A newly formed Internet company had already conducted an online survey with its customers before approaching Hardwick Research. With the exception of this online survey, this company had never conducted any customer research. Using the survey results, Hardwick Research assisted the company in identifying specific characteristics of customers and the grouping of customers into categories based on their usage level of the web site.

Focus groups were then conducted which provided additional in-depth information about customers’ perceptions of the company’s brand, their experiences using the web site, their usage of competitor’s sites and their interest in purchasing products from the company’s online store. During the focus groups, a “psychodrawing” exercise was conducted in order to help determine how customers felt about the company. The exercise required customers to pretend that the company was a person and to describe what that person would be like. Based on this personification exercise, a list of customers’ perceptions of the company was developed.

Armed with a better understanding of who their customers are, as well as their perceptions and preferences, our client implemented changes to their web site and marketing strategies to enable them to be more responsive to customer needs.

Case Studies