Customers and non-customers
The basic split of a brand study: people who buy the brand today and people who do not, recruited into separate groups.
Why does it matter for a brand?
A customer defends their purchase; a non-customer defends theirs. Together, the conversation turns into a debate between brands and one side usually goes quiet. Apart, customers explain what convinced them and what disappointed them, and non-customers explain what kept them from considering the brand, which is usually what the brand knows least.
How does WAV handle it?
We recruit customers and non-customers into separate groups. Who counts as a customer is set by what each person states in the recruitment screener, for example the brand they own today, not by an old database. Every quote in the report carries that profile, such as "Woman, 35-44 · Customer". We apply it in detail in why they don't buy.
What should you ask before a study?
- How is a customer defined: by a database or by what each person states?
- Do customers and non-customers go in separate groups?
- Does each quote in the report say which segment it comes from?
This term is part of the qualitative research glossary, which defines the fifteen terms that come up in any study; it is most closely related to recruitment screener, insight and saturation. To see it applied, browse the sample report, built from a fictional study: it is the same format a client receives.