- Circana
- Jan 13
- 4 min read
Lisa Maas, Principal and Practice Lead, Innovation
Donna Wydra, Principal and Team Lead, Global Consumer Solutions
Ryan Kocher, VP, Client Sales and Insights
Table of Contents:
In today’s competitive environment, understanding why a consumer chooses one product over another is integral to sustainable growth. While price and availability play roles in the decision-making process, the decision often hinges on specific product attributes, including tangible and intangible features that meet a consumer's unique needs.
Product Features Impact a Brand’s Mental Availability
It may sound basic, but it is perennially true: Product features are the primary drivers of purchase intent. When consumers evaluate a product, they take into account various attributes and perceived benefits, such as appearance, taste, size, convenience, or even texture. These attributes, both alone and in tandem, inform the strategies and messaging brands must deploy to capture attention.
To effectively keep brands top of mind and thus drive sales, brands must isolate the drivers behind a purchase. Is the consumer buying a snack because it is healthy or because it is portable? Is taste the main consideration, or do they want something portion controlled? Understanding the correlation between attributes and purchases allows brands to sharpen their messaging. For example, if a product is chosen primarily for its clean ingredients, marketing efforts should focus on health-conscious channels and messaging.
While attributes spark sales, they can also lead to a lack of mental availability that cuts into sales. Failing to address key product attributes, whether it is consumer interest in sustainable packaging or the level of certain ingredients like sugar or salt, can result in churn.
Measuring Consumer Sentiment and Behaviors About Products Can Unlock Opportunities
To get a complete view of a consumer who makes choices based on product attributes, data integration is crucial. Sales data reveals what happened but rarely explains why or identifies which attributes can truly enable consumer loyalty.
Indeed, it is important to use additional datasets and methods to get to the important question of “why” and “what” to capture new opportunities. Analytics using actual shopper behavior and insights into which attributes and claims predict loyalty can enable more incremental sales for a brand. Combining attitudinal surveys with behavioral data connects what consumers think with what they do. Tracking actual purchase behavior also helps discern consumer loyalty, including when it shifts, and when it can begin to build among newer customers.
In addition to bridging sales data with insights on sentiment to identify pathways to sales for both existing and new products, surveys allow brands to track brand equity over time. Brands can then identify any gaps and determine when, and importantly, why they occurred. Perhaps consumers have a high opinion of a brand but believe that prices are too high for their current lifestyle and budget.
Consumer Purchase Behavior Shifts Based on Need States
When weighing product attributes, consumers frequently look for solutions to certain need states, whether it is satiety, convenience, nutrition, or other preferences and requirements. Need states are often fluid and influenced by external factors, including economic conditions, lifestyle changes, and dayparts.
Holistic data helps brands determine if their products are meeting consumers’ needs. Manufacturers can monitor integrated data sets to identify need-based shifts that may signal a change in messaging or strategy. The threshold for changing messaging or positioning often comes when a significant behavioral shift is observed in the data. For instance, if data shows a major migration toward private label products due to price sensitivity, a brand might swiftly adjust its value proposition.
Campaign Strategy and Brand Positioning Should Correspond with Key Product Attributes
By measuring consumer attitudes and behaviors, manufacturers can create and modify their brand positioning to align with relevant attributes and claims and link to those consumers most loyal to those areas. Tailoring campaigns to audience segments that prioritize different attributes works better than a one-size-fits-all strategy.
For example, strategies aimed at franchise consumers who tend to be the most loyal buyers should focus on reinforcing that emotional connection. Meanwhile, efforts geared to shoppers looking at the attribute of price should focus on why the product is worth the premium over alternatives like private label items.
Further, integrating data on out-of-home consumption with in-home grocery data provides a better bird’s-eye view of the complete consumer. A shopper might value convenience above all else during the workweek and gravitate to foodservice establishments for solutions but prioritize "scratch cooking" attributes on the weekend.
At the same time, surveys can confirm if current messages are resonating. Perhaps a brand needs to update a campaign to include more details about a certain attribute, whether it is value or ingredient functionality.
Brands can then use insights to measure the impact of updated messaging. If a brand pivots to emphasize value, follow-up surveys should confirm that consumers perceive the brand as offering a better price-to-quality ratio. This dual-measurement approach — sales impact plus sentiment shift — confirms whether the strategy is working.
Understanding attributes that drive sales and engender loyalty also strengthens manufacturers’ relationships with retailers. Manufacturers who understand how their product attributes align with a retailer’s demographic can build compelling category management stories. This partnership is mutually beneficial. The manufacturer ensures their product is on the shelf, and the retailer ensures they are meeting the specific needs of their shoppers.
Learn Which Product Attributes Link to Purchase Behavior
Product attributes are fundamental variables in the sales equation. By isolating which features drive purchase intent, monitoring consumer sentiment through integrated data, and aligning campaign strategies with verified need states, brands can generate sustainable equity. Circana’s wide-ranging solutions that span consumer attitudes and actions, and also encompass insights at the retail and foodservice levels, allow brands to accomplish those objectives and benefit from greater lift and loyalty.
