The research questions you should ask when developing your Brand Contract complement those you ask when determining your brand's image. These questions can include the following:
* In making a purchase in this category, what were the benefits you expected to receive?
* What are the most important aspects of service that a provider must be sure to offer?
* Did brand X meet your benefit expectation? Why? Why not?
* What promises does brand X make? Positive promises? Negative promises? What impact do these promises have on your perceptions of the brand?
* How did you arrive at your perceptions of promises?
* Do other brands make different promises or set different expectations than brand X?
* Once you purchased band X, how well did the actual brand experience match with your expectations?
* What could have been done differently to make your purchase and brand experience an even better one?
* How well did brand X match up to the promises you expected before the purchase, during use of the actual product or service, and afterward?
* When you think about brand X, what other promises could you imagine it making?
Q 1. How Do Customers Choose A Brand?
Addressing this one question should help your company focus its brand building on whatever it takes to convince a customer to buy your brand instead of a competitor's, regardless of the category. This involves answering three further questions:
* What kind of purchase process and purchase criteria do customers use?
* How do they rate your brand, as opposed to competitor's brands, by those criteria?
* Who at the customer decides to make brand-based purchases? Who else influences the decisions? Which criteria are important to each?
Q 2. How Does Your Brand Stack Up Against the Competition?
This second step in creating a customer model involves answering these questions:
* What brands do customers think compete with our brand?
* What do our customers believe about the competing brands in our category?
* What are the strengths and weaknesses of competitive brands? How does our brand compare on specific values and benefits?
Q 3. What Opportunities Exist for Brand Growth and Expansion?
Explore the opportunities, such as:
* What are customers' beliefs about our brand category?
* What opportunities for extendibility or growth exist as a result?
* What unmet customer needs and wants might we address? (Include those that your brand or your competitors are already trying to address but without apparent success.)
