Stratus Ag Research recently released the 2019 Soybean Seed Focus360 report for Western Canada. This report is designed to enable Seed companies to understand brand experiences and the impact marketing efforts had on western Canadian soybean growers.
Along with containing the grower views of the major soybean seed brands in western Canada, the following items are a few key insights derived from the report:
- Soybean brands get considered and used when the retailer is involved through grower discussions, by providing strong recommendations, and through service/support.
- The most common reasons for rejecting a soybean seed brand are: perceived lower yields compared to competitors, high seed cost, and lack of dealer recommendation.
- Consistent performance and high yields are very important and strongly correlated with preferred soybean brands. Surprisingly, trust in a known brand is not overly important to a grower, but it is highly correlated with preferred brands.
- Performance satisfaction has a strong influence on repeat use of seed brands. 84% of growers who were very satisfied with a brand’s performance in 2018 will plant the same brand in 2019. That declines to 59% among those who were not satisfied.
- Performance satisfaction with soybean seed brands has been trending sharply lower over the past 3 years. In 2016, 43% of users were very satisfied with their brands while in 2018, very satisfied users fell to 21%. As a result, soybean growers are less willing to recommend the brands they grew in 2018.
The Soybean Seed Focus360 report delivers actionable insights that clients can use to:
- Understand grower perceptions of seed brands and track changes over time.
- Establish clear product positions based on factors that drive grower decisions.
- Define communication messages that resonate with farmers.
- Assess the impact of advertising campaigns.
- Consider tactics that will improve consideration rates and sales success rates.
- Identify ways to improve the quality of their customer experience.
- Provide guidance and objectives to communication agencies.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of their direct contact with farmers.
- Identify ways to improve the effectiveness of their retail distribution
