Citrus is one of Symrise's most important areas of competence. To meet its own high standards when it comes to consumer insights, the company recently began working with web-based methods of qualitative consumer research. A study Symrise conducted on citrus beverages has now yielded preliminary findings.

Which associations do consumers have with citrus drinks? What emotions do they link to these beverages? Which settings make a difference when drinking citrus products? What can people read on the World Wide Web about the topics of citrus flavors, brands and packaging? Thanks to a wide-ranging study about the topic of citrus, Symrise can now answer these and other questions.

Cornelia Lichter, marketing director of beverages in EAME, explains, “We have successfully created a global umbrella brand, our NATURALLY CITRUS! It lets us offer our clients full service in citrus, and on top of that, it also combines a diverse product portfolio with quality, technology and sustainability. So now the time has come to ask ourselves, ‘What’s next in citrus?' We want to develop visions for the products of the future, but in doing so, we also have to keep consumers' needs and perceptions in mind.“

Traditional analyses in focus groups often fail to reflect the intended authentic and spontaneous responses or the broad spectrum of consumer experiences. To carry out this citrus study, Symrise turned to netnography, an ethnography-inspired process of observation used on the Web. Netnography takes advantage of the fact that users in online communities exchange their thoughts directly, openly and without regard for hierarchies, and new topics spread quickly online. Certain electronic media — Internet communities, forums, blogs and review pages — were thoroughly assessed over a longer period of time for this study; consumer statements were gathered, and the data then analyzed, clustered and aggregated.

With this study, Symrise has achieved new perspectives that will gradually be implemented into new beverage concepts.

“Surveys like these have great potential for our clients,” Licter says. “Having a way to gain even more differentiated consumer insights is something we see as a valuable complement to traditional methods in conjunction with our sensory competence.”

New forms of consumer research are currently being integrated as a regular part of the Market & Consumer Research department at Symrise, and the study on citrus drinks was the first one of its kind that the company conducted with the new tool.

“Citrus is an unbelievably multi-facetted and dynamic topic, as this study clearly shows,” Licther adds. “With the help of this new approach and the information it gave us about consumers' needs, we can give our NATURALLY CITRUS! portfolio new inspiration. And this lets us give our clients promising concepts that have their finger on the pulse.”