Brand perception is a powerful driver of consumer behaviour, influencing everything from initial awareness to long-term loyalty. A strong, positive perception builds trust, fosters emotional connections, and ultimately guides purchasing decisions.
These elements – empathy, suitability, sustainability, and convenience – are each essential for shaping a brand’s messaging, but may create blind spots when evaluated in isolation. When combined, they offer a more holistic view, enabling organisations across APAC to get timely insights into their brand’s equity and how earned media can shape brand perceptions and awareness.
Customer Empathy
As the renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman famously remarked, “We are not thinking machines that feel; we are feeling machines that think.” This sentiment speaks directly to the desires of many customers – they want to feel understood. While it is vital for businesses to demonstrate that they can meet customers’ needs with their products and services, they must also understand the driving forces behind those needs, and any new ones that may arise.
To gauge a customer’s perception of a brand’s empathy within the Brand Heartbeat, we ask questions such as:
Please indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements.
- If I need a solution that is easy to use, Company X would be a great choice.
- Company X offers solutions that can fix most of the issues I face in my day-to-day routine.
- Knowing how to use Company X’s products is something that would be useful in my professional development even though I might not have a need for now.
- I always expect the products and services of Company X to be dependable and consistent.
- Company X seems to have a good understanding of what I need to be successful at my job.
Company Suitability
Another key driving force behind purchasing decisions is the correlation between attributes customers value most for a need versus an organization’s ability to showcase those attributes. While customers may value ingenuity, being trustworthy, and reliability when it comes to purchasing antivirus software, they may place greater value on flexibility, friendliness, and being cost-effective when it comes to signing up for a gym membership. The point being: there is a unique set of attributes customers value most for each kind of purchase they’re making. For organisations, it’s critical for them to be able to identify what exactly those distinct attributes are.
In the Brand Heartbeat, we ask two questions to obtain a better understanding of whether an organization is deemed by its potential customers as being a suitable match, including:
Please rank the level of importance you place on each of the following attributes when purchasing Item X from a company.
- Agile
- Trustworthy
- Collaborative
- Cost-effective
- Efficient
- Innovative
- Scalable
- Proactive
- Insightful
When thinking of Company X, how well does each of the following attributes describe them?
- Agile
- Trustworthy
- Collaborative
- Cost-effective
- Efficient
- Innovative
- Scalable
- Proactive
- Insightful
Company Sustainability
Daniel Kahneman’s Nobel-winning prospect theory suggests that instead of making decisions purely based on the outcome, people assign value to the pros and cons of a choice and then decide based on whether the positives outweigh the negatives. In APAC, where consumers are increasingly mindful of environmental and ethical practices, companies that can show they minimise negative outcomes while amplifying the positives are better positioned as sustainable brands for the long term.
A company that exhibits sustainability, is one that innovates continuously and is perceived as capable of doing so in the future. To assess this, we ask:
Please indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements.
- Company X provides some of the most innovative solutions in the market.
- I expect Company X to continue developing products/services that will meet my organisation’s needs.
- I believe my company will work with Company X in the future, barring any unforeseen events.
- I think there is a high likelihood that Company X will thrive over the next 3-5 years.
- I expect superior customer service when purchasing a solution from Company X.
Convenience to Customers
Finally, we look at a brand’s convenience factor, a crucial component of brand health. Some of the most successful companies in APAC, like Grab, Shopee, and Lazada, have built their success on being fast, reliable, and easy to use. In a region where efficiency is key, customers increasingly demand convenience, and organisations that fail to deliver risk losing out to competitors.
In the Brand Heartbeat, we measure convenience by asking questions such as:
Please indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements.
- Purchasing from Company X is a fast and seamless process.
- Company X’s products and services are intuitive and easy to use.
- I can always count on Company X to deliver high-quality products and services.
Together, these four components offer a comprehensive view of brand health and equity, capturing key aspects of a customer’s journey in APAC. Organisations can leverage these insights to better position their brands and fine-tune their messaging.
