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Brand perception exploring

Qualitative research | In-depth interviews

Held in 2023 for ident, an online dentistry course platform.

The problem

The brand was old and did not reflect the product’s identity and purpose well, which had evolved over time . This meant that potential and even active users did not see value in the platform, negatively impacting subscriber acquisition and retention.

Objective

  • Gain an in-depth understanding of how the iDent brand is perceived by its team, partners and users, exploring what it represents, its purpose, market positioning, and identifying its strengths and areas for improvement.

  • This will allow the brand to showcase its pioneering essence and its purpose of supporting dentists at every stage of their career. This positioning is intended to attract and retain subscribers.

Results

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  • This research served as the basis for the creation of the new brand manual, which guided the rebranding and redesign of the platform carried out in Sep/2024;
     

  • The redesign was widely praised by users in opinion surveys;
     

  • The rebranding and redesign, combined with the innovations implemented, increased subscription renewals and loyalty.
     

  • The research provided a clear view, for the team and directors, of the perceptions and expectations of different audiences in relation to the platform, guiding actions.

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Read on to see the process and insights!

People involved

  • Me (UX Researcher): responsible for planning the research, developing the scripts, recruiting respondents, conducting interviews, analyzing results and producing reports.
     

  • Chief Marketing Officer: responsible for approving scripts and reports, and for leading the development of the brand manual, based on the report.
     

  • Chief Creative Officer: responsible for approving scripts and reports.
     

  • Product Owner: responsible for approving scripts and reports.

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After this and other projects I developed my skills and now I conduct research independently .

Methodology

Research model

  • The chosen research model was that of in-depth qualitative interview research, because:

    • This model allows us to extensively explore the perception of different audiences about the brand;

Sample

  • 8 partners, being:

    • 4 teachers;

    • 4 sponsors.
       

  • 9 team members and directors;
     

  • 9 users with active subscription, being:

    • 3 students;

    • 3 professionals;

    • 3 candidates.

Defined with the objective of covering all audiences of the platform and also those who build it.

Process steps

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  • Preparation of scripts;
     

  • Recruitment;
     

  • Conducting interviews;
     

  • Analysis of qualitative data;
     

  • Report production.

Process

Preparation of scripts

To begin, I will talk about the preparation of the scripts for these interviews.

Based on the Briefing and the research questions, I created scripts with the questions to be asked in the interviews. To do this, I used FigJam and Notion.

In FigJam, I started with the areas of investigation, developed the questions and structured them until I arrived at the scripts themselves.

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Click this link to open the image in its original size.

The scripts were validated by the leaders and adjustments were made that were applied to the final script in Notion.

Recruitment

  • Partner recruitment was done via WhatsApp;

  • Team members and directors via Slack;

  • Subscriber recruitment had two stages:

  • Sending emails to the user base, according to the sample;

  • After email, contact via WhatsApp.

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I prepared all the recruitment texts, with the approval of the leaders.

Conducting Interviews

The interviews were conducted via video call on Google Meet.

 

I conducted the interviews in a semi-structured manner, following the script, but adapting the order and asking additional questions when necessary.

 

I made this choice to have categorization of the questions , and also freedom to
make it more fluid and deepen it when possible.

Qualitative data analysis

After the interviews were conducted, it was time to analyze them!

First, I transcribed the interviews with the help of AI.

After transcribing, I analyzed them using Condens, assigning codes to excerpts from the interviews :

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Excerpt from an already encoded interview.
Click this link to open the image in its original size.

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I coded with the aim of highlighting relevant parts of the interviews and defining what they were about.

After all the interviews were coded, still in Condens, I grouped the different excerpts into an affinity map:

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One of the groupings of interview excerpts.
Click this link to open the image in its original size.

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This grouping was done with the purpose of finding patterns and generating insights .

Report production

  • After the analysis was done in Condens, I created complete reports in Notion, so that everyone has easy access.

  • I detailed the findings, highlighted the most impactful quotes to provide insights, and made recommendations.

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Reports are confidential and cannot be disclosed.

Challenges & learnings

  • Recruiting users was difficult, but it didn't take too long because there weren't a large number of users;
     

  • Contacting some sponsors was a challenging exercise for my communication skills, as some were former sponsors of the brand and had a more critical and incisive stance. I was able to get the best out of these interviews and gain insights into areas for improvement;
     

  • This was the first survey I conducted at the company and I learned a lot as I carried out each step.

Insights

Now that I’ve shown you how the process went, it’s time to share the main insights I gained from this research!​

  • Users made requests for more welcoming content, features, benefits and communication;
     

  • Team members and directors presented strategic vision and suggested improvements in communication, marketing and the platform;
     
  • Partners want a better relationship, with more interaction;
     
  • Partners also suggested actions to gain more subscribers and increase retention;
     
  • Sponsors focused on the ident’s positioning in the market and teachers on project and content management;
     
  • There was a general concern about the lack of some features and benefits, which directly relates to loyalty and retention.

Conclusion

  • The research, through the insights generated, achieved the objective of supporting the creation of the brand manual;
     

  • The reports helped to better understand the views of different audiences on the brand, guiding actions in areas such as creation, marketing and customer service.
     

  • I made recommendations based on the research, here are a few:

    • Create a visual storytelling that shows the role of the identity in the lives of subscribers ;
       

    • Strengthen digital communications with exclusive content that conveys the value proposition;
       

    • The need to have a closer relationship with users and generate greater identification with the brand was perceived;
       

    • I recommended quantitative research to validate hypotheses raised by the suggestions;

      • Aim to generate improvements to the platform, making it indispensable and reducing churn.

Contact & Resume

General CV

Credits for images used on the website pages: - @Kaminsky - Figma Community - Patrick Perkins - Unsplash - LinkedIn Sales Solutions - Unsplash - Jeshoots.com - Unsplash - Undraw - Iconify - Vecteezy

Julia Abreu

| UX Researcher

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