What Is an Attitude & Usage Study?

An attitude & usage (A&U) study is a research method that helps businesses get a firmer understanding of their target audience’s habits, perceptions, and buying choices.

Also called a usage & attitude (U&A) study or awareness, attitude, & usage (AAU) study, this type of research helps answer critical questions that otherwise go unanswered.

How can you better understand your customers?

How do you stay ahead of trends?

What product ideas should your company pursue?

What advantages do you have over your competitors?

On this page, we’ll dive into more of the details about A&U studies, including what they are, why they’re important, and what you get from one.

What It Is

At its core, an A&U study helps companies understand who their consumers are, how they live, how they engage with products, and more.

These studies have the flexibility to be done as one-time projects or tracked over time.

A&U studies are generally structured into three tiers that differ by their objectives and the depth of the insights you can get.

Tier 1 A&U Studies

Tier 1 A&U studies focus on answering simpler questions when compared to more advanced tiers.

This type of A&U study helps companies discover levels of brand awareness within a target audience, future purchase intent, and popular perceptions of different brands.

It can also be used to delve into the purchasing behaviors, choices, and habits that consumers exhibit in a certain buying segment.

Last, this study can also uncover how consumers use a certain product in their lives. This may sound obvious since a company almost always has a clear idea of how they’d like their products to be used when introducing them to market, but some creative consumers may discover additional uses for a product in its prototype phase.

Tier 2 A&U Studies

Tier 2 A&U studies cover all of the ideas that are found in tier 1 studies while adding several key components.

These components include the research and creation of consumer profiles. These profiles paint a picture of the average consumer that engages with a company’s products or services, which can help an entire company better understand the lives, pain points, and preferences of the person who often buys from them.

Profiles also allow a company to compare the qualities and habits of their consumers against established communities or groups of known brand loyalists.

These comparisons can show similarities or — more interestingly — contrasts between the studied group and the known brand loyalist group, helping to provide a fuller image of the audience that purchases from a business.

Tier 3 A&U Studies

To build upon the richness of tier 1 and tier 2 A&U studies, tier 3 goes a step further by including advanced statistical and analysis techniques.

The insights earned by these techniques include helpful data visualizations like SWOT analyses, advanced market segmentation, statistical behavioral profiling, and the discovery of “silent” drivers of purchase intent.

Tier 3 A&U studies are defined by the incredible detail and specificity that they incorporate. Businesses that seek these types of studies often find that their results are well worth the effort, cost, and intensity because of the trove of information they learn about their target audience.

Altogether, this tiered structure makes A&U some of the most helpful and versatile studies that a company can run.

What You Get

At the end of an A&U study, the final deliverables include a handful of essential parts:

An ongoing partnership with a senior-level researcher
Expert analysis from that same researcher
A final report with takeaways, data visualization, and recommendations
Work sessions to discuss results as they emerge with a final presentation at the end of the study
Data-backed recommendations

Higher tiers of study will also yield additional deliverables:

Tier 2: Visualized profiles of key audiences, their preferences, and category behaviors
Tier 3: Correspondence maps, quadrant maps, threats & opportunities, advanced statistical segments, and detailed consumer profiles

Altogether, the final parts of an A&U study give a company the ability to accurately evaluate next steps for planning and strategy.

product development team working together

How We’re Different

Leger is an elite-level market research company that employs some of the brightest minds in the industry.

We intentionally hire senior-level market researchers to work with our clients because we believe your time, money, and trust are valuable. With us, you are always paired with a team who not only understands the complexities and nuances of a strong A&U study, but also takes the time to understand the complexities and nuances of your company in particular.

Our clients tell us that they value our input because we do not work with a pre-set solution or method to fit your questions into a box. Rather, we work with you from the ground up, tailoring a custom-fit solution to answer all of your research needs.

Our primary goal is to provide strategic answers — not cookie-cutter findings.

This unique approach allows us to work as a true partner with companies like yours, offering advice and guidance to help design the study that’ll get you the answers you need while delivering those answers in spades.

Start Your A&U Study with Leger

Our elite team of senior researchers has worked on countless A&U studies to help companies like yours make informed and safe decisions. If you’re ready to discover the future of your company’s products or services, we’re here to help! To get started, click the button below to get in touch with our team.