FAQs
In a nutshell, what is BrandIndex? »
Who is BrandIndex for? »
Why do I need continuous data? »
How easily can I access the data? »
How does this product compete with other similar trackers? »
What does the data actually mean? Explain the difference between the various scores. »
Why is the data reliable? »
How big is the sample? What is the sample design? »
What is a 'day' in terms of the data? And when is it reported? »
What is the survey experience for the respondents? »
What's different about the survey design? »
What is the survey design? »
How were the brands chosen? »
Why did you not include all brand sectors? »
When did data collection start? »
What exactly do I get for my subscription? »
Are there any extras? »
How is it that a big, valuable brand like McDonald's gets such a low score? »
Why did you use brand names instead of the logos? »
Why are you not publishing the daily data in conventional tables? »
Why is Internet-based market research better than the old-fashioned methods? »
Since when has YouGov focused on consumer research? »
What does 'YouGov' mean? »
What kind of customer support can I expect? »
Are there any other BrandIndex-related research products from YouGov? »
Is BrandIndex available for other countries? »
How do new brands get on? »
What are 3-day averages? Which averages are robust? »
Which demographic segments can I look at separately? »
Can I set it up so that I can easily check the same brands each day? »
How do I subscribe? »
In a nutshell, what is BrandIndex?
A daily measure of public perception of more than 1,100 consumer brands across 32 sectors, measured on a 7-point profile, with data delivered next-day. We interview 2,000 people each weekday, more than half a million interviews per year. Respondents are drawn from our online panel of more than 200,000.
Who is BrandIndex for?
All those who need to know what consumers really think of a brand - and its competitors. In the first place, the CEO, who is the person most responsible for brand equity. Second, the CEO's team - brand managers, the marketing department, the research department.
BrandIndex is also aimed at the City, which will be able to use the data to follow the progress of companies’ brands in the mind of the consumer.
Why do I need continuous data?
Most brands do not shift very much from month to month, let alone day to day. However, all trends begin somewhere: with BrandIndex, you can spot trends as soon as they happen, not when it's too late.
Most of the time, you may just be checking the dailies to make sure nothing unusual has happened – and then be looking in greater detail at the weekly or monthly aggregated data for an in-depth view.
But even though most brands don't change very much in the short term, most brands will experience 'turbulence' from events, and managers will benefit from having an immediate reading on the extent and nature of any effects. Though your own brand may be stable – what about your competitors? In any sector, things will be happening every single day: a new product is launched, an advertising campaign begins, a PR disaster occurs – maybe a strategic PR campaign to change a brand's image begins. Whatever it is, you will want to know exactly what effect it's having on your own and on your competitor brands.
How easily can I access the data?
A series of pull-down menus produces graphs for you within seconds. It couldn't be easier. The whole point of this product is to take high-quality, high-relevance data and put it straight into the hands of decision-makers. So the reporting tool has been designed with the decision-makers in mind: it's instant, it's clear, it's easy – and above all, it makes sense of the data.
How does this product compete with other similar trackers?
We do not see BrandIndex as competing with any other existing research products. We are doing something not attempted by any other existing product. And we are not attempting to do anything that other specialist trackers already do.
We expect most brand managers to want to keep their existing brand trackers, and have BrandIndex in addition – because the consumer world is changing at an ever faster pace, and all those involved with brands need reliable immediate feedback with a clear developing picture in real time, as well as comparability across sectors.
What does the data actually mean? Explain the difference between the various scores.
The score is the 'net rating': people are asked to identify the brands to which they have a positive response, and then those to which they have a negative response, to whatever is the prompt measure. The net score is the positive minus the negative.
The charts also have bar-charts along the bottom. These represent the number of people who made either a positive or a negative identification – we call it the 'mindshare', the number of people who have given a view of the brand. A brand given a positive rating of 15%, and a negative rating of 10%, would have a net score of +5% and a 'mindshare' of 25%.
The seven measures that make the complete profile are below. PLEASE NOTE that each measure is taken independently – in other words, in any one survey, any individual respondent is asked about only one measure for the sector, not all seven. Therefore none of the readings influence each other within the survey. We attach great importance to this, making the data more scientifically robust.
- 'Buzz': have people heard anything positive or negative recently about any of the brands in a particular sector? Respondents are prompted for anything they've heard in the media – news or advertising – or in conversations among friends and family. This is to elicit whether people have noticed good or bad news, advertising or PR campaigns, product launches - or whether there is any 'word on the street' emerging.
- General impression: for which brands in a sector do people have a 'generally positive' or 'generally negative' feeling?
- Quality: which of the brands in a sector do people associate with good or poor quality? (We remind in the prompt that this is about the quality of the product or service irrespective of its price).
- Value: which of the brands do they associate with good or poor value-for-money? (We remind in the prompt that this is about 'how much you get for your money' and not about the quality).
- Satisfaction: would the respondent identify himself or herself as a recent satisfied or a dissatisfied customer of any of these brands? We leave 'recent' undefined as it has different meanings for different sectors, and respondents will adapt it to their own experience.
- Recommend: which brands would respondents recommend to a friend? Or suggest they avoid? Shifts in this figure could suggest future change in market share.
- Corporate reputation: we get at this through a proxy: which of the brands in this sector would people be proud – or embarrassed – to work for? We prompt that this question is to be considered in terms of working for a corporate headquarters in the kind of job they do at the moment (or used to do) so that, for example, the association isn't necessarily with flipping hamburgers for a fast food outlet, but the reputation of the corporate owner of the brand.
In addition, we supply an Index score, as follows:
INDEX: the average of measures (2) – (7) above. 'Buzz' is excluded as this may (or may not) be an effect on the brand but not yet part of the underlying perception. One of the things we want to track is the effect of Buzz on the brand profile.
Why is the data reliable?
Establishing the accuracy of data of this kind is always difficult. However, YouGov is in the unique position of having demonstrated its accuracy in the one area that it can be properly evidenced: in predicting election outcomes. We have predicted every election since we began in 2000 – more than 10 occasions - and have an average error of 1%. This is an extraordinary record, widely recognised in the industry as in the academic community.
Research has also shown that online research gets closer to the real views of people than conventional research which uses human interviewers. In one study, people were asked which of a list of bottled water brands they recognised. They were asked by telephone, face-to-face, and online. One of the brands was non-existent – but it scored second-highest in the face-to-face and telephone interviews (with 24% and 22% recognition). Only 2% of the online sample claimed to recognise the non-existent brand. There are many other studies that back up this advantage of online research.
Further advantages include the fact that respondents are able to answer at a time of their choosing and convenience. Respondents see the questions in a format (on-screen) in which they are used to getting information, making this a natural and sensitive setting for conducting research, producing better data.
Furthermore the large sample size allows us to explore and compare the views of subgroups such as young and old, or men and women.
How big is the sample? What is the sample design?
We interview 2,000 people each day. The sample contains representatives from all relevant demographic groups, but for this product we have over-represented higher income and younger people, as these tend to be more interesting to those tracking brands. However, because of YouGov's unique proactive recruitment methods, we are able to provide nationally representative online samples, and our data is re-analysed and processed to produce monthly data that is nationally representative.
What is a 'day' in terms of the data? And when is it reported?
From midnight to midnight. At any time, 3 surveys are ‘live’, allowing invited respondents 3 days between receiving their email to invite them to the survey and completion. Data is downloaded at midnight from all three surveys live in the previous 24hours. This is then analysed and processed and uploaded into the reporting tool by 11am.
What is the survey experience for the respondents?
Don't they get tired of all these ratings?
How often do they answer the same question?
How long is the survey for them?
Why would they take part?
Our panel is proactively recruited, mainly through surveys on topics that interest them on their own favourite sites. We invite them to our panel, and pay them cash to join and to take part. We have the highest response rates and lowest panel churn in the industry, and we believe this is because:
- People see so many YouGov surveys in the media and they like to feel their views matter
- We pay people cash – with a payout of £50 once they reach this amount
- We ensure a variety of topics in the our surveys, to keep them engaged
The BrandIndex survey has been designed and tested to ensure that respondents have a generally positive experience. We begin and end each survey with questions about their lives, about things happening in the world, so that our panellists have a varied experience.
They know they are contributing to data not only about consumer issues, but about the wider world. This is important to them, and improves engagement with the activity - which in turn ensures a higher quality of data.
BrandIndex conducts a little more than 500,000 interviews per year, using our active panel of over 200,000. This means that the typical panel member will take this survey four times per year. The maximum anyone can take the survey is once per month. But please note that the structure of the survey means that a respondent will only rate a particular sector on a particular aspect once every 16 surveys - that is, at most once per year. Also note that regular engagement with a survey design means that responses become more - not less - reliable, as those taking the survey understand better how to report on their experience and thoughts (so long, of course, that it is not too often!).
What's different about the survey design?
We have used the flexibility of online research to come up with a new design for BrandIndex. It is a design which we know is convenient and responsive to those taking the survey, and which produces robust and sensitive data. Instead of asking people to rate each brand separately - a mind-numbing task which would lead to very poor data - we present them with a screen-full of brands in a particular sector and ask them to click on all those which (for example) they associate with good value-for-money. And then the same brands a second time, to click on those which they associate with poor value-for-money.
When a respondent has answered on one aspect on a sector (e.g. value-for-money), he or she will not rate that sector on any other aspect. In this way - and this is important - all measures are independent of the others. Differences in the profiles are therefore reliable.
What is the survey design?
There are sixteen different routes through each day's BrandIndex survey, with each respondent being asked first to rate aspects of their own lives - health, happiness, work, their sense of what is happening in their neighbourhood, the country, and the world. This data is used for other tracking purposes, and establishes a sense of involvement on the part of the respondents.
The survey then presents a screen of brands from one sector, and asks the respondent to click on those brands which are relevant to the prompt question (e.g., 'of which do you have a generally positive impression?') This repeats with a new sector. The same sectors/brands then appear with the negative form of the question. Next, with two new sectors, a different aspect is examined. This happens five more times, each time with different sectors and different questions, until the survey ends with a series of ratings about things in the news or related subjects. (This ending is important, because it 'book-ends' the consumer research with personal, political and social issues, which we know increases respondent interest and engagement, and therefore the quality of the data. It is one of the things that differentiates being on a YouGov panel from being on other consumer panels).
We take great care that the respondent experience is generally a positive one, and that they will be willing to take the survey again when invited. In the testing stages, we asked for feedback from respondents on the survey design and received an overwhelmingly positive answer. After 40,000 runs of the survey, we received a total of only 31 negative feedbacks, all but four of these on browser issues.
How were the brands chosen?
Not all brands can be included – in any sector, there is a very long 'tail'. Our aim was to include the brands that consumers themselves would include. We are looking at this research from the point of view of the consumer, not the researcher.
First, we asked thousands of our panel to list the brands that were 'part of their lives'. Then we asked another part of the panel to list all the brands they could think of in a variety of prompted areas. We included in our initial list all brands that were mentioned at least 3 times.
We divided the brands into 32 sectors, then looked at the advertising spending in each of those sectors. Brands that had been spending significantly but were not on our list were then added.
Why did you not include all brand sectors?
And why did you define the sectors as you did?
This is already the most ambitious research project of its kind. We need to set some limits, and there are some sectors that we did not include. We may include them in the future. Nor did we want to use all the subdivisions sometimes used by the market research industry. Our focus is on the real world of the consumer, not the prior classifications of research professionals.
When did data collection start?
YouGov has been testing particular sectors or brands for over a year. However, full data collection on all brands – the data available when you subscribe to BrandIndex – began on the 10th October 2005.
What exactly do I get for my subscription?
Do I get all the brands or just my own?
You get all the data on all the brands in all the sectors, every day i.e. all the data, all the time. That's the data for every single brand, not just your own, not just your sector. That's the daily, 3-day, weekly and monthly averages, for all 1,100 brands on all 7 measures, with the demographic breaks. Updated daily.
Are there any extras?
There is an extra charge for monthly tables. These tables include conventional breaks and are weighted to be nationally-representative.
How does a big, valuable brand can get gets such a low score?
Some brands have many satisfied customers, but also many enemies. Fast food outlets and tobacco companies are examples. Those who dislike the brand but were, perhaps, never likely to be customers anyway mask the success of these brands. The key issue is change - whether the numbers for the brand go up or down or stay steady.
Our monthly 'league tables' also have a 'relative score' column where we measure each brand relative to its sector average, so that a brand which outshines its competitors in a less popular sector will nevertheless score highly as a successful brand.
Why did you use brand names instead of the logos?
We tested the difference between using brand names and logos in a mixed-sector list. We found in most cases, it made no significant difference whether we asked using the name or the logo. Where it did make a difference, that difference was removed when we had a clear sector context for the brand name. We therefore decided to use the name rather than the logo, as that would enable us to track over a long time period without concern about changing designs.
Why are you not publishing the daily data in conventional tables?
We want to make this a dynamic product which the non-specialist can use, as well as the specialist researcher. Market research is too often made inaccessible to decision-makers. We want the research to be at the finger-tips of the CEO as well as the brand managers.
Why is Internet-based market research better than the old-fashioned methods?
It is not necessarily better in all circumstances. There are many poor quality Internet-based research companies as well as good ones, just as there is mixed quality in the conventional sector. Nor is Internet-based market research always an appropriate method. One of the disadvantages of most Internet-based research is that it is unable to reach the poorer or older parts of the population (just as conventional research has difficulty reaching particular segments of society). In the case of YouGov, our unique proactive panel recruitment methods mean that we can supply online nationally-representative samples, which makes it highly appropriate for this kind of research. The samples - as described elsewhere - for BrandIndex are not nationally representative on a daily basis, as clients are more interested in younger and higher-income segments, and our sample for BrandIndex reflects this. However, our monthly table publishes the full month's data re-worked to be fully nationally-representative.
Once the quality of the sample is assured, the online methodology has obvious advantages. It is quicker and more cost-effective, for example – a product such as BrandIndex would be very difficult to provide at an affordable price using conventional research. But more importantly, online research (we believe) is better at getting reliable data. Respondents complete the survey when they want to, not when a pollster disturbs them out of the blue. And they receive the questions in a format in which they typically digest information – on-screen. There is no hurry. There is no human influence to make them feel they should say one thing or another.
The accuracy of YouGov's research has been confirmed many times in the only way possible – by comparing predictions with hard outcomes (i.e. elections). YouGov is the UK's most accurate pollster, with an average error of just 1%.
Since when has YouGov focused on consumer research?
YouGov is best-known for its political and social polling, published often in the media, especially in The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist and Sky News. This reputation helps YouGov maintain a very high-quality panel. However, YouGov has conducted consumer market research ever since it was founded in 2000, indeed market research accounts for the overwhelming proportion of its revenue.
What does 'YouGov' mean?
The name 'YouGov' was intended to reflect the new world of consumer power: you are in charge, not only democratically but as a shopper!
What kind of customer support can I expect?
BrandIndex is designed to be easy-to-use. However, if you do have problems – for example setting up your daily profiles – we will provide the personal support you need to solve the problem, with a dedicated Client Executive to help you when necessary. We also have a customer helpline and online help facility.
Are there any other BrandIndex-related research products from YouGov?
Because YouGov work is panel-based, we can easily re-contact respondents. That means we can provide forensic targeting for follow-up research – for example, talking only to those who gave a particular brand a bad rating in a particular month. YouGov conducts bespoke consumer research and will tailor a programme for you as needed. It will be cost-effective because we will not have to go out to the population at large in order to identify the very particular segment you wish to understand further.
Is BrandIndex available for other countries?
BrandIndex is currently available in Britain, Germany, Turkey and the US, but YouGov is developing panels elsewhere and does intend to provide the service in more countries in the future.
How do new brands get on?
Each quarter, YouGov reviews the brands that are included in BrandIndex. Brands that become important to the sector will move in - others may drop out. Clients interested in a particular brand can pay to have it included.
What are 3-day averages?
We publish data in daily, 3-day, weekly and monthly 'cuts'. But we strongly draw your attention to the different levels of reliability associated with the different sample sizes. One-day figures represent only 125 responses to a particular measure (buzz, quality, value etc). The INDEX score comprises 6 measures, so the one-day sample size for that is 750. If one looks at the one-day score on one measure of, say, women only, then the sample size is around 60. That is why we strongly recommend you only consider the INDEX score on the daily cuts, and use the weekly averages for individual measures and demographic breaks.
Indicative margins of error for the different sample sizes are given below:
- 315 (demographic break on one-week single-measure score): +/- 5.5%
- 625 (one-week single-measure score): +/- 4.1%
- 325 (demographic break on daily INDEX score or one-week single-measure score) = +/- 5.4
- 1,500 (demographic break on monthly single-measure score): +/- 2.5%
- 3,000 (monthly single-measure score): +/- 1.8%
- 3,250 (weekly INDEX score): +/- 1.7
- 15,000 (monthly INDEX score): +/- 0.8
Which demographic segments can I look at separately?
The online reporting tool allows you to break the data into halves so that you can separately examine males and females, under 40s and those who are 40 and over, higher and lower income respondents, respondents with higher and lower brand awareness, people who live in the North or South, and by Acorn classifications (categories 1 and 2 separately from categories 3 to 5).
Can I set it up so that I can easily check the same brands each day?
Yes, you can set up a series of profiles so that at a touch of a button you will see all the brands or aspects of brands that you like to check regularly.
How do I subscribe?
Please contact a member of staff for more details.
