6 Market Research Questions to Help DTC Brands Understand Their Customers

Market research is a crucial component of any successful DTC strategy. It involves gathering and analyzing data about your target market, competitors, and industry trends to make informed decisions. By conducting market research, DTC brands can gain insights into their customers' needs, preferences, and behaviors, which can help improve product development, marketing campaigns, and overall business operations.

Here are 6 market research questions that can help any DTC brand gain valuable insights into their customers. These questions include:

1. How important is fast shipping to you?
2. How would you describe the affordability of our products?
3. How does our pricing match up to your expectations?
4. Will anyone else in your household use this product?
5. What's your favorite podcast?
6. Are you switching from another brand?

We will provide an overview of each question and explain how businesses can use the responses to drive growth.

How important is fast shipping to you?

Knowing the importance of fast shipping helps DTC businesses gauge the ROI of shipping priority. This question also allows for further understanding of customer expectations and helps businesses to tailor their shipping offerings to better meet customer needs.

It can provide valuable insights such as how much customers are willing to pay for fast shipping, what customers consider to be fast shipping, and what percentage of customers prioritize shipping speed over other factors. This information can help DTC brands optimize their shipping strategy to better meet customer needs and improve customer satisfaction.

To gather even more information on customer shipping expectations, you could use the follow-up question, "What do you consider to be fast shipping?". This will provide businesses with more specific data on customer expectations, allowing for better tailoring of shipping offerings.

How would you describe the affordability of our products?

Asking customers about the affordability of your products can provide insights into their purchase behavior and help you understand their perception of your pricing. This question can be particularly useful for brands that are looking to position themselves in a particular market segment or want to know how their pricing compares to competitors.

Why should you ask your customers about the affordability of your products? Because it can help you:

• Understand how customers perceive your pricing
• Identify potential pricing issues or opportunities
• Inform pricing strategy and positioning
• Help to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty

The responses to “How would you describe the affordability of our products?” can also be used to segment customers into different groups based on their willingness to pay. For example, you could group customers into "deal-seekers" who are more price-sensitive and "luxury spenders" who are willing to pay a premium for quality products.

How does our pricing match up to your expectations?

This question helps businesses understand if their prices are aligned with the expectations of their customers. It can also give insights into how customers perceive the value of the products or services they offer.

By asking this question, DTC businesses can identify if their prices are too high or too low compared to their customers' expectations. It can also help in optimizing pricing strategies, such as discounting or bundling.

The responses to this question can also give insights into customers' market awareness and purchase behavior. Customers who are willing to pay a premium for products or services are usually more aware of the market and competition. On the other hand, customers who are price-sensitive might not have a strong awareness of the market and competition.

To get more insights into why customers feel a certain way about pricing, DTC brands can use Fairing’s follow-up feature to ask questions like:

• What is your budget for similar products/services?
• How does our pricing compare to our competitors?
• What would you be willing to pay for our products/services?

Will anyone else in your household use this product?

Knowing whether anyone else in a customer’s household will use the product can give you insight into potential opportunities for expanding your customer base, as well as an understanding of your product's real-world use.

This question can help you identify opportunities for bundling or cross-selling products, and may also give you insights into potential target markets. For example, if customers tell you that their children or spouses will be using the product, this may indicate that there is a market for family-friendly versions or larger sizes.

Asking this question can also provide valuable demographic information about your customers, such as whether they are parents, live with roommates, or have large families. This information can help you create more targeted marketing campaigns and product offerings.

To dig deeper into the demographics of your customers , you can use follow-up questions such as:

• How many people are in your household?
• What is the age range of the people who will be using this product?
• Are there any specific needs or preferences of the people who will be using this product?

What's your favorite podcast?

Asking customers “ What’s your favorite podcast? ” can help DTC businesses validate their next podcast campaign by understanding what their existing customers like to listen to the most. This question can also be applied to other forms of media exploration, such as YouTube channels, TV shows, or social media influencers.

Responses to this question provide insights into customer preferences and allows DTC brands to tailor their marketing campaigns to better resonate with their target audience.

By understanding their customers' preferred podcasts, brands can validate their podcast advertising campaign by ensuring that they're advertising on the right channels to reach their target audience.

Are you switching from another brand?

This question is aimed at understanding the reasons why customers may have switched to your brand from a competitor's. By asking this question, you can get valuable insights into what sets your brand apart from competitors and what you're doing right.

The responses can help you identify your competitive advantage and use it to your advantage. It can also help you understand why customers are choosing your brand over others, allowing you to better tailor your marketing and sales efforts. Brands like Quip have been using this question post-purchase for years, not just for tactical purposes, but also for more strategic pursuits such as fundraising and expanding into big box retailers.

By listing your key competitors as follow-up options for "Yes" responses, you can identify which brands you're conquesting customers from. This information can help you focus your efforts on acquiring more customers from those specific competitors.

Conclusion

Asking the right questions during market research is critical to obtain meaningful insights into customer behavior and preferences. These questions can provide valuable information for DTC brands to improve their offerings, better understand their target market, and make more informed decisions.

By incorporating these six market research questions into your post-purchase survey, you can gain valuable insights into your customers' needs and preferences. Remember to keep your questions clear, concise, and relevant to your business goals. With the right market research approach, you can create a more customer-focused and successful business.

If you’re looking to get started with surveys then check out our post-purchase survey app . By using our integrated Question Bank feature you can have your survey live and start collecting customer insights in less than five minutes.