How U.S. Cotton moved from broad demographics to behavior-based personas

Challenge

Operating since 1983, U.S. Cotton – a leading manufacturer of cotton rounds, balls and swabs –  had a reasonable understanding of their customer base but knew they required more detailed segmentation to unlock growth.

The impetus for this research was to move beyond our internal hypotheses and validate them with fresh, large-scale quantitative data. We wanted to uncover more nuanced insights that would allow us to sharpen our strategic edge and identify new avenues for growth.

Pam Chan, Director of Brand Marketing, U.S. Cotton

Solution

U.S. Cotton partnered closely with Attest to build a robust consumer profiling survey. The questions were designed to add new layers of dimension to their existing knowledge base and focused on validating assumptions around consumer behavior. These included usage occasions and purchase frequency, while also probing deeper into brand familiarity and the lifestyle attributes that define today’s consumer.

The Attest team acted as a strategic partner – an extension of our own team. Their expertise helped us build a powerful research instrument and was crucial in translating our marketing needs into a thoughtful survey that could get the answers we needed.

Once the data was in, the ability to segment audiences by behavior and demographics allowed U.S. Cotton to identify subtle but significant shifts in consumer priorities. These insights were crucial for profiling different shopper archetypes.