Since the onset of the pandemic we’ve been working with Bloomberg to understand the priorities, actions and attitudes of business decision makers across APAC. Take a look at the infographic for the key insights from our latest wave including:
- 69% of companies foresee adopting a hybrid model post-pandemic with a mix of in-office and work-from-home
- Yet of the surveyed companies only 4% will no longer keep a physical office
- The pandemic has placed greater attention on sustainability with 67% believing that COVID-19 has increased the importance of green / environment protection
Marketing textbooks are littered with examples of products or services which flopped when they hit the market.
Take Juicero, in which investors pumped a staggering $120 million – all for a wi-fi connected juice maker which nobody had indicated they wanted or needed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was scrapped within two years.
Or ESPN’s mobile phone service, which was pitched at the wrong price – some $400 – whilst also offering the target audience a lack of choice around handset. The service was swiftly shut down, with ESPN instead opting to provide content to Verizon.
And remember New Coke? Launched in 1985, it’s still remembered today as a major marketing misstep.The product was abandoned after only a few weeks, with Cola-Cola reverting back to its old formula.
It’s clear that some of the world’s most innovative companies have failed to accurately foresee the impact of new launches when they hit the target market. Even Google, for instance, arguably launched its wearable Google Glass concept too soon. Its sky-high price did not help, and it failed to connect with consumers.
Fortunately there is a way to avoid this type of failure. By conducting product concept testing before a product launch, businesses are able to develop their ideas in a safe and controlled space with the target audience ahead of launch.
The concept in question can be many different things. It might be a totally new set of product ideas that no one has ever seen before. It might be a redesign or rebrand.
Testing methods can be online, for instance via quantitative surveys or via online communities focused on gathering qualitative insight; or face-to-face, in a focus group or series of in-depth interviews.
Whatever the method, conducting concept testing can pinpoint the value – or otherwise – of specific features and benefits, as well as indicating whether a product concept will be a major hit or a more niche offering which may not justify the cost and resources needed to make a reality.
Concept testing does require an investment in market research, but any costs at this stage will be minimal in comparison to launching a product which goes on to fail.
After all, testing is the process of uncovering what your potential consumers like or dislike about your concept, helping you identify which ideas will fly and guiding their future development to ensure success. What’s more, concept testing can enable marketers to understand what to communicate at launch, whilst also helping to identify the customer segments with the most potential
Here are the five key reasons why concept testing is so important:
1. Concept testing can help you filter ideas so you know which to develop further
Concept testing can help you move beyond blue-sky thinking and determine which of your ideas will be a hit. Rather than relying on subjective opinion, it gives you data that can bring the whole team on board by providing a consensus about which projects to develop and which to shelve.
In this way, great concept testing unites teams behind the ideas that have real potential. There’s no need to worry about office politics or lengthy and frustrating ‘design by committee’. With concept testing you can hear directly from the consumer what’s likely to cut it – and what won’t.
By using a range of qualitative and quantitative techniques, you can understand the consumer view of different concepts, and explore whether the products or services you’re looking to develop will resonate. Employing a range of testing tools enables you to identify the product concepts with the highest appeal, as well as understand how these can be refined. This allows you to move to the next stage of development with confidence.
It’s no overstatement to say that the use of a well-designed, concept testing survey or a skilfully moderated online community can pave the way to success. But any survey template or discussion guide needs to be designed in such a way that ensures that the overall package, as well as individual features or attributes are each assessed and fed back on.
This is something that needs to happen in the early stages of decision-making, too. It cannot be left too late as the point of concept testing is to help you iterate your ideas and to tweak them ahead of launch so that they are primed for success.
2. Concept testing can help you steer clear of bad decision-making.
Testing concepts in detail before launch may sound like it will delay your go-to-market strategy, but in the long run it can save your organisation significant time, prevent financial losses, and protect your relationship with customers. Failed products or services are enormously costly but fortunately concept testing exists not only to help you avoid the bad ideas, but also to uncover those with untapped potential.
Concept testing can help you to find the strongest option to take forward among a number of choices or find ways to improve underperforming concepts. Either way, it’s a great way to ensure, quickly and easily, that whatever you’re planning has a solid chance of success. In this way, concept testing can help you avoid an embarrassing failure and take your product development processes from good to great, thanks to that all-important feedback from those who matter – your customers.
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3. Concept testing can help you understand what elements matter to consumers.
Even if you immediately gauge that your product ideas are likely to fly, there are still many additional things to consider through testing methods – such as your positioning, the kind of packaging or branding that would be considered attractive and – arguably the most important factor in the production of any product or service – the most appropriate price.
In this way, a concept test is a way to optimise your innovation, drastically reduce the risk of project failure and limit excessive costs. Concept testing is crucial for product developers to determine the innovation’s chance of success. It can shed light on blind spots, inefficiencies, misinterpretations or problems that can lead to failure. Using testing methods like surveys as well as qualitative research, via a focus group, in depth interview or online community, can all help to tease out your target audience’s wants or needs.
4. Concept testing enables you to fix problems prior to launch.
The sooner concept testing is undertaken, the more flexibility there is for optimising your initial idea to develop a product that customers truly want and need.
Through concept testing you can understand what elements don’t fly with customers so you can ditch underperforming elements to save costs or iteratively improve concepts so that they better meet consumer needs. With an online community, for instance, it’s possible to develop concepts based on consumer feedback, and then upload them for further feedback, in this way allowing you to refine ideas swiftly.
5. Ultimately, concept testing ensures that you develop products that consumers will buy.
Concept testing puts the consumer voice at the heart of product development, thereby ensuring that new products will resonate with customers, dramatically increasing business performance.
The results of a concept test can help you to identify the pain – or the delight – relating to new ideas. Concept testing can enable you to establish how your product would fit into the lives of your target audience; how often they might use it and, crucially, which product concept they would be willing to pay for.
Good concept testing means getting under the skin of your customer and letting their feelings and needs guide you towards the solutions with the most potential. By putting consumers central to product development, you can develop products and services that outperform the competition.
In order to achieve this, it’s important to partner with skilled market researchers that can design studies that get you the insights you need. From a qualitative perspective, this means professionals that can help people open up, answer fully, and elaborate on their responses to concepts. In an online community for instance, the researcher must carefully guide and curate the discussion in order to gain in-depth feedback.
Ultimately, concept testing gives you a better idea of consumers’ reactions to your ideas. It clarifies the need your solution is addressing, consumers’ perceptions of the product, how it fares against other similar solutions, and what can be done to maximise adoption and market impact.
So it should come as no surprise to learn that this type of market research can have a huge impact on your business, enabling you to understand where to focus efforts in product development by uncovering the view of the target market.
Product development need never be risk, nor the creation of successful products be a wild stab in the dark. If you’d like our support with a concept testing project, please get in touch or request a proposal.
Before they reach the target market, products or services always start off as unproven ideas. But in order to avoid costly failures, businesses need to understand whether or not they’ll be a hit with consumers.
Concept testing is the process of using qualitative or quantitative research in order to test your ideas ahead of launch. It enables you to ascertain which features are likely to be popular with the target audience, and which may need changing.
Key methodologies and testing methods can include in-depth interviews, online communities and the use of a testing survey to gather feedback on your potential product.
Paving the way to success
Testing product ideas with your target audience enables you to optimise your approach before introducing products to the market, helping you to get features right from the earliest stage and to dramatically boost your chances of success, by asking potential customers what they think. It can also prevent costly failures so an investment in effective concept testing is a worthwhile investment.
After all, seemingly minor product features can have a fundamental effect. In this way, market research enables you to find out what potential customers care about in order to determine which attributes should be incorporated into the final design, ahead of the official product launch.
Product and concept development
Behind almost every successful product is a careful research and development phase – and we’ve worked with some of the biggest brands to take their big ideas, and turn them into products consumers love.
But how do you test a product concept effectively?
Here are five examples of how to test concepts for any potential product.
1. Run an online survey to test overall concept appeal and to narrow down your options
A concept test survey can be a powerful tool. A testing survey can reach large audiences of carefully targeted consumers, providing rich data to be analysed. It is possible to test a number of concepts, in order to understand their appeal and to help you decide which concepts to take forward for further testing.
Product developers know that the use of effective survey questions is a proven way of generating relevant information on which to base future decisions. Questionnaires are typically used for obtaining valuable data. For example, to ascertain how many potential customers there are, whether they would find such a product or service useful, and the sort of price they would be willing to pay.
The key is to ask the right people the right questions, and to ask enough people to get meaningful results. Often a likert scale is used; a type of scale used to rate various features or attributes, in the eyes of end users. Do bear in mind, too, that you need to approach a significant sample of people who match the profile of your target audience when sending out questionnaires.
Effective concept testing can also give you relevant information and clear pointers as to which demographic groups, geographies or market segments will get as excited about your idea as you are.
2. Employ conjoint analysis to understand which features really matter to consumers
As well as asking potential customers which concept they prefer, you can use techniques like conjoint analysis to gauge which product features are most important. This is a technique which involves presenting people with a series of attributes and asking them to rank them in order of appeal.
Conjoint analysis is regarded as an effective way of gaining detailed insights. Essentially, it’s a way of measuring the value that customers place on a product’s specific features. It typically works via a survey, in which participants are shown a combination of attributes and asked to compare or rank them. It can help to measure and understand customer preferences for particular features, to generate actionable insights to guide the development of the product.
Whilst the process involves offering respondents a range of choices. It’s important, however, not to overload respondents so that they remain fully engaged with the process.
This approach can help you identify the features that matter to consumers. Use this to categorise features into ‘need-to-have’ versus ‘nice-to-have’. Consider which features and functionality your product really needs in order to be compelling to the target market to prioritise your investment.
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3. Use qualitative methodologies to hone your ideas along with the target audience
Group discussions are a tried and tested way of getting rich qualitative input. We can bring groups of potential customers together – face-to-face in a focus group or in an online community – and conduct a carefully guided discussion, often with prototypes or other stimuli to spark conversation. This allows us to drill down into the product features that consumers really want or need. Qualitative research can also reveal unmet needs, inspiring further development and ensuring your product or service has an edge over the competition.
In some cases, qualitative feedback can be gained by conducting one-on-one in-depth interviews. This is particularly useful if you have a detailed or complicated concept that’s targeted at a niche B2B audience.
It’s important to use open-ended questions to gather insights: Ask respondents what they like and dislike and give them the space to explain their views. This provides the opportunity to get objective feedback from your target audience without restrictions or bias, and to obtain detailed and actionable feedback.
Questions can include, for instance, ‘How appealing are following the features?’ or ‘Which of the following attributes are most important to you?’ or ‘How well do these statements describe the product?’
Choosing the right questions, moderating the discussion, probing at the right intervals and keeping respondents engaged is key to successful product concept testing. With so many products failing, testing your concept early is also vital. By testing product concepts thoroughly and early, you’ll know which concepts are likely to drive revenue before you have invested too much time and effort in development.
4. Embrace an agile and iterative testing approach
Another way to test product concepts is to develop an agile and iterative testing approach. Online methodologies like online communities lend themselves well to this, as it’s possible to test concepts, gain feedback, adapt the concepts based upon this and then retest them with consumers.
An online community is an online research platform where consumers are brought together to take part in a series of tasks. The discussion is curated by our team of researchers in order to gain in-depth feedback which will enable effective concept iteration.
The online community platforms we use have built-in features for concept testing. For example it’s possible to mark up images to highlight which aspects you like or dislike, adding detailed commentary. The results of this exercise can be analysed and the concept iterated accordingly, with the new and improved idea put back into the community for further feedback and testing. The result? By harnessing feedback loops to refine and retest, you’re able to develop the strongest concept possible.
Even after your product has launched, there’s real value in continuing to gain feedback. Once your product is in consumers’ hands, there’s more to learn about the role it plays in people’s lives, and any unforeseen pain points that could require further changes to address. Be ready to test your product concept to ensure it gets better and better. By honing and refining your product features you can continue to stay ahead of the competition. So always refine and iterate. Successful product innovation is never finished. The beauty of product concept testing is that you have the luxury of being able to respond to feedback until you hit on the optimum prototype.
5. Harness new technology to bring ideas to life for consumers
To get the most out of respondents during a piece of concept testing research, it’s important that you bring concepts to life by creating stimuli that enables the target market to picture your proposed products or services. With our own design team in house we can take your initial ideas and turn them into beautiful mock ups that ensure the core idea is clear.
To take this a step further, we are currently exploring how we can use augmented reality (AR) to really bring concepts to life, thereby eliciting higher quality insights. Through AR we can create 3D digital prototypes that consumer can place in real environments using their phone. Not only do immersive methods like this deliver richer insights, but they also allow you to test ideas in context.
Get under the skin of your potential customers in this way and let their feelings and needs guide you towards the solutions with the most potential. The results will speak for themselves.
To find out more, please visit our concept testing services page or request a proposal from our team.
So you have a number of exciting concept ideas but you’re not sure which to take into further development? This is where conducting online concept testing comes in.
Online concept testing is the process of evaluating product ideas with consumers prior to their introduction to the market. It can include both quantitative and qualitative research, via surveys and online communities, for instance.
It’s a great way to bring consumer insights to the heart of the new product development process. These insights can help you understand which products or services will be a hit with your target audience. In this way, a concept test can dramatically reduce the risk of a product failing when it hits the market, helping to ensure a successful product launch.
Online concept testing can also point to areas of your concept that need tweaking, or new features which could be added. It can also help you answer questions such as whether the price is right and how where your idea fits in relation to competitor offerings and the perception of your brand as a whole.
But there is no one-size-fits-all approach, rather a range of methods that can be combined and tailored to meet the demands of each project.
What online approaches can you use for concept testing?
You can take either a quantitative or qualitative approach to concept testing – or combine both.
The main quantitative technique is an online concept test survey. Through online surveys, you can reach thousands of targeted and engaged respondents, providing rich and robust data that can be analysed. In the survey, the concept test would involve consumers reviewing a text description or a visual representation of the concept. Then, the audience would be prompted to answer questions or to discuss their impressions of your idea.
Single-concepts can be tested through monadic survey design, whilst multiple concepts can be evaluated using sequential design (read more about this in our post on what concept testing is and why it’s important). Once we have ascertained the level of interest or purchase intent data for each concept, these can be plotted on a chart to show which spurred the most promising response. We can also unpick the relative effect of different attributes such as price or features, with the help of a well-designed survey template, advanced statistical techniques.
When it comes to qualitative techniques, you can either run an online community – a carefully curated space to engage respondents in a group setting, as well as one to one tasks – or run a series of in depth interviews over video chat, in which you have the ability to share concepts on the screen.
What’s the advantage of online?
Online surveys enable you to reach a representative sample to gather robust data quickly and efficiently.
Online qualitative approaches, like online communities can deliver more detailed feedback than you might get in person. The sheer quantity of comments in an online community is vast – providing a real depth of insight.
An added benefit of qualitative online testing methods is that they can enable you to test ideas in multiple markets at the same time, so you can identify and explore common themes, rather than having to run focus groups over a number of weeks to get feedback in each market.
Online concept testing best practice
Objectives first, methodology second
Try to avoid embarking on the research with a set methodology in mind. Instead take a step back and think about your objectives and where you are in the product development process. This will help you choose the right approach.
Ask yourself whether you require high-level responses to multiple concepts, or detailed feedback on one, in particular? Do you need qualitative inspiration or quantitative rankings?
Also think about how far along the development process you are. If you have a prototype of your concept that respondents can interact with it may be that an offline approach like a focus group could be more appropriate, whereas if your concepts are at an earlier stage, an online approach could be more valuable.
We tend to use a combination of testing methods to build up a picture of how products or services could fit into the lives of those you hope will use them – and we’ll tailor the methods based on the project. Often, we’ll work with clients to quantitatively test initial concepts to understand those with most appeal to the target market. This is often followed by an online community in which consumers help you hone your ideas further.
That said, it’s always critical to build a tailored approach depending on what you’re trying to achieve and who you’re trying to reach. For instance, if you’re looking to get feedback on new concepts from hard-to-reach, or B2B audiences, a digital in-depth interview could be appropriate.
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Choose the right tools
Many online community platforms are specifically built with concept testing in mind and have tools that allow respondents to mark up elements of a concept that they like or dislike, along with a justification.
But always ensure the agency you work with has the right security protocols in place to protect early stage ideas. The platforms we use include a number of built-in security features. Images can be watermarked with a unique respondent identifier and, if you’re testing ads, we can set videos to self-destruct after they’ve been watched once. On top of this, we use all the confidentiality procedures we would for concept testing in-person. With such stringent processes in place, we’ve never experienced a leak. With us, your ideas are in safe hands.
Moderation, moderation, moderation
When you’re testing concepts in an online community, it’s important that conversation is carefully guided just as it would be in an offline focus group. Skilled market researchers know how to curate the conversation in an online setting, finding links between people and encouraging them to open up and feedback comprehensively on ideas.
Through a combination of effective moderation, probing and carefully structured analysis, we can identify the overall themes and elicit the information you need to move forwards in the product development process.
Bring ideas to life for consumers
To get the most out of respondents, it’s also important that you bring concepts to life by creating stimuli that enable the target market to picture your proposed products or services. Often, the early-stage concepts we receive from clients are only roughly sketched out.
It might be a selection of words on a Post-It note, or a collage of images found online. We work with our in-house designers and copywriters to build on this, fleshing out concepts and designing mock-ups and prototypes to make sure that your initial ideas can be easily understood by consumers. After all, it’s much easier to feed back on an idea you can properly visualise.
We use prototypes to bring ideas to life for consumers in face-to-face focus groups but one of the benefits of qualitative online concept testing methods, like online communities, is that these mockups can be amended based on consumer feedback and then fed back into an online community for further comment. This allows us to iteratively improve the concepts over time to build on and strengthen initial ideas.
At Kadence, we’re taking this principle a step further by exploring how we can use augmented reality (AR) to further bring concepts to life, thereby eliciting higher quality insights. Through AR we can create 3D digital prototypes that consumers can place in real environments using their phone – in their home, in a supermarket, wherever they happen to be. Not only do immersive methods like this deliver richer, higher quality insights, but they allow you to test concepts in context, thereby overcoming some of the challenges of face-to-face approaches.
Finally, it might sound obvious but it’s also important to ensure that your concepts are ready to be tested. It’s better to delay an online focus group if your concept is not yet fully developed, nor its purpose clear. If your ideas are easily understandable, can be brought to life and readily understood, your participants will be able to provide more comprehensive feedback.
Rigorous research shows you whether you’re really on to something. It puts everyone’s ideas on a level playing field and can help companies navigate internal politics to find a path ahead. After all, it’s your customers who will decide which idea is a success.
In this way, market research can dramatically increase the chances of developing a product concept successfully. Ultimately, testing is the process that enables you to proceed with confidence, and what can be better than that? We’d love to support your organisation with concept testing research. To discuss the best way to test your new ideas – be that online or offline – please request a proposal.
What is a central location test?
Essentially, it’s a way of carrying out product market research that’s done in a controlled environment, not in the participant’s home.
In this way, it differs from methods like online surveys or online communities. Sometimes, central location tests are referred to as “hall tests”.
The main reason to use these tests is to be able to test physical products in a face-to-face setting, exercising more control of the testing process. By being in the room with the participants, it’s easier to control for bias, engage more with the process, and ideally gain accurate and useful results.
In this article, we’ll dive a little deeper into the reasons for carrying out central location tests, the different types available, and share best practice tips for conducting this type of research. Let’s get started.
Why Conduct A Central Location Test?
Here are some of the most common reasons for conducting a central location test for your products:
- It helps minimize bias. In a central location test, everyone is monitored together in the same space. It’s easy to eliminate outside influences, present questions in the same order to avoid confusion and ensure participants answer logically.
- You can observe body language and other types of indirect feedback. This isn’t always possible online, but it can be very useful when making decisions. Participants might also say things or raise questions that they wouldn’t have the chance to do otherwise, which can lead to a more detailed understanding of their opinion.
- You can test things like taste, smell, and touch, which typically isn’t always possible if the test is conducted at home, without the logistical challenge of sending products to each respondent.
- It’s convenient. Testing large numbers of people in the same place at the same time helps save time and resources.
- You can ask follow-up questions and tailor interactions with participants in real-time based on their responses. This allows you to go further to capture additional information than might be possible with other testing methods.
The Different Types of Central Location Tests
There are a number of different ways to carry out your central location tests. Here are the main models:
- Monadic. This is where everyone focuses on the same product. The goal is simple: assess how well it would work if taken to market.
- Paired comparison. Here, participants compare two products and choose which one they think is best.
- Sequential monadic. First, participants assess one product, as in the monadic model. Then, they move on to a second product and assess that. Finally, they compare the two.
- Proto-monadic. This is slightly different from the above. Participants start by assessing one product (product A), then go straight into comparing it with another. The order is usually rotated between participants, so each product gets to be product A an equal number of times.
- Repeat paired comparison. Here, participants assess the same pair of products multiple times. The goal is to make sure feedback was not random or based on first impressions, with the goal of getting a more accurate end result.
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How to Conduct a Central Location Test
Recruit the right sample of participants. This is usually done by looking at your target customer base and then scaling it down so it’s small enough for the test. The most important part is to get a representative spread but also focus only on people who really are in your target demographic.
Find a good venue. This will depend on how many people you are planning to engage. It also needs to accommodate the logistical needs of the test. We have a network of tried and tested venues we’ve used over the years in multiple markets.
Make sure you’re working with a trained team. Your team needs to be trained to ask questions, monitor responses, and ask any required follow-up questions. They’ll need to know how to do this in a way that avoids bias and doesn’t steer the participant in a certain direction.
Design the survey well. Here are some tips:
- Include an introduction to the survey. This can be written or verbally delivered, but it should clearly explain how everything works, address any confusion, and explain the reasons behind the survey.
- Start with some screening questions. These are usually based on things like age and profession, and the goal is to disqualify candidates who don’t fit into your target demographic or who simply aren’t a good fit. Screening can also be done in advance if you are pre-recruiting for the central location test.
- Make sure the questions follow logically and intuitively. Group similar questions together, and try not to mislead or confuse your participants.
Analyze and take action. Once the central location test is complete, it’s time to analyze the results and implement your findings. This is perhaps the most important part — if you do this incorrectly, you risk wasting the investment in the entire process. Ensure the results are clearly presented, and any key insights are highlighted so your stakeholders can understand them. This way, you’ll be able to use the findings to convince others in your company and drive real action.
Is Central location testing (CLT) cost-effective?
Central location testing can be a cost-effective approach for market research, depending on the specific context and research objectives. CLT allows researchers to gather data from a large number of participants in a controlled environment, which can offer cost savings compared to conducting individual interviews or surveys. By bringing participants to a central location, researchers can efficiently collect data from multiple individuals within a short period.
Additionally, the centralized setting allows for standardized procedures, streamlined logistics, and easier management of participant recruitment. However, it’s important to note that the cost-effectiveness of CLT depends on factors such as the size of the target population, the complexity of the research objectives, and the resources required for the facility and equipment rental. CLT may require additional costs for participant incentives, venue rental, moderator fees, audiovisual equipment, and data analysis.
Researchers should carefully plan and design the CLT study to maximise cost-effectiveness, ensuring that the sample size, research objectives, and methodology align with the budget and desired outcomes. It’s also worth considering alternative research methods, such as online surveys or virtual focus groups, which may offer cost advantages in certain situations.
While central location testing can provide valuable insights and efficiencies, its cost-effectiveness will vary depending on the research context and careful consideration of budgetary constraints.
Focus Groups and Central Location Testing
Focus groups are a commonly used technique within CLT. In focus groups, a small group of individuals is brought together to engage in a guided discussion led by a moderator. This interactive format allows researchers to delve deep into participants’ opinions, attitudes, and preferences. Through open and dynamic group conversations, focus groups provide qualitative insights into consumer perceptions, motivations, and behaviours. By incorporating focus groups into CLT, businesses can gain valuable feedback, generate ideas, and uncover nuanced insights to inform decision-making and drive product development. The rich and interactive nature of focus groups makes them a powerful tool for understanding consumer perspectives and refining strategies to create products that better meet customer needs.
Challenges and How to Avoid Them
If your central location test is properly planned, uses trained staff, and is professionally designed, it should run smoothly. However, here are some challenges to look out for.
- Interviewer cheating. Sometimes interviewers can deliberately provoke biases or push participants towards certain answers. This can be avoided by working with a trusted partner and reliable staff.
- For certain types of central location tests — for instance, where you’re recruiting people from a mall and then bringing them to a central location testing facility, you can face problems in recruiting if there are fewer shoppers than usual. For this reason, it’s best to organize tests and recruit participants in advance.
- Biased responses to interviewers. Sometimes, participants might have a very positive psychological response to their interviewer. Maybe they like their personality or their looks. In these cases, they can give answers that might differ from their beliefs. This is another reason why training your interviewers carefully is so important.
Central location testing is a great way to get feedback on your products in a face-to-face environment with a reduced risk of bias. It allows for more interaction between interviewers and participants, delivering much more accurate and nuanced responses.
At Kadence, it’s our job to ensure you create and conduct the most effective market research projects possible — including central location tests and surveys. To find out more about how we can help, reach out to us and request a proposal.
Every marketer knows the stat: 80% of new products fail. Or 90%. Or 95%. The precise number differs, but the story is always the same.
By anyone’s standards, those are daunting odds for businesses that want to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. How can companies buck the trend and increase their success rate? How can you make sure your product is part of the 20% (or 10% or 5%?)
Clearly, it’s vital that any new product or service has to be just right. The question is, what does just right look like? And unfortunately, the answer to that question is not up to you.
It’s up to your customers.
That means it’s important to find out at an early stage whether or not your concept is going to attract customers to buy or not, and if so, how you can make the most of it.
This is where concept testing comes in.
What is concept testing?
Concept testing is how businesses evaluate and optimise ideas before taking them to market.
The concept in question can be a lot of different things. It might be a totally new breed of product that no one has ever seen before. Or it might be a redesign or rebrand.
Business questions that concept testing can address include:
- Does the concept meet customers’ needs? Do they ‘get’ it? Do they find it appealing? Does it give them something they want?
- Is the price right? What are consumers willing to pay? Is the product commercially viable?
- How should it be positioned? Where does your idea fit in relation to competitors? Does it suit your brand? What’s your natural place in the market?
- What details need to be tweaked? How can your concept get better? Is everything working right? Are any features missing?
Concept testing is not a single one-size-fits-all technique, but a whole range of methods that can be combined and tailored to fit the demands of each individual project.
Why concept testing matters
There’s no avoiding it: conducting proper concept testing requires an investment of time and money. But that’s nothing compared to the potential cost of not testing concepts early on in the development process.
Failed products or services cost businesses not just in terms of wasted investment, but in the opportunity cost of what could have been achieved instead. The same goes for a bad ad or a bad logo design.
In fact, in the worst cases, businesses can suffer reputational damage or harm to the value of their brands by launching a product concept that wasn’t right for the market. Marketing history is littered with examples of products and ads that were wide of the mark.
In 1985 Coca-Cola famously introduced New Coke – its answer to blind taste tests where rival Pepsi came out top. But the success of brands and products is about more than blind tests, and New Coke flopped. Decades later, it’s still remembered as a major marketing misstep.
Remember Juicero? No? Not many people do. Investors pumped $120 million into the $400 Wi-Fi-connected juice maker in 2016 – even though users could get the same effect by just squeezing the juice pouches by hand. Consumers saw through it, and within two years Juicero had been scrapped.
In 2005 ESPN launched an innovative mobile phone service that incorporated its exclusive sports content. But the price was all wrong, and the lack of handset choices also put people off.
Concept testing reduces the risk of costly failures like these, and increases the chances of hitting on a runaway success.
Ultimately, it’s about proceeding with confidence.
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9 Use cases for concept testing
1. Check whether your ideas will really fly
Just because an idea feels right to you (or your boss, or your friends, or your mum) doesn’t mean it’s commercially viable. Rigorous concept testing research shows you whether you’re really on to something or not, so you can put a rocket under the ideas that have potential, and not waste time on the ones that don’t.
2. Settle arguments and objectively evaluate ideas
Everyone’s got an opinion, right? Great concept testing can cut through corporate politics, putting everyone’s ideas on a level playing field. It busts groupthink and unites teams behind ideas that have a real chance.
3. Compare rival concepts
Pit your ideas against each other and find out what consumers prefer. Once you’ve narrowed down your choice, you can focus on the ones that performed well.
4. Define your list of features and benefits
Particular capabilities and attributes can have a make-or-break effect on the success of a product. Find out which things consumers really care about (and which ones they can do without)
5. Figure out how to make it profitable
Knowing how to manage your costs and prioritise the investments consumers care about is crucial to success.
6. Improve concepts iteratively
Hone and tweak your concept in response to consumer feedback, then test again. Research might even throw up brand new ideas which you can develop and test.
7. Determine who to target
Concept testing can give you clear pointers as to which demographic groups, geographies or market segments will get as excited about your idea as you are.
8. Decide your communication approach
Setting the right tone and getting the key points across is not something that should be based on guesswork. Try your ideas out in the wild and get valuable feedback.
9. Refine after launch
To hone your offering, and keep it ahead of the competition, testing can continue post-launch.
Does concept testing really work?
Some in the business world feel that intuition and inspiration ought to be enough to develop great products. True innovation, they claim, comes from maverick geniuses like Henry Ford, who supposedly said that if he’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have said “faster horses”.
The thing is, Ford was right. And that’s why at Kadence International, concept testing is about much, much more than just asking people what they want.
Good concept testing doesn’t have to mean missing out on ground-breaking innovation or settling for mediocre ideas. It means getting under the skin of your customer and letting their feelings and needs inspire solutions with the most potential.
Sure, asking people what they want or what concept they prefer is part of the story – but only part of it. You also need to tap into the psychology and emotions that drive real world consumer behaviour, and put it all in the context of the trade-offs that consumers make regarding prices, benefits, and competitive offerings.
Concept testing the Kadence way
Concept testing is one of Kadence International’s many market research specialisms. We’ve got many years’ experience of testing concepts in numerous categories, and driving the creation of successful products and services.
Toiletries
What fragrances of shower gel would appeal to young teenagers, and what kind of imagery and language could bring them to life in a way that feels fresh and different?
We conducted research in two iterative stages. First, we ran an online survey among the target demographic to screen a set of early-stage concepts and identify the ones with the greatest appeal. The winning concepts were then explored and further refined in face-to-face focus groups, with an element of co-creation, providing the client with a robust set of high-quality concepts to develop.
Takeaway coffee
A major food and drink brand wanted to know what kinds of iced drinks could prove a hit with customers over the summer.
We ran a creative workshop with the client’s product development and research teams, to develop a series of new concepts and then visualise these with the help of our design team. We then screened these in an online quantitative test. This allowed us to isolate the most popular concepts and acceptable price ranges. We followed up with focus groups to refine and enhance the most appealing concepts, giving the client a set of strong, worked up concepts to take into development.
Travel advertising
What kinds of imagery, messaging and language would be most effective in ads aimed at grabbing the attention of high-value travellers and attracting them to a holiday destination?
We ran an online quantitative test to evaluate a series of creative routes, looking at a number of different metrics. We began by measuring a baseline level of interest in visiting the destination, so we could identify the option that gave the greatest uplift in interest. The client was then able to create an ad campaign with the confidence that it would have the impact they wanted.
Food
A major food manufacturer wanted to gauge interest among its B2B customers in purchasing via a direct-to-customer (D2C) model, instead of through wholesalers.
We conducted a series of qualitative depth interviews looking at a set of concepts for potential D2C models. This helped the client establish which options resonated, and how they could be further enhanced.
Research methods for concept testing
At Kadence we employ a wide range of concept testing methods, including qualitative, quantitative, and combinations of both. Every project is different, and we always work with the client to come up with the right blend of techniques.
We always begin by carefully considering what the client really needs. What do they already know, and what stage are their concepts at right now? Do they require high-level responses to a selection of concepts, or detailed feedback on one in particular? Do we need qualitative inspiration or quantitative rankings? It’s questions like these that guide our choice of methods.
Surveys
Online concept test surveys are a powerful tool. They can reach thousands of carefully targeted and engaged consumers, providing rich data that can be statistically analysed, ranked and compared. Online surveys can present choices in a way that mimics real purchase decisions, and use statistical techniques to unpick the relative effect of different attributes such as features and price. Our market research experts design the structure, hone the questions, identify the right respondents and analyse the results to pull out the key insights.
Focus groups
Focus groups – are a tried and tested way of getting rich qualitative input. We bring a small group of consumers together – face-to-face or online – and conduct a carefully guided discussion, often with prototypes or other stimuli to spark conversation. Our skilled researchers know the questions to ask that get to the nub of the issue, how to read between the lines of people’s responses, and how to understand the group dynamic.
Depth interviews
For more detailed investigation, we conduct depth interviews with individual respondents, to explore themes and topics in a way that isn’t possible through other methods. It’s a great way to dig into what really drives people’s decisions and behaviour.
Ethnography
Ethnographic research is the market research equivalent of going on safari. It’s about observing consumers in their natural habitat. We ask consumers to share pictures, make videos and keep diaries, or we simply spend some time with them one-to-one to get a window on their real lives.
Online communities
Online communities are a great way to get wide-ranging feedback from consumers. We run dedicated short-term communities specifically for your research project, where participants can explore concepts, discuss them, and contribute in text, image or video form, just like in any online community environment. We can put them in groups, set them tasks, and ask them questions. The responses we get are rich and immediate. And because communities run over a period of days or weeks rather than hours or minutes, they allow concepts to be iterated as the research progresses.
The role of design
At Kadence we always approach concept testing with creativity, drawing on our in-house design skills..
Often the early-stage concepts we are asked to test are only roughly sketched out – it might be a selection of words on a Post-It note, or a collage of images found online. No problem. Our in-house designers and creatives flesh out the concept into something that consumers can get to grips with.
It might be a mock-up of an ad, a visual piece of stimulus to represent a new service, a model or prototype of a product, or a piece of test copy for an ad or website. We’re even piloting an augmented reality (AR) tool that will allow us to create digital 3D prototypes, so research participants can use their smartphones to see how a product would look in real life, in their own home, or wherever they happen to be. Compared to a static image, this immersive new method will take things to the next level, and we expect it to be a highly cost-effective way to deliver richer, higher quality insights.
As well as bringing design skills to our concept testing research, our approach is guided by the principles of design thinking.
The five stages of design thinking are:
- Empathise: Start by seeing the world through your consumers’ eyes.
- Define: Set out in clear, simple terms the challenge that you’re trying to address.
- Ideate: Generate ideas based on what you’ve learned. (This is often the point our clients have reached when they get in touch with us – but that doesn’t mean we won’t return again to the first three stages later, to generate new ideas based on the results of testing.)
- Prototype: This is where it gets real. Create a version of your product, service, ad or design that consumers can see, feel and provide feedback on.
- Test: Here’s where concept testing gets going in earnest. When it’s done, you can revisit the earlier steps and come back with something even better.
We believe this approach is a key part of what makes Kadence different.
10 Top tips for successful concept testing
1. Set clear objectives
It’s important to be as specific as possible about what your aims are. What exactly do you need to find out and what is it going to help you do or decide?
2. Don’t fall too in love with your ideas
The whole point of concept testing is to see which ideas are going to work and which aren’t. If you’re too wedded to a particular idea – or too set against another– then you risk heading down the wrong path. Let the consumer voice guide you, and have the courage to let a great idea go. It’s not the last great idea you’re going to have.
3. Find the right people
It’s important to test concepts on a relevant group of people – those who represent the potential target audience. Kadence International has been running this kind of research for many years, and we’re experts at finding and recruiting participants – even the most hard-to-reach audiences. Whether you’re looking for a cross-section of your potential audience, a specific subgroup or a handful of super-engaged brand advocates, we can help.
4. Bring it to life
Create stimuli that bring the concept to life in a way that feels tangible and engaging for your consumers.
5. Iterate, iterate, iterate
It can take a few tries to get a concept right, but it’s worth it (remember those stats on how many new products fail?) At Kadence, we have an in-house design team at hand who can bring ideas to life, and then iterate new designs and prototypes at speed, so we can rapidly respond to feedback, make adjustments and test again.
6. Be agile
Concept testing is different for every project, and doesn’t have to follow a rigid path. Expect to revisit and repeat the various steps until you’ve got your concept right. You never know what new ideas, issues and inspiration will come up when you put your ideas in front of consumers. Go with it.
7. Read between the lines
What consumers say out loud is the tip of the iceberg. We also need to think about how they say it, why they say it and what they don’t say. Professional market researchers are trained to see through to what consumers really think and feel – and what that means for what they will buy.
8. See the big picture
Concept testing isn’t just about scores and rankings for metrics like appeal or consideration. Look at concepts in context – think about the emotional response they elicit, what they mean for the direction you’re taking your brand, or how they might overlap with other offerings you already have on the market.
9. Work with a partner with the right processes in place to protect your early stage ideas
One of the most nerve-wracking things about concept testing is putting raw, untested early-stage designs and ideas in front of consumers. What if details end up in the wrong hands? Be sure to work only with trusted partners that have secure procedures and technologies for both online and in-person research. We’ve been doing concept testing research for years at Kadence, so we have stringent processes in place, and our research platforms include built-in security features that allow images to be watermarked, and videos to self-destruct after viewing. In over a decade, we’ve never seen a leak.
10. It’s never over
Once your product is launched and out there for real, you’re bound to learn new things, or want to make changes to adapt to fast-moving markets. Be ready to test out new ideas and keep iterating, so your product can keep getting better and better.
What is concept testing? Essentially, it’s the process of getting your audience to evaluate or give feedback on an idea before releasing it to the public.
It can be used for adverts, physical products, websites, landing pages, and more. Here are some of the main reasons to use concept testing:
- It’s a great way to evaluate ideas early on and make tweaks before sending something out to the wider public
- It helps your team get company buy-in on ideas, justifying decisions by proving they work with empirical data
- It can be a big money saver — research shows that it’s 100 times more expensive to fix an error after development, compared to during the testing phase
For these reasons and more, companies draw on the power of concept testing to make sure the ideas they come up with are actually viable in the real world before putting them out.
In this article, we’ll take a deeper dive into concept testing and what it’s all about. We’ll cover how to do it and the steps you’ll need to take.
How Does Concept Testing Work
Concept testing takes different forms depending on what you want to test, but generally, the process involves asking current or target customers e to engage with your concept and then evaluate it – either in person (for instance in a focus group) or online (either in an online community or by completing a survey or questionnaire to evaluate it.)
One of the most popular and effective ways of testing concepts is through an online survey so in this article, we’re going to focus on our top tips for getting this right.
When testing concepts through an online survey we ask questions to determine the appeal of the product, how innovative consumers thought it was, and so on. The goal is to gather feedback and to find out how the typical customer will respond to the concept, along with identifying any areas that need improvement.
So how do you get started?
How To Approach Concept Testing Through An Online Survey
Set a Clear Goal at the Outset
Before beginning, it’s extremely important to set a clear goal for your test. This is crucial because it’s what gives the survey its overall structure and direction.
Ask yourself and your team questions like:
- Why are you doing this?
- What kind of action will you take with the results?
- How does this test fit into your overall strategy?
The answers to these questions will help you select your testing population better, choose the right metrics to track, and conduct a more effective and coherent survey.
Pick the Right Metrics to Track
The metrics you choose to track in your concept test are extremely important. They can make the difference between a useful survey that drives genuine positive change, and one that has very little effect other than to waste resources. Some examples of metrics to track include:
- Purchase intent (how likely would you be to hit the buy button?)
- Innovativeness (how innovative is the concept?)
These metrics will form the basis of your questions and shape your survey. Questions should focus on areas such as likes and dislikes, overall appeal, uniqueness, and innovativeness.
Give Your Survey A Clear Structure
Your survey should have a clear and coherent structure. Each section should follow intuitively from the next, with similar questions grouped together. You don’t want participants feeling confused or frustrated at any point — it should all make sense.
A good way to help this along is by including an introduction section that clearly outlines what the respondent should expect from the survey, , along with instructions on how to complete it.
It’s also important to consider which method you want to use. Here are the main options:
Concept Testing Survey Methods
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The two main types are monadic design, which uses a single concept, and sequential design, which asks the participants to compare multiple concepts.
Let’s break that down a little further:
- Single-concept (monadic) design. Here participants analyse one concept, learn the features, and then give their feedback and opinions in a survey. It’s a great way to get in-depth responses around one single concept, but it can be time-consuming and expensive.
- Multi-concept (sequential) design. In this kind of test, participants do all the above, but then move onto another concept and repeat, and so on. It saves time and money by combining multiple concepts into one session, but there is a risk of participants getting bored and giving lower-quality responses as time goes on. What’s more, responses can be influenced by the order in which concepts are presented, so we make sure to always randomise the order to avoid any bias.
How Long Should a Concept Testing Survey Be?
There are many different opinions on how long your survey should be but our view is that it shouldn’t be any longer than 20 -25 minutes, At this point, respondents can suffer from what’s known as “survey fatigue” and the quality of responses can deteriorate as attention drops For example, SurveyMonkey recommend keeping it under 30 questions. Fewer focused questions can be better than dozens of less relevant ones.
Ultimately, it will depend on your concept, your audience, and the resources you have available.
Ask Screener Questions and Demographic Questions
Screener questions are a way to see if your respondents are relevant to your customer base. They’re usually placed at the beginning of the survey, and the goal is to filter out unqualified participants.
You shouldn’t be too specific here — you don’t want to filter everyone out. For example, let’s say you’re testing an online payment service. The screener question might be, “How often do you shop online?”
Demographic questions usually come at the end of the survey. They’re a way to find out a little more about the people you’re speaking to and . usually focus on things like age or profession. Collecting information on demographics allows you to ensure that your survey is representative, as well as to analyse responses based on age, gender or socio-economic grade to identify any significant differences. Demographic questions can be considered sensitive, so by putting these at the end of a survey, you avoid people being put off from taking part in the survey from the outset.
Send the Survey Out
Once the survey is ready, it’s time to select a sample of people to test it on. This should be representative of your overall population you are interested in targeting.
Analysis and Action
The final (and most important) part of the process is to analyze the results of your concept test and take action.
The way you analyze the results depends on how the survey was structured. For example, if your survey used Likert scores (asking participants to answer on a scale of ‘very unlikely’ to ‘very likely’, you can use something called top 2 box scores in your analysis. This allows you to use one metric to compare across concepts or attributes. Remember – never pick a ‘winner’ unless there’s a statistically significant difference.
When you have your results, it’s time to put them to use. You can use your results to justify a product launch, get buy-in for a concept, or fuel further R&D.
When sharing your results, for example with company management, it’s important to be as clear and detailed as possible. Do all the work for them, and leave them in no doubt about your findings.
Concept testing can be an extremely effective way to get hard data in support of a concept. It helps you and your team make clear-headed, evidence-based decisions and create products that delight your customers and drive the company forward.
To find out how Kadence can help you harness the power of concept testing — and take a more data-driven approach to your organisation in general — reach out to request a proposal.
Last updated: 05/01/21
Our live tracker shows you where you can conduct face-to-face research, as well as the considerations you need to bear in mind.
For those markets where face-to-face research is not possible just yet, online research is an effective alternative. This is an area where we have extensive experience. To help clients embrace these methods, we’ve produced a guide with our top tips for approaching online research in APAC.
UK
Face-to-face research is not currently possible
As the UK is currently under national lockdown, face-to-face research is not possible at this time.
Online research is an effective alternative
We have extensive experience of recruiting respondents and conducting research digitally. For many years, we’ve been harnessing online methodologies to support clients with everything from customer understanding right through to product development research in the UK and beyond.
Get in touch with our UK office to find out more
USA
Face-to-face is possible in some states
Restrictions in the US vary by state. Face-to-face research is now possible in some areas as long as the relevant state and federal guidelines on social distancing and interstate travel are observed, and in Boston, our East Coast base, focus groups are now booking. We are actively monitoring the regulations in each state through the Center for Diesease Control and Prevention, and state and territorial health department websites to advise our clients on what’s possible across the US.
Online research is an effective alternative
We can recruit respondents and conduct research digitally. This is an area where we’re experts. We’ve been harnessing online methodologies to support clients in the US with everything from customer understanding right through to product development research for many years.
China
Face-to-face research and online research are both possible
In line with the situation easing in China, we can provide all methodologies in this market, including focus groups and face-to-face interviews. We have developed a comprehensive safety protocol to safeguard our respondents, our team and our partners including a screening process to ensure respondents haven’t returned from another country in the last 14 days, temperature checks and the provision of masks and alcohol gel.
Online research can also be used to great effect in China, one of the most digitally savvy markets in the world. This is an area in which we have significant expertise.
Get in touch with our China office to find the best way of approaching your project.
Singapore
Face-to-face research is now possible
We are now able to offer face-to-face research in Singapore including 8 person focus groups in line with easing restrictions. We have a number of protocols in place to ensure the safety of our team and our respondents.
CATI and online research are effective alternatives
We are experts at conducting online research, and have particular expertise within Asia, recently producing a guide to help clients approach this with confidence. Our CATI capabilities are also an effective way of conducting research at this time.
Get in touch with our Singapore office to find the best approach for your project.
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India
Face-to-face is possible in most areas
We’re able to offer face-to-face research in all major cities that have been designated COVID-free zones by the government. We observe stringent protocols to ensure the safety of our respondents and our team.
We also offer CATI and online research in India
Our state-of-the-art telephonic interviewing (CATI) centre and a huge repository of customer databases can address your quantitative research needs, whilst online focus groups, digital depth interviews and digital ethnography can help gain qualitative insights into the rapidly changing consumer landscape.
Get in touch with our India office to discuss how to best approach your research needs.
Indonesia
Face-to-face research is considered on a case by case basis
Restrictions in Indonesia mean that options for face-to-face research are currently limited. As a result, it is considered on a case-by- case. To discuss further, please get in touch with our team.
Online research is an effective alternative
We are experts at conducting online research in Asia, and in Indonesia we have our own online panel, enabling us to conduct research across the country.
Get in touch with our Indonesia office to discuss how to approach your project online.
Philippines
Face-to-face research is not currently possible
F2F research is now feasible in the Philippines. We have already conducted intercepts and D2D interviews with no issues. However, we do not recommend face-to-face for focus groups and IDIs because we are still required to wear face masks and face shields even indoors. Focus groups and IDIs can be carried out online instead at this time.
Online research is an effective alternative
In the social media capital of the world, online methodologies can provide new ways of engaging respondents in research.
Get in touch with our Philippines office to discuss a project in the country.
Thailand
Face-to-face research and online research is possible across Thailand
We are now able to carry out face-to-face interviews and focus groups in Thailand. We have stringent safety protocols in place to protect our respondents, our team and our partners including COVID-19 screening questions, temperature checks and the provision of alcohol gel and masks.
In Thailand, we’re also able to provide a broad range of online methodologies to reach consumers and B2B respondents.
To talk about conducting research in Thailand, get in touch with our team.
Vietnam
Face-to-face research and online research is possible across Vietnam
Face-to-face research in the country can be conducted as normal – there are no restrictions in terms of service provision.
We also have rich experience in conducting online research in the country. We have the biggest direct panel in Vietnam – with 500,000 consumers – and conduct over 100 studies each year.
To discuss a market research project in Vietnam, please get in touch with our team.
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We’ve been working with Bloomberg to understand the priorities, actions and attitudes of business decision makers across APAC as the pandemic progresses. In the second of five waves, we explore attitudes towards travel, media consumption patterns and brands.
Take a look at the infographic for the key insights including:
- 7 in 10 decision makers say their companies are restricting travel, up by 18% from the last wave in May
- In 1 in 4 organisations, employees are given the flexibility to work from home.
- 57% are looking for brands that are customer-focused and are flexible enough to accommodate their rapidly changing needs
Sales & Marketing
Vital Strategies
Customer Intelligence Director