A U&A study, or Usage and Attitude study, is a type of market research survey that helps organizations understand how consumers use products or services in a particular category and how they feel about them. These studies explore both behavioral data (usage) and emotional or perceptual data (attitude).

Breaking it down: Usage vs. Attitude

Usage focuses on the practical, tangible aspects – how often people buy or use a product, what brands they choose, and what features matter most. Attitudes, on the other hand, uncover the beliefs, preferences, values, and perceptions that influence consumer behavior and loyalty. Together, these elements provide a holistic picture of the consumer’s mindset and actions within a category.

Why a U&A is essential for strategic decision-making

Conducting a Usage and Attitude survey brings clarity to several foundational business questions, including:

• Who are your true users and what drives their behavior?
• How do consumers perceive your brand versus competitors?
• What factors influence adoption, switching, or loyalty?
• Where are the unmet needs or market gaps?

A well-executed U&A study can inform marketing strategy, suggest new innovation opportunities, guide product repositioning, and shape customer segmentation. It provides the foundational knowledge needed to make confident business moves backed by evidence rather than assumptions.

Where U&A studies fit in the research landscape

U&A research is a core form of consumer behavior study in the marketing research world. It's often used in the early stages of product development or at key inflection points in category growth. Though regularly used in CPG, retail, and tech sectors, U&A frameworks apply across industries – from healthcare to financial services – whenever you need to understand the "what" and the "why" behind consumer choices.

In a time when speed and agility are key, more organizations are turning to DIY tools to run these studies quickly. However, without the right expertise to guide survey design, segmentation strategy, or data interpretation, U&A studies may fall short of their potential. It’s why research-savvy partners, like SIVO’s On Demand Talent professionals, are increasingly being brought in to help teams use DIY tools effectively and make sure insights actually spark action.

SurveyMonkey is one of the most accessible tools for conducting survey-based research – and offers a user-friendly way to execute a Usage and Attitude survey on your own. Its customizable templates, flexible question types, and built-in analytics make it a go-to platform for DIY market research, especially when time or resources are limited.

What SurveyMonkey does well for U&A research

When used thoughtfully, SurveyMonkey can absolutely support a focused and informative U&A study. Here’s what you can accomplish using the platform:

• Efficient survey design: With intuitive survey design basics and templates, it’s easy to build questions that assess use frequency, brand experience, and buying behaviors.
• Scalable fielding: With access to diverse respondent panels or your own customer lists, it’s possible to target qualified users at scale.
• Quick turnaround: You can field and gather responses quickly, making it especially helpful for iterative product testing or concept validation.
• Cost-effective testing: For teams with tight budgets, SurveyMonkey provides significant value by enabling in-house research without outsourcing to an agency.

Where you may hit limitations

Despite its strengths, SurveyMonkey has limitations when it comes to complex, strategic U&A studies – especially when teams lack dedicated research expertise. Here are common challenges:

Lack of strategic survey structure: Crafting questions that drive meaningful insights – such as those enabling attitudinal segmentation – requires an understanding of survey logic, bias avoidance, and category nuances.

Data interpretation complexity: SurveyMonkey’s reporting tools are helpful, but drawing actionable conclusions from cross-tabs or multivariate data often requires advanced analysis skills.

Risk of misalignment with business goals: Without a clear research objective and proper framing, it's easy to collect data that looks interesting but doesn’t lead to clear next steps – something expert researchers are trained to avoid.

Expertise makes DIY tools more strategic

This is where teams can benefit from partnering with seasoned consumer insights professionals. At SIVO, our On Demand Talent solution gives teams access to researchers who understand how to align U&A research with business goals, optimize survey design for quality data, and decode results into meaningful takeaways.

Think of it as powering up your DIY toolset. You own the platform – but having someone who knows how to use it strategically transforms your research from functional to truly impactful. These experts can jump in temporarily to guide setup, analyze results, or train your team – without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.

SurveyMonkey is a great starting point. But when navigating complex consumer questions or high-stakes decisions, having the right research partner ensures your U&A study delivers more than just data – it delivers clarity, confidence, and clear direction.

A well-designed Usage & Attitude (U&A) survey on SurveyMonkey does more than collect data – it offers actionable insights into how consumers interact with your category, use your products, and feel about your brand. Whether you're exploring consumer trends, launching a new product, or seeking competitive advantage, including the right elements in your survey is key to success.

Start With Clear Category Definition

Before diving into questions, define your category clearly. Are you exploring the toothpaste market or the broader oral care space? This framing guides your sample selection, question design, and ultimately, the relevance of the results. It also ensures that respondents understand what you're asking about from the start.

Measure Usage Behavior

This portion of your SurveyMonkey research should uncover how your target audience currently behaves:

• Usage frequency: How often do they use products in the category?
• Product repertoire: Which specific brands or products do they use most?
• Occasions and triggers: When or why do they use these products?

For example, in a fictional coffee category survey, usage questions might reveal that many users consume coffee out of habit rather than taste – a valuable insight for positioning a new flavor-forward product.

Capture Attitude and Perceptions

Understanding how people feel is just as important as knowing what they do. This is where attitude measurement comes in. Include attitudinal rating scales to uncover:

• Perceptions of your brand compared to competitors
• Values and beliefs about the category (e.g., is convenience more important than price?)
• Customer satisfaction and unmet needs

When using SurveyMonkey for attitudinal segmentation, keep questions consistent (e.g., Likert-style scales) to allow for meaningful grouping of audiences based on shared values or motivations.

Include Profiling Questions

Collect basic demographic and psychographic information to support deeper segmentation analyses. Even beginners in survey design basics can achieve this easily with built-in templates from DIY tools like SurveyMonkey.

Keep the Survey Flow Intuitive

To avoid survey fatigue and improve data quality:

• Start easy with general screening questions
• Progress into behavioral and then attitudinal metrics
• End with demographic questions

By planning your U&A survey with these core elements in mind, you'll be well-positioned to uncover meaningful consumer behavior insights and identify growth opportunities – even using DIY tools like SurveyMonkey.

With the rise of DIY market research platforms like SurveyMonkey, it’s easier than ever for teams to launch a Usage & Attitude survey quickly. But while tools offer speed and access, they also carry risks if used without the right experience. Skipping over foundational steps can lead to misleading data, biased results, or high respondent drop-off – all of which hinder decision-making rather than support it.

1. Poor Survey Design or Question Framing

Inexperienced users often fall into traps when writing survey questions. Leading language, overly complex scales, or double-barreled questions can confuse respondents and reduce data reliability.

Example: Asking "How often and why do you use our product?" combines behavior and motivation into a single question, making analysis unclear.

How experts help: Skilled researchers ensure clarity and neutrality in question design. They also apply usage and attitude research best practices to structure the flow for better engagement.

2. Sampling Errors or Misaligned Targeting

While SurveyMonkey offers audience tools, it’s easy to misjudge the audience needed to answer your business questions. Sampling the “general population” could miss critical customer segments or produce skewed findings.

How experts help: Professionals align your sample to your objectives – like ensuring the correct users within category buyers – so your consumer behavior study produces valid results.

3. Overlooking Context in Data Interpretation

DIY users might notice a trend – say, younger users adopting a new product – and rush to act on it. But without understanding if it’s statistically significant or how it ties to attitudes, they risk drawing the wrong conclusions.

How experts help: Data interpretation is where experience has the biggest impact. Experts bring a storytelling lens, highlight meaningful patterns, and connect insights back to business strategy.

4. Underestimating the Power of Segmentation

DIY tools often provide basic averages or charts, but attitudinal segmentation – grouping audiences by motivations, usage, or beliefs – requires deeper analysis. Without it, you may miss the “why” behind the behavior.

How experts help: They apply analytical frameworks that reveal key personas, unmet needs, or white space opportunities – even within standard tools like SurveyMonkey.

All of this points to a balancing act: DIY tools are incredibly valuable when paired with strategic thinking and analytical rigor. That’s where experienced U&A professionals make the difference – helping you avoid costly missteps and extract richer value from every survey.

If your team is using tools like SurveyMonkey to conduct U&A research, but you're stretched on capacity or unsure how to unlock real insight from the data, working with On Demand Talent could be the ideal solution.

Bridging the Gap Between Tools and Strategy

DIY platforms offer amazing potential, but arriving at clear, actionable outcomes requires more than just running a survey. SIVO's On Demand Talent brings in-seasoned market research professionals who know how to translate your business questions into strong survey design, and then into powerful insight.

They're not freelancers or temporary hires who need hand-holding. These are experienced insights experts who slot into your team immediately – often helping you get started within days, not months.

Flexible Support for Any Research Scenario

On Demand Talent can support a variety of use cases, including:

• Jumpstarting a U&A study when internal team bandwidth is low
• Ensuring high quality data from your DIY tools
• Building segmentation frameworks or mapping usage journeys
• Training your team on how to better leverage tools like SurveyMonkey

Whether you're a startup testing a new idea or a Fortune 500 brand scaling your insights program, the flexibility of On Demand Talent means you get the level of support you need, when you need it – without long-term commitments.

Going Beyond Execution: Building Long-Term Capability

When you partner with SIVO Insights, you're not only getting project deliverables – you're also investing in your team’s growth. Our talent doesn't just "do the work" – they coach, upskill, and share best practices so your in-house team can become more confident with your insights tools and U&A methodology over time.

Think of it as accessing the talent of a top-tier agency, but with the flexibility of fractional hiring. Our professionals embed quickly, work seamlessly within your systems, and are focused on helping you get research that matters – and gets used.

In a market where speed, quality and budgets all matter more than ever, On Demand Talent provides the smart middle ground: agile enough to move fast, strategic enough to drive business value, and experienced enough to ensure DIY research doesn't compromise research integrity.