believe would be the best fit for this brand?
• How likely are you to leave a review for this brand?
• If you were to leave a review for this brand, on a scale of 1-5, where would you rate this brand?

Getting the Brand Equity Details You Need

An accurate brand equity survey is a critical tool for your business. It shows you how you’re progressing toward your goals, what value your brand holds, where you can improve, what perceptions you may need to change, and more. The only way to get that information is with a well-constructed and strategic brand equity survey, and GroupSolver is the tool you need to get the job done. Schedule a GroupSolver demo today to learn more.