Should we try to sell in China? That is the question IntelliSurvey’s client, an American non-dairy dessert manufacturer, was trying to answer. They wanted to understand Chinese consumers’ views on the category, their consumption behaviors, and how to target the most promising segments. They already had some insights about Asian markets with a few years of selling in Korea and previous market research in Japan. They wondered how these results would differ for China.

The client decided to survey medium and high income respondents in Tier 1 cities. These demographics aligned with their entry plan, so they preferred understanding this audience deeply rather than try and cover the full market with less precise insights. After discussing the trade-off between granularity of cuts and practical constraints (budget and timeline) with IntelliSurvey’s research team, they chose a sample size of N=2,000 respondents.

The client put together a draft questionnaire. They also shared their earlier Asian insights with IntelliSurvey. Our Research expert reviewed the questionnaire for design best practices and optimized the segmentation section to gain the desired insights.

We started building analytics during the field, based on preliminary data, in order to move quickly upon collecting the final respondents. Within 24 hours of field close, we delivered a first version of the segmentation. First, we shared the results of a factor analysis to iterate on and identify the key inputs for a two-step segmentation. Second, we put together five different versions of the segmentation and their respective segment profiles. 

Our Research expert reviewed the segmentation solutions on a call with the client to understand which options worked best for them and tweak final inputs. The final segmentation showed six segments, with four that resembled the previous Asian segmentations and two new ones specific for China. The profiling enabled the client to understand each segment’s purchase behavior and attitude towards non-dairy products and brands. The segmentation equipped the client with solid insights into the Chinese market for their category.

To learn more about market segmentation and how it applies to survey design please click here.