Brand perception survey on Twitter by Peter Sorgenfrei and Warren Sukernek 11-10-2008

1. Do I Want to Follow Your Brand?
A Survey of Brand Perception on Twitter
Recently Peter Sorgenfrei and Warren Sukernek conducted a survey on Twitter
regarding users’ perception of brands on Twitter. We surveyed 240 people with 6
questions regarding interacting with brands. The survey and results are below. A couple
of key insights:
1) Not surprisingly, most users (89%) agree that brands should engage their
customers on Twitter
2) The majority also have a better impression of brands that use Twitter for
customer service (81%).
3) Proper usage of Twitter however, is paramount as almost 90% of users would
frown upon poor or inappropriate brand use of Twitter
4) The power of a relationship is extremely strong on Twitter. 60% of respondents
would recommend a company based on their presence on Twitter and 80% of
Twitter users will reward those brands they have key relationships by being more
willing to purchase from them.
5) Influencers: More than 60% of respondents have 100+ followers and almost 50%
of respondents have posted more than 1000 Tweets since they signed up for the
service
Twitter Survey by @warrenss, Twittermaven blog and @researchguy, Sorgenfrei
– attribution appreciated
Q1: “I feel brands should engage with their customers on Twitter”
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2. 89% of respondents answered favorably (agree or strongly agree) with just under
50% answering agree. Just over 10% of the audience disagreed with the
statement. Thus, the respondents are overwhelmingly in favor of brands joining
Twitter and having conversations with customers. This should not be surprising as
the majority of the respondents are strong fans of the service.
Q2: “I have a much better impression of companies that use Twitter for customer
service”
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3. Eighty-one percent of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the
statement. Just two percent strongly disagreed. Since several companies such as
Comcast, Zappos, Dell, and HR Block have become notable on Twitter in using the
service to resolve customer service problems, they have made a favorable
impression on their peers.
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4. Q3: “I am interested in receiving special offers and coupons from companies
on Twitter”
40% of respondents agreed with the statement and just 15% strongly agreed. So
although the group was in favor of receiving special offers, there was a very strong
dissent. Over 15% of respondents strongly disagreed which was the highest
percentage in the entire survey.Twitter users are wary of over promotion and being
bombarded with offers and coupons. This is in contrast to Q1, where just under
90% of respondents were very favorable towards a company presence on Twitter.
One can conclude that the Twitter community wants dialogue and relationships
from their favorite brands, not broadcasted impersonal coupons.
Q4: “If a company uses Twitter poorly or inappropriately, it would affect my
overall perception of their brand”
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5. 88% of the respondents were in agreement (strongly agree or agree) with this
statement. This statement really resonated with the audience as it received the
highest strongly agree score (50.5%) out of the entire survey. Correspondingly,
strongly disagree had the lowest score in the entire survey for this question as
well. The Twitter community wants to engage in conversation with their brands, but
it will not tolerate poor practices from those companies. Although poor or
inappropriate use was not defined in the survey, that is assumed to include
broadcasting messages, lack of responses, latency in response, follower spam.
Q5: “I would recommend a company’s product or service based on their
presence/usage of Twitter”
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6. 60% of respondents were in favor (strongly agree or agree) with this statement.
16.7% strongly agreed. The strength of the Twitter relationship is such that it can
positively impact brand perception and recommendations of that brand. Company
Twitter usage and relationships has an impactful word of mouth effect. As seen
elsewhere, offline word of mouth activities are affected by online recommendations
and experiences.
Q6: I would be more willing to purchase a product/service from a company
that has a relationship with me on Twitter”
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7. Over 78% of respondents were in favor (strongly agree or agree) with this
statement. As described in Q5, the power of the relationship on Twitter is very
strong. In Q6, the relationship appears to have an even stronger impact than Q5.
The audience is more willing to purchase a product than recommend it.
Respondents are willing to reward company’s who engage with them on Twitter by
purchasing their product or service.
Demographic Questions
Q7: How many followers do you have on Twitter?
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8. This question was fairly distributed with the largest (100-499) at 42% and the
smallest (less than 50) at 12.1%
Q8: How many tweets have you posted since signing up for Twitter?
Interestingly, there was a tie for most popular answer between 100-499 and 1000-
2999. The fewest respondents had <100. Based on the answers to questions 7
and 8, one can infer that most respondents are experienced Twitter users.
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9. Q9: What is your age range?
Q10: What is your gender?
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11. Complete results (240 respondents total):
1. quot;I feel brands should engage with their customers on Twitterquot;
Strongly Agree 97 40.42%
Agree 118 49.17%
Disagree 19 7.92%
Strongly Disagree 6 2.50%
2. quot;I have a much better impression of companies that use Twitter for customer
servicequot;
Strongly Agree 87 36.25%
Agree 107 44.58%
Disagree 41 17.08%
Strongly Disagree 5 2.08%
3. quot;I am interested in receiving special offers and coupons from companies on
Twitterquot;
Strongly Agree 36 15.00%
Agree 96 40.00%
Disagree 70 29.17%
Strongly Disagree 38 15.83%
4. quot;If a company uses Twitter poorly or inappropriately, it would affect my overall
perception of their brandquot;
Strongly Agree 121 50.42%
Agree 91 37.92%
Disagree 27 11.25%
Strongly Disagree 1 0.42%
5. quot;I would recommend a company's product or service based on their
presence/usage of Twitterquot;
Strongly Agree 40 16.67%
Agree 104 43.33%
Disagree 83 34.58%
Strongly Disagree 13 5.42%
6. quot;I would be more willing to purchase a product/service from a company that has
a relationship with me on Twitterquot;
Strongly Agree 54 22.50%
Agree 135 56.25%
Disagree 45 18.75%
Strongly Disagree 6 2.50%
7. How many followers do you have on Twitter?
<50 29 12.08%
50-99 34 14.17%
100-499 101 42.08%
500-999 46 19.17%
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12. 1000+ 30 12.50%
8. How many tweets have you posted since signing up for Twitter?
<100 19 7.92%
100-499 65 27.08%
500-999 43 17.92%
1000-2999 65 27.08%
3000+ 48 20.00%
9. What is your age range?
<18 5 2.08%
19-24 26 10.83%
25-34 61 25.42%
35-44 99 41.25%
45-54 38 15.83%
55-64 9 3.75%
65+ 2 0.83%
10. What is your gender?
Female 95 39.58%
Male 145 60.42%
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