It's back-to-school season! Have you done your homework to determine if your brand tracker is making the grade?

The benchmark wave of a brand tracker inspires a lot of enthusiasm and engagement among research, marketing, and product teams. But after a few waves, it's easy to put a tracker on auto-pilot. While consistency is important for the validity of the data, it's also important to make sure your tracker is set up to accurately measure the changing market place and your changing brand.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if your tracker needs an update:

• Are the original priorities still 100% accurate?
• When was the last time someone from your company reviewed the questionnaire?
• Does the sample in your tracker accurately reflect the category and your target?
• How often do you reference your brand tracker reports or data?
• Is your tracker data delivered in a format that makes it easily accessible to all those who need it?

If your responses to those questions inspire you to review your brand tracker, here are a few suggestions that can help you get it back on track.

1. Stop tracking for the sake of tracking.

Assess the organization's priorities and update or replace any outdated sections in your tracker. If there's a question that hasn't produced an actionable insight for months, or even years, then ditch it. You can always add it back later.

2. Add your ad campaign.

Trackers can be used to develop averages for your company to help you better understand who the ad reaches and how well it performs.

3. Get more bang for your buck.

Consider adding a section to collect data for advanced analytics such as a segmentation or key drivers analysis. Already have a segmentation? Add the segment assignments to your tracker to keep an eye on targets of interest.

4. Consider seasonal components.

Avoid adding length by alternating seasonal sections that can be swapped in or out during different quarters. For example, Q1 may contain a product-rating section while Q2 may include a shopping behaviors section. You can even swap in things like concept tests for products and advertisements.

5. Add some open ends.

Adding open ends, video testimony, and picture submissions are great strategies to get a new view of the same topic within an online survey.

6. Don't forget to update your demographics!

Is your gender question still binary? Do you have an option for stay-at-home dads?

7. Focus on a special topic of interest in each report.

Include a feature section in each report focusing on a new, interesting way to cut the data to ensure new trends are not lost in the monotony of the same old report.

8. Visualize key insights.

This makes the report more engaging, easier to read, and easier remember.

9. Consider using an online dashboard to share tracker findings.

Dashboards make findings more engaging and are easy to reference at any time.

10. Set up notifications for red flags.

You don't want to learn about a drop in NPS or an underperforming KPI during the presentation with everyone else. Work with your research partner to set up a system to alert you to important changes as they happen.

Stay tuned for more market research tips coming in the following weeks!