Brand Awareness Survey: Tips & Sample Questions

What is brand awareness?

Brand awareness refers to how well consumers recognize and remember a brand, its products or services, key messages, logo, tone and voice, and other qualities of its identity.

Your brand identity separates you from the competition and allows you to be easily memorable and stay on top of the minds of consumers looking for your products and services. You can measure the awareness of business or personal branding. Of course, there are several branding basics to consider before you start marketing to increase brand awareness.

For example, Nike is associated with its Swoosh logo and slogan, "Just Do It." Both elements are important in building brand awareness and positioning in the market. The slogan, logo, and brand name are part of a brand's identity, which has helped Nike become a market leader.

4 levels of brand awareness

Brand awareness is the top of the marketing funnel in which customers find the brand through marketing and advertising campaigns. There are 4 levels of brand awareness, consisting of the following:

• No awareness: No awareness is when a business has zero brand awareness. Consumers don't know about your brand, and you likely haven't started marketing yet. Most businesses have zero awareness at first.
• Recognition: Brand recognition is the next level up from no awareness and occurs after you begin marketing your business. In the recognition phase, consumers begin recognizing and identifying your business through various means, including logos and marketing campaigns. Brand consistency plays a large role in recognition, so you should use the same design elements and messaging throughout your campaigns.
• Recall: Once your brand can be recognized, it can be remembered. Brand recall refers to when consumers remember your brand when they see it. In addition, consumers may think of your brand when searching for products or services you offer. For example, if someone wants a pair of basketball shoes, they'll likely think of Nike.
• Top of mind: The final level of brand awareness is top of mind, in which your brand is the first associated with a particular product or service. For example, someone searching for coffee might get in the car and immediately go to Starbucks because it's at the top of their mind. Top of mind is the ultimate goal of brand awareness marketing campaigns.

Why should I create a brand awareness survey?

A brand awareness survey effectively measures your brand awareness to determine whether your marketing campaigns are working. It's important to note that a brand awareness survey is not the same as a brand perception survey, although it may have some elements to gauge what customers think about your brand.

Ultimately, consumers prefer to purchase from brands they know and trust. Even if someone hasn't purchased from your brand, awareness can help them develop a relationship with your business that helps them trust your products and the company as a whole. Unfortunately, brand awareness is difficult to quantify, which is where a survey comes in. The benefits of brand awareness surveys include the following.

As we've mentioned, brand awareness is difficult to measure. With conversions, you can measure the number of purchases or form submissions on your website. A survey helps you understand your customer's feelings and associations with your brand to determine whether your marketing campaigns are effective. For example, if you promote sustainable practices, you want to be known for that, so you must know whether or not your customers realize this key messaging.

Brand awareness surveys can measure everything from feelings and emotions customers associate with your brand to customer loyalty and how much they know about your business and its products and services.

Who should I send a brand awareness survey to?

Most small businesses should avoid targeting the general population with their brand awareness surveys because you're likely not marketing to the entire world. Instead, consider your target market.

For example, if you're a local business, you likely only target consumers in your city. Meanwhile, if you're an e-commerce company, you should focus on the audiences visiting your site. Ultimately, you should only send a brand awareness survey to consumers most likely to use your products and services.

Who are you targeting with your marketing campaigns? The answer to this question will tell you to whom to send your brand survey. However, you can also survey individuals outside your target market by considering others who might use your products and services.

For example, if you sell pet products, your target audience is pet parents. However, you can narrow this down even further. For example, if you sell premium pet food, you may target certain demographics, particularly higher earners who are more willing to spend more money on dog food.

Your brand survey can be given to everyone, from individuals who have never interacted with your brand to loyal customers, to help you gauge your brand awareness throughout all stages of the customer journey. Remember, what's most important is to connect with your audience to get the best answers for your survey.

Examples of brand awareness survey questions

Your brand awareness survey is meant to give you quantitative data about how your customers view your brand or whether they remember it. They measure brand awareness to help you understand your marketing campaign's effectiveness.

There are several metrics you'll need to measure, with categories of questions for each. The types of brand awareness questions to ask include:

• Recognition: Recognition means your customer can recognize your brand when compared to competitors. Recognition is just one of the 4 elements of brand awareness; after customers know your brand exists, you want them to be able to recognize it online or in person, depending on your marketing strategies.
• Identity: Your brand identity consists of your brand's personality and tone. It should also include a story allowing you to connect with consumers, including why your brand was created and what it stands for. Identity affects how your brand is perceived, so it's essential for brand awareness and your reputation.
• Image: Your brand image is just part of your brand identity. You want your customers to view your brand in a certain light, so your brand image and identity must complement one another. However, if you have a poor brand image, your business will be more difficult to market because of its reputation.
• Recall: Brand recall refers to your customer's ability to remember your brand when they need its products or services. For example, someone who needs lip balm might automatically think of the brand ChapStick.
• Loyalty: How loyal are your customers? Luckily, you can measure it in a few ways, including looking at their recent purchases and how often they return to your site. You should also ask questions about loyalty in your brand survey to determine whether they spread word of mouth about your business.

Brand survey questions

Now that you understand the types of brand survey questions to ask, you might need some examples to get you started.

If this is your first time measuring brand awareness with a survey, you can start simple and ask only a few multiple-choice questions. Answers may include everything from yes or no to lists and short answers, depending on how you'd like the question answered.

Here are a few ideas for brand survey questions to get you started:

Q: How familiar are you with our products? Very Somewhat Not familiar

Q: Does our brand have a strong personality? Yes No

Q: Which of the following describes our brand? Happy Sad Playful Serious

Q: Do you feel we are trustworthy? Yes No

Q: Do you prefer us over the competition? Yes No

Q: How likely are you to recommend our brand to friends and family? Short answer

Q: Do you use our products? Why or why not? Short answer

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us? Short answer

Of course, this is your brand awareness survey, so you should feel free to ask your customers anything that can help you improve your business and how it's perceived.

Listen to your customers

Effective brand awareness surveys can help you learn more about your brand through the eyes of its customers. With the right brand awareness questions, you can measure brand awareness to determine whether your marketing campaigns are performing well. The easiest way to send a brand awareness survey is via email.

With Mailchimp, you can create a free online survey and send it to specific customer segments. Our all-in-one Marketing Platform allows you to set up automations to send surveys to customers after submitting their personal information.