# How To Create a Brand Perception Survey | Capterra > In this article we explain how to create an effective brand perception survey for your customers. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/brand-perception-surveys --- Marketing 101Analytics, Data, & Business Intelligence # How To Create a Brand Perception Survey Written by: Haldis Toppen Haldis ToppenAuthor Haldis Toppen is the Director of Communications of the cultural exchange organization, Greenheart International. With 10 years of experience in leading marke... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/haldis-toppen/) Published June 7, 2024 7 min read Table of Contents - [What is a brand perception survey?](#what-is-a-brand-perception-survey) - [When should you conduct a brand perception survey?](#when-should-you-conduct-a-brand-perception-survey) - [Who should you send your brand perception survey to?](#who-should-you-send-your-brand-perception-survey-to) - [Brand perception survey questions](#brand-perception-survey-questions) - [Putting survey results into action](#putting-survey-results-into-action) - [Learning from your survey results](#learning-from-your-survey-results) ## 93% of marketers say online brand reputation management is moderately to very important for their company. According to Capterra’s 2023 Role of AI in Digital Brand Management Survey, 72% of marketers say online brand reputation management is very important while another 21% consider it moderately important for their company.[\*](#methodology) That means that almost 100% of marketers believe that the identity and perception of their company is important and worth actively monitoring. As a small business owner, it is important to understand how your customers perceive your business. If they have a different understanding of your business, your product or service, than what you planned, there can be confusion and ultimately a lack of business. But where to begin? In this article, we explain how to create an effective [brand perception](https://www.capterra.com/resources/what-is-brand-perception/) survey for your customers. ## What is a brand perception survey? Before we dive into what a brand perception survey is, it’s important to understand what branding is. A brand is any distinctive feature—like a name, term, design, or symbol—that identifies goods or services.[\[1\]](#sources) Branding combines the practical (i.e. my iPhone is easy to use) and emotional (i.e. my iPhone feels like an extension of my arm) description of a business. If the branding is done right, then the customer is more likely to have a positive connection to the business and become a loyal customer.  However, before we can get to the ultimate goal of your brand, you need to identify what your brand is and then ensure that it is being maintained. A brand can change overtime as a business changes. It can also change even if you do not mean for it to change. Public perception and opinion are powerful and can lead to what a brand is, for worse or better. As a small business owner, you cannot afford for your brand to go off the rails. This is how survey questions for brand perception can help. A brand perception survey questionnaire is a survey you send to customers, target audience and staff to gauge how they feel about your brand and how they describe it. Let’s now dive into how you can create a survey that is right for your company. ## When should you conduct a brand perception survey? Conducting regular customer satisfaction surveys is important for a business, regardless of your company’s age. Do keep in mind that these surveys will help understand how customers feel about your brand but may not accurately explain what their brand means to you. You do not want to send out a survey at the beginning of your businesses’ launch. At this point, you will not have had customers long enough for them to be able to describe your brand. About five years into a company’s development is a good starting point for evaluating your brand. This does not mean that you aren’t monitoring performance and marketing strategies before the 5-year mark, it just means that this is a good time to survey the public on how they perceive your brand. From here, it is up to you how often you want to continue to send branded surveys. If you are going through a major business change, then more frequent brand perception surveys may be helpful. However, if you are looking to maintain your brand overall, an annual survey should suffice. ## Who should you send your brand perception survey to? There are three key stakeholders that you should focus on when creating and sending surveys: existing customers, target audience (or prospective customers) and your employees. Existing customers have decided to use your brand, so they will likely have some opinion on what your brand is. Their results will be key because they will tell you what your business actually is versus what you think it is and what is working. If you find that their results are wildly different from what you thought your company brand was, then this may lead to larger level business strategy conversations. The results from your target audience will help you better understand why there are people who are not already using your product or service. Perhaps the values that you show are not the values they care about, or perhaps they misunderstand what your values are. This stakeholder is important for understanding where your brand can go in the future. Finally, you need to survey your employees. As the front-line workers at your company, the way they act, and work is a reflection of the brand. If their results are different from what you believe your brand is, then this could explain why your business is not doing as well as you hoped. ## Brand perception survey questions Before you design your survey, you need to think about the methodology that you want to use and if you are focusing on qualitative or quantitative questions? If this is a survey that you plan on using over the years to monitor your brand, more quantitative questions are important so you can measure the change. However, if this is a one-off large survey where you are planning to potentially refresh your brand, then qualitative questions are important so you can gauge respondents’ sentiments.  Below we have divided brand perception survey examples by brand positioning, brand awareness, and brand identity. It is important to note that there are many brand perception survey question examples out there, so modify as you see fit. ### Brand positioning The focus of brand positioning questions is to gauge how the respondent thinks you stack up to others in the market. Do they think you are performing better than your competitor? Would they continue to use your product in the future?  These brand survey questions will help you identify areas of improvement in the eyes of the respondent: - Where do you think \[brand name\] sits in the market?  - What do you think about \[brand name\]’s pricing?  - What do you believe sets \[brand name\] apart from competitors? - How likely are you to continue using \[brand name\] in the future? ### Brand awareness Brand awareness survey questions gauge how the respondent knows your brand or where they believe they can find information on your company. If they find you in places you didn’t plan, that can be an indicator of a market you want to tap into. - How did you first hear of \[brand name\]? - Who do you think \[brand name\] is aimed at? - How do you perceive \[brand name\]’s online presence (websites, social media, etc.)? ### Brand identity Brand identity survey questions get to the heart of the survey: who you are as a business. These are the questions that will help you understand if what you think your brand is, is what your respondents think your brand is:  - How would you describe \[brand name\] to a friend? - Which (if any) of the following traits do you associate with \[brand name\]? - Do you feel \[brand name\]’s messaging aligns with your values and needs? - Have you noticed any changes in \[brand name\] offerings over time? ## Putting survey results into action Now that you have designed your survey, it is time to use [survey software](https://www.capterra.com/survey-software/) to disseminate and collect results. If you are conducting a one-off large-scale survey, then you will be sharing this survey everywhere—email, mailer, receipts, or in-person events. You will want to collect as many responses as possible. If this is a maintenance survey that is conducted once a year, then the scope of your outreach does not need to be quite so large. An email campaign may suffice. Once you have your results, the real work begins. Depending on what they tell you, you may need to do a major overhaul of your marketing strategy or even evaluate your company’s culture if staff results are very different. Either way, you should use these results in every part of your business and make sure that you maintain consistency. A brand without consistency will not succeed. ## Learning from your survey results  Run your branded survey and learn the results. If at any point you feel overwhelmed, Capterra has you covered. We have a directory of branding agencies that can help you through any part of the process, including crafting brand perception survey questions examples, providing a brand perception template, or running the brand survey for you. And if you need more resources to help with your marketing efforts, check out these articles: - [Public Relations for Small Businesses: Tactics & Tips](https://www.capterra.com/resources/pr-tactics-for-small-businesses/) - [How To Create a PR Campaign: Examples & Strategy](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-to-create-a-pr-campaign/)   - [How To Choose the Right PR Agency for Your Business](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-to-choose-a-pr-agency/) * * * **Survey methodology** \*Capterra's Role of AI in Digital Brand Management Survey was conducted online in October 2023 among 554 respondents in the U.K. (n=201) and Mexico (n=353). Respondents were screened for employment in their company's marketing or advertising department with involvement in online brand and reputation management. Sources 1. [Branding](https://www.ama.org/topics/branding/), The American Marketing Association * * * ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Author [### Haldis Toppen](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/haldis-toppen/) Haldis Toppen is the Director of Communications of the cultural exchange organization, Greenheart International. With 10 years of experience in leading marketing and communication teams, Haldis has a proven record of successfully leading national campaigns and international programming. 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