Turf Analysis


In market research, “TURF analysis” typically refers to a technique used to assess and analyze market share and competition among brands, products, or services within a specific market or industry. The acronym “TURF” refers to total unduplicated reach and frequency analysis.

Three business professionals review their TURF analysis at a computer desk.

Here at Slice MR, we can help you make smarter business decisions by helping you run your own analysis to gain a better understanding of your market. You’ll find that this type of analysis in market research is commonly used in several different ways. Learn more about how TURF analyses are used to maximize market coverage below.

What is a TURF analysis used for?

A TURF analysis is a powerful tool utilized in market research to assess the potential of a product line or portfolio. This analysis technique can help businesses understand how different products or brands perform relative to each other in terms of customer reach and engagement. For example, businesses can determine the optimal combination of products and features to maximize their reach within a target audience.

The main goal of the analysis is to gain insights into the market potential of specific products or services. These insights can then be used to guide product development, media planning, and product line extensions. It’s also a great way for marketers to avoid cannibalization within their portfolio.

After running an analysis, they’ll be able to strategically select product combinations that attract new customers. This will also allow for more efficient resource allocation.

When should you use a TURF analysis?

Total unduplicated reach and frequency analysis is particularly useful when a brand has a diverse product line or product range and they want to understand which combination will have the highest reach among its desired target audience.

It’s also useful when you’re launching a new product range or if you’re new to a market. Overall, this type of analysis is a great way to analyze existing data and is a research technique that helps organizations gauge the appeal and reach of a product or service.

What are the pros and cons of TURF analysis?

Every market research tool will have its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of TURF analysis.

Pros

  • Provides insight into potential reach and frequency of product line
  • Helps you make informed business decisions
  • Guides your marketing actions and planning
  • Helps you gain deeper insights into customer preferences
  • Informs product development strategies

Cons

  • May be difficult to gather survey data without professional expertise
  • Does not take into account external factors that influence consumer behavior

Overall, you can see that with the right methods, there are more advantages to conducting a frequency analysis as opposed to disadvantages.

How do you perform a TURF analysis?

To conduct your own analysis, you typically start by designing a market research survey to gather data on customer preferences and behavior. The survey should be carefully constructed to capture information about customer choices, purchase behavior, and demographic characteristics. This survey data will serve as the foundation for your TURF.

The survey responses will provide valuable insights into which products or attributes are most important to your target market. Once you’ve collected the survey data, you can use statistical software tools to analyze the results.

The TURF analysis involves examining the frequency of each product in the survey responses and calculating the unduplicated reach, which is the percentage of the target audience that each product or combination of products reaches. If you’re unfamiliar with these research techniques, it’s best that you leave it to professionals.

At Slice MR, we only utilize the best techniques and tools to gain valuable insights into your market share. We’re a premium, full-service online market research company that specializes in online research solutions. And we can do everything from data collection to survey programming and data analysis. We can help you determine the best combination of products or attributes for optimal market coverage.

What are some of the best techniques involved in performing a TURF analysis?

A pair of business professionals prepare to perform a TURF analysis.

At Slice MR, we only use the top methods to perform your analysis. Our research projects are executed with precision and efficiency. Here are some of the many techniques we utilize to perform an analysis.

Product Portfolio Assessment

Companies often offer a range of products or services within a given market. TURF analyses can help them evaluate the performance of each product or service and determine their market penetration. It answers questions like, “Which products are used by the same customers, and which ones have unique user bases?” Conducting this type of assessment will help identify the most appealing combination of services or product variants based on consumer preferences and purchase behavior. By gathering this marketing research, businesses can avoid wasting resources on products that have limited appeal.

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis involves gaining a deeper understanding of competitors within a market. Performing an analysis can provide insights into how competing brands or products overlap or complement each other in terms of their customer base. This information helps companies refine their competitive strategies. It will help identify direct competitors, benchmark their performance against these competitors, as well as assist in finding ways to differentiate a brand. A competitive analysis can also make it easier to find emerging opportunities and threats within an industry.

New Product Launch

Before launching a new product or service, businesses can use TURF analysis to understand how it might fit into their existing portfolio and how it could impact market share or reach. By analyzing the reach and frequency of the product or service within their target market, businesses can make more informed decisions about the potential success and viability of their new offering. They’ll be able to decide how to position the product as well as market it to ensure its success. Having a comprehensive understanding will help them make strategic decisions when it comes to marketing campaigns and features in order to minimize risk and increase the product’s chances of success.

Market Segmentation

An analysis can assist in segmenting the market by identifying clusters of customers who tend to use specific products or brands together. This can inform targeted marketing efforts. The analysis will help businesses learn the usage patterns and unique preferences of different market segments. This allows them to develop more campaigns and strategies that actually resonate with customer needs. Segmentation through TURF results in higher brand loyalty, increased customer satisfaction, and better business performance overall.

Customer Insights

Understanding which products or brands are used together by customers can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and potential cross-selling opportunities. The TURF can reveal associations, connections, or complementary relationships between different products, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of customer needs and desires. For instance, if a customer frequently buys a certain type of coffee, they may also gravitate towards specific creamer or sweetener brands. Understanding these associations can help businesses tailor their marketing efforts to target customers more effectively and offer personalized recommendations.

What is an example of a TURF analysis in a real-life application?

Let’s consider an example involving an ice cream company. The company will conduct a market research survey to gather data on consumer preferences and purchase behavior. The survey will include questions about which ice cream flavors the respondents have tried and which ones they’d be interested in trying. Each response will have a specific ice cream flavor option and a SKU associated with it.

Using survey software, the data from the online survey can then be analyzed to determine the unduplicated reach of each SKU or flavor. It will help determine which are the most popular flavors as well as the best combination of flavors to optimize the line of products. Having access to this information will also assist with creating new flavors to expand the portfolio.

By leveraging data from online surveys, companies can make more informed decisions and allocate their resources more effectively.

Where can I get started?

As you can see, TURF analyses are particularly useful in industries where multiple brands or products compete for the attention and loyalty of similar customer segments, such as consumer packaged goods, media, and telecommunications. It enables companies to make data-driven decisions to optimize their market presence and enhance their competitive position.

Slice MR assists clients with determining their unique research needs and offering customized solutions to improve market reach. If you’re interested in a total unduplicated reach and frequency analysis, then you’ll be glad to find that we can simplify the research process to earn you high-quality results.
We offer a full-service suite from questionnaire optimization and survey programming to data collection and statistical analysis reports. We’re the research partner you need to make the most out of your data. More importantly, we work closely with businesses to pinpoint their exact demographic in order to curate the best pool of candidates for the highest-quality results. Contact our team today to learn more about how a TURF analysis can help you.

slice mr logo

Slice MR is a premium, full-service online market research company that excels in global quantitative data collection solutions.