Market Research Experts based in the North West

Mustard is an established and experienced full service agency that offers a flexible, intelligent and tailored approach to market research.

Headquartered in the North West of England near Manchester but operating globally, we are passionate about ensuring the research we conduct makes a real and lasting difference to our clients and their customers.

We have over 20 years experience of supplying market research services for clients across the private and public sectors – with strong case studies in social research, education and skills, healthcare, financial services, leisure and tourism, retail, FMCG, food & drink, building and construction, business-to-business / business support, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

RESEARCH METHODS
Examples of the techniques and methods we employ to capture insight

In terms of market research methods, we offer qualitative research, quantitative research and much more besides. We have strong in-house capability in the traditional means of capturing insight – an in-house CATI unit, web-developers and programmers for online surveys, street interviewers and mystery shoppers. Our experienced team have moderated thousands of focus groups and have conducted countless executive depth interviews, hall tests and accompanied shopping trips.

We can also offer clients more innovative research methods and bespoke hybrid techniques – shopper insight films, eye tracking, ethnography, semiotics, online focus groups, customer panels, online communities, video diaries, co-creation, customer immersion workshops, Research Events, SMS surveys, etc.

We also regularly carry out secondary research alongside our primary research methods, including desk research and literature reviews, and offer analysis only services for clients own self-completion surveys.

WHAT WE DO
Examples of the market research projects we carry out

Typical projects undertaken by Mustard include:

Advertising Research
(including marketing campaign development and marketing campaign testing, campaign / advertising awareness tracking)

Brand Market Research
(including brand development research, brand stretch, brand alignment, brand strategy research, brand perception tracking)

Childcare Sufficiency
(a wide range of studies involving consultations with parents and providers of childcare and conducting comprehensive analysis and reporting of childcare supply and demand data)

Communications Research
(including literature comprehension and TCF testing, communications development and testing)
Concept Development Research (and concept testing)

Customer Experience Research
(including research to better understand customer needs and the customer journey)

Customer Satisfaction Research
(measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction, including customer advocacy – we often use Net Promoter Score (NPS) – customer retention and customer perception tracking)

Employee Research
(conducting surveys and consultation with staff to understand the mood of the organisation and performance against values or other KPIs)

Evaluations
(understanding what works and what does not work is critical to shaping how services are delivered)

Needs Assessments and Analysis
(a key strength of our research is being able to meaningfully assess supply and demand, analyse need and help clients identify strategies for ensuring their products/services are fit for purpose)

Market Share Programmes / Syndicated Research
(Mustard has developed an approach that enables us to provide a syndicate of clients with confidential market share data for their particular sector. This has been most successfully established for the express parcels industry, where we have been running a programme since 1993. We have recently launched a syndicated programme with University unions researching students)

New Product Development Research
(to develop and test new products)

Packaging Research
(testing packaging designs and concepts)

Pricing Research

Researching Children
(research with young people and children – engaging these audience requires specific expertise)
Researching Hard to Reach Groups (we regularly consult with hard-to-reach groups, including ethnic minorities, disabled people, etc)

Segmentation research
(using quantitative research, statistical techniques and qualitative research to develop actionable segmentation models. Includes market segmentations and customer segmentations based on needs, attitudes and demographics).

Service Quality Benchmarking

Shopper Insights
(including our revolutionary Shopper Insight Film)

Turning Data into Intelligence and Planning for Action
(turning research findings into action forms an integral part of our work. We have developed expertise in developing action plans and testing strategies to ensure that the outcomes of our research are turned into meaningful activity)

Usage & Attitude Research
Web Usability Research (research to test the design, functionality, content and usability of websites)

OUR BRAND VISION AND VALUES

Please visit our website to find out more information