Consumer Research for Scale Ups

Consumer research without big budgets? Absolutely!

As a small, challenger brand, consumer research can feel like something only bigger brands do.
You might have a burning question, but not the budget to answer it formally.

However, as you scale and look at entering the world of Grocery retail, investing in even small-scale qualitative or quantitative research can save you from costly mistakes down the line.

In the early days, you might rely on market stalls or in-store sampling to gather feedback on flavour, texture, packaging or quality. But this rarely gets under the skin of what happens when those customers walk away?

Social listening, online reviews and customer service emails can help but you don’t get the opportunity to probe any deeper.

So, what else can you do to truly understand your customer? I asked the brilliant team at the Curious to Clear Collective for their advice on how to answer those burning questions.

1. Start with questions, not research

First up, before you spend a penny, get brutally honest about what you what you want to know:

• What do we really know about our customers/ our buyers vs what we think we know?

• What do we think our brand stands for?

• What do they think about us/our products?

• What problem does our brand/product solve?

• What more could we do for them? 

• Why do they stop buying us?

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Once you have your list narrow them down to the big 3 questions for what you need to know now and then look at how you can answer them.

But don’t stop there:

“Ask questions and never stop or pause - especially when you’re flat out.”

Allyson Binnie – Qualitative Research & Moderator

2. Mine what information you already have

Before you go looking externally, squeeze everything you can from what’s already in front of you.

That includes:

• Your customer data - even basic demographics can give you some answers.

• Reviews, DMs, emails and complaints

• Social media comments

• Category reports and published research – There is a huge amount of insight already available from trade publications to sources like Euromonitor, FoodNavigator and Mintel accessed through the library, to name a few

• Google Trends & TikTok Creative Centre will give you insights into demand shifts and search behaviour

• Industry bodies, charities and independent category authorities such as Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), DrinkAware or Soil Association

There’s often more insight available for free than most brands realise

3. Get closer to real behaviour (not just what people say)

‍Step into your customers world. Browse where they browse. Shop where they shop. Watch how they choose and what other products they buy with it.

“Be where your customers are. Observe people interact with your products instore or where they are consumed (bars,cafes etc).”‍

Danielle Somek, Brand Strategist and Consumer Insight Specialist

One of the biggest gaps for early-stage brands is understanding what happens after purchase.

Danielle suggests running an informal focus group, look at recruiting through local Facebook groups or your customer database (even a few customers in a pub is better than nothing).

It’s not perfect — but it gets you closer to real behaviour, not just stated opinions.

Try to avoid relying too heavily on friends, family or colleagues - they want to support you, not challenge you

4. Run simple, low-cost quantitative research

If you want more confidence in your decisions, you can layer in some quant, particularly to validate what you’ve heard qualitatively.

Use your own audience

Email your customer database with a short survey using free tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms

If you can, segment by one-time customers vs repeat customers to understand what and why they made the decisions they did.

Nick Rabin, Quantitative Specialist, points out that as these are your existing customers they are likely to be positively biased.

‍One smart tip from Ally: ‍ If you’re running a survey, consider paying a researcher for a day rate just to design the questions properly. Bad questions = bad insight.

Use paid survey panels

‍Platforms like SurveyMonkey Audience can give you quick access to respondents using the Target Audience Collector - this works well for broad, mainstream audiences.

Prices per response can start at as little as £3.63 however watch out for creeping costs increase with niche audiences or longer surveys.

Try omnibus surveys

Samantha Rogers, Quantitative Specialist recommends an Omnibus if you are new to research. It is a shared piece of research, run weekly/monthly, and allows brands to add in their own specific questions.

‍This is an affordable way of market sizing/profiling or brand tracking, however Samantha does have one watch out.

‍She recommends understanding how your sample is recruited, what quality checks are in place, and who is responsible for cleaning the data. If you go through an agency they would have the responsibility for this but if you are going direct, it may fall on you.

‍There are several providers out there and costs vary. Make sure you get some comparative costs.

Consider fieldwork-only support

‍Work with freelancers or small agencies to help collect the data – you would need to analyse the data yourself, but it can significantly reduce costs while still giving you robust data.

“it’s possible to engage fieldwork agencies who will help write and fill a survey, but they just give you the data rather than analysing and reporting on it”

Nick Rabin, Quantitative Researcher

The top 3 take-outs:

• Focus on your top 3 business-critical questions

• Choose the right method, not the most impressive one

• Look at working with independent researchers on a flexible basis (e.g. day rates) to make sure that you ask the right questions at the right time

‍Consumer research isn’t about ticking a box or running a survey.

It’s about reducing risk, sharpening your proposition and making sure that what you’re putting into market actually works — for real people, in real life.

If you need help or want to better understand what you can do, then drop me a message or reach out to Isabel Lydall, founder of the Curious to Clear Collective, and we can talk through your options.

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Curious to Clear is a consumer insight and strategy collective, bringing together the best researchers, ex-clientside marketers and innovation experts to help you grow your brand. Turn your brand’s potential into confident decisions that drive growth.

We partner with marketing, insight, and innovation teams to uncover the consumer truths that matter most.

Together, we help you:‍ ‍

• Shape your brand’s future with clarity – identifying your most valuable audiences and opportunities others miss.

• Craft messages that resonate and benefits that truly matter to your consumers.

• Transform ideas into market winners – from exploring white space to fine-tuning your next launch.

• Create impact at every touchpoint – understanding what makes for breakthrough packaging or communications that cut through.

‍We deliver both robust evidence and compelling stories that build stakeholder buy-in, turning research into action that grows your brand.

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