Use of Promoted Products / Services

The commercial as well as public sector offer thousands of products and services that considerably improve people's lives and livelihoods, such as water filters, agricultural inputs or different types of advisory services. This is an important coverage indicator measuring the proportion of the target households that in a certain period used the promoted product / service. It shows the met demand for the promoted product / service.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of the target group members:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTION (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: In the past [specify the time period], did your household use [specify the promoted product or service]?

A1: yes / no

To calculate the indicator's value, divide the number of households who in the assessed period used the promoted product/service by the total number of respondents. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by the respondent household's wealth, location and other relevant criteria.

1) The indicator does not need to focus on households only – it can be rephrased to focus on individuals or companies.

2) Consider verifying the response either by asking more details (for example, Who was the veterinarian? or What services did you use?) or, in the case of products, asking if you can see it.

3) Consider asking people who responded “no” why they did not use the product / service.

4) Consider also assessing how often the respondent used the promoted service/ product, so that you can measure any frequency-related changes. You have two options how to gain the required data:

    - If the respondents are likely to remember the frequency (because you are using a short recall period or because it is likely that the person used the product/service a few times only), you can ask: "In the past [specify the time period], how often did you purchase/ use [specify the service / product]?"

    - If the respondents are not likely to remember the frequency, ask: "Can you please tell me when you last used [specify the service / product]?". While it is possible that a person used the service / product, for example, yesterday but otherwise s/he uses it only once per year, in the total sample of respondents, such 'accidental' facts cancel each other out and you gain more reliable frequency data than you would get if you had asked "How often ...?".