The Business Situation
A small, regional pest control company had something most competitors could not claim: genuinely satisfied customers. But satisfaction alone was not driving growth. The company was competing against larger national chains with bigger marketing budgets and doing so without a clear picture of what the market looked like, or how to reach people who had not found them yet.
Internal instincts and anecdotal feedback were not enough to build a marketing strategy around. They needed real, structured, consumer-sourced data before committing limited resources to a direction.
The Business Question
We know our service is good. But do our customers, and the market, know that?
The research needed to answer three connected questions:
- What do current customers value most, and what is driving cancellations?
- What do pest control customers need, and where are those needs going unmet?
- And what channels, messages, and creative approaches will build awareness and bring in new customers?
Our Approach
A Three-Phase Research Program Built to Compound Learning
We designed a program where each phase built directly on the last, starting with what was already known, expanding to test hypotheses with a broader audience, and then bringing real people into the room to pressure-test creative and messaging before any marketing dollars were spent.
- Phase 1: Mining What Customers Already Said. We read and coded 691 online reviews, quantifying which topics appeared most frequently and identifying the authentic language customers used. Cancellation data was analyzed to understand where service expectations were not being met.
- Phase 2: Testing with the Broader Market. With Phase 1 insights in hand, we fielded a 10-minute online survey with approximately 300 respondents, a mix of current and potential customers, measuring awareness, selection factors, channel preferences, ad concept reactions, and switching triggers.
- Phase 3: Into the Room with Real Customers. Three focus groups (one with current customers, two with potential customers) went deeper than any survey could. Participants reacted to ads, gave real-time feedback on messaging and creative concepts, and helped clarify exactly what this company offered that no competitor could claim.
What We Found
- The customer voice was clear and underused. Review analysis revealed that customers were already describing the company’s differentiators in specific, consistent language. Those themes became the foundation for messaging that could be tested and validated.
- The market had a gap this brand could fill. The survey confirmed that pest control customers prioritize this company’s differentiators over price. But awareness was largely word-of-mouth. The brand was invisible in the channels where potential customers were actually looking.
- Identified the creative that worked, and why. Focus group participants identified which advertising concepts most effectively communicated the company’s story. The winning approaches centered on the same differentiators customers had already called out in reviews. Participants also clarified which channels beyond television would help the brand reach its target audience more effectively.
Awareness was the barrier. The service was excellent. . Research showed them where to show up.
The Outcome
The company entered its next phase of marketing with a consumer-grounded strategy. Every channel decision, message choice, and creative direction was informed by evidence from the people they were trying to reach, not internal assumptions.
A small regional service provider had the data to compete like a larger one, without the larger budget, because they knew exactly where to focus.
That’s what it looks like when research illuminates the decisions in front of you.