Research Services
Concept Testing
& Optimization
Concept Testing:
your launch pad
for success
We know how difficult it is to launch a new product and we have the tools to help. Our concept testing research solutions are wide ranging and methodology-agnostic. We can help you screen multiple ideas to find the most promising one, or develop comprehensive evaluations of individual concepts to optimize them prior to launch.
Because our qualitative and quantitative experts are all under the same roof, we work together to decide which methods make the most sense for your specific business issues.
Our Concept Testing Toolkit
Our concept testing approach often begins with qualitative to “weed out” concepts that don’t have potential. For the ones that do, we use consumer feedback to optimize the concepts to make them stronger. We then take those concepts into quantitative testing.
Our quantitative concept testing toolkit includes choice-based techniques, Max-Diff scaling, and an interactive highlighter to identify a concept’s most motivating benefits and claims. C+R’s proprietary Concept Potential Score combines multiple factors that pinpoint a concept’s true potential.
Concept Screening
When you have a ton of different ideas and you’re ready to figure out which one(s) has the most potential, it’s time for concept screening. Deploying a sequential monadic approach, we can evaluate the potential of a large number of concepts using key evaluative criteria like purchase interest, overall appeal, uniqueness, and brand fit. With this swift and efficient approach, we can gather ratings of five to ten concepts in a relatively short period of time.
concept optimization
After concepts are screened, we will want to optimize them qualitatively. One tool that we rely on is our interactive concept highlighter which provides additional consumer insights that transform good concepts into great ones.
Similar to a common focus group exercise, respondents are invited to interactively evaluate concept descriptions, identifying the most appealing and most motivating words and phrases. The interactive concept highlighter tool is ideal for maximizing communication of your new product or positioning. The results of the exercise can be used to initiate open-ended probes that single out the most effective (and ineffective) elements of your concept.
concept testing
After concepts are optimized, it’s time for concept testing. In this phase, our team helps identify the best ideas competing for development, manufacturing, and marketing resources; concepts tend to be fleshed out (including pricing, RTBs, claims, etc.) and evaluated on a monadic basis (each respondent sees a single concept). We can also help with identifying volume potential (testing within a competitive set).
Concept
Potential
Score
No single measure can
adequately assess the
potential of a concept.
That’s why we leverage our proprietary Concept Potential Score, which incorporates multiple factors to give you a nuanced understanding of your concept’s true potential. The Concept Potential Score combines three weighted scores:
- Concept Power Score – purchase interest (traditional five-point scale weighted to reflect overpromise of consumers), expectations of success, and price/value.
- Concept Equity Score – uniqueness, brand fit, and the degree to which consumers will go out of their way to get the product.
- Concept Promise Score – whether consumers would purchase the product as an addition or replacement, along with their anticipated frequency of purchasing.
finding a winning Concept
isn’t the end of the story
After a winning concept has made it to market, we love helping clients strategize how to manage new products within their existing brand portfolios. Utilizing TURF, Shapley Value Analysis, and other share-based analytics, we can provide you with essential insights into managing your brand’s incrementality and cannibalization challenges.
