QUICK TIP: Make sure when you write a concept you keep it single-minded. If you think you have “too much” to say, then break each key area into a different concept and test with consumers to identify the most promising area to mine and develop.
QUICK TIP: When working on a concept development challenge, make sure that each team member understands his/her role in the process. This ensures that everyone is contributing and vested in the process. Key to success is that no one on the team perceives themselves as just the “rubber stamp”.
Recently, I had the privilege of working with a very talented professor from a well know business school. He was working on some fascinating research related to the ability of different types of consumers to develop innovative product concepts and a methodology to identify those that were most forward thinking. Unfortunately, they ran into a small snag which related to each of the groups’ ability to communicate their idea in a compelling manner. I was asked to help develop a consistent format for the concepts so that they could prove their hypothesis was correct. It was critical in the research that the winning concept won because of the IDEA, rather than its presentation. As such, we were able neutralize the presentation variable.
The same theory holds true for those in the business sphere. When testing marketing concept ideas, consistency really does matter. Here are 3 things to keep in mind:
Concepts must be written equally well – When working on a concept project, make sure that the writing style and tonality is the same. Often what happens is different teams write a variety of concepts or management begins to edit or add ideas. Suddenly, your concepts start to look and feel different. It is imperative that the audience is evaluating the IDEA, not the writing style.
Concepts need to look the same – Again, you want to compare the ideas, not the execution. If you decide to include a picture, than all the concepta must have a picture and it should be of the same quality. If you put a full color photo on one concept and a black and white sketch on another, you may have just biased the responses. Similarly, if someone is reviewing a concept in an in-person research setting, keep the presentation static. A foam board for one vs. flimsy paper stock OR a slick, shiny finish vs. matte can impact quality perception.
Concepts need the same essential information – Other choices made when testing the concepts also need to remain concept. If you put the brand name on one idea, then put it on the other (unless you are only testing brand impact on an IDENTICAL concept). If you’ve decided to add price or size to one concept, than add it to all just to ensure that the respondent is reacting to the idea.
So the next time you are getting your concept ready to test, give a quick check. Make sure you can check the box on each of these essential elements to help ensure you are getting a fair read on each and every idea.
Qualitative food research is a lot of fun because respondents love to talk about food. Afterall, this is America and eating is a pastime for some and a downright focal point of the day for others. Despite the appeal of food, it is always fascinating to me that respondents really scrutinize what you say and how you say it when describing a product. And frankly, this is true of most anything, but I use food as a great example because we can all relate to it in some way.
Too often clients desire to optimize the physical product first and then worry about how to describe it. For some, the perspective is “that’s the marketing part” not the product part. To me, this doesn’t make sense you really should optimize your product description in lockstep with your product for primarily 3 reasons:
Maximize Feedback – You already have the respondents giving you feedback so let’s get as much traction with their time as possible. Optimization research is often done iteratively so you can learn, adjust and learn some more as you show various prototypes until you get your product right. Simply showing a product description before sharing the product can reveal a lot – confusion over something about the product, how it is named, how it will work/taste, or when it is used (in the case of food – for what occasion). This provides a terrific opportunity to figure out how to describe your product providing the language for your positioning concept to be developed later on in the process.
Better Product Concept Fit - Eventually when the product goes into some type of quant test, having the description optimized for the product is always going to set the stage for better product concept fit. In my recent work in food, some of the products included vegetables. Although this sounds like not such a big deal, consumers needed to set expectations. They wanted to know if the vegetables were cold or hot; diced, sliced or chopped; sautéed or grilled, fresh or frozen, etc Without setting expectations prior to seeing a prototype, you allow the consumer to create his on expectation. If he has imagined something else, you’re product may underperform for the wrong reasons.
Save Money – In this economy, no one can afford the luxury of overspending on anything. Even if you only allocate 5-10 minutes of each of your qualitative research sessions on language exploration, you’ll save money by consolidating some learning into a shorter time frame. You’ll already have a leg up for your next phase of research so that time can be better spent on optimizing in the next phase.
Think about it. Make sure your qualitative researcher is helping you to maximize your learning at every step along the new product qualification and concept development process. A true qualitative consultant can really make a difference and save you money, too!
Copyright 2008 The Rite Concept
Despite all the new tools to help researchers connect with consumers (online research, text feedback, online picture capture techniques, etc.), nothing beats the ability to see a face or a gesture, to see excitement in someone’s eyes, or to feel the room’s energy drop in disappointment. We sometimes forget how important it is listen with our eyes. One study at UCLA indicated that 93% of communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal cues. Another study showed that performance was impacted only 7% by the words used, 38% by the voice quality and 55% nonverbal. I can only conclude that what you see really does matter.
The next time you’re “watching” a focus group in your concept development efforts, make sure you watch expressions, eye contact, posture, and hand movements. If a person says one thing and their nonverbal communication says another - the nonverbal is probably the “real” response. A good qualitative moderator notices these cues and will follow up by saying things like “you scrunched up your nose on that, tell me more” or “you rolled your eyes, how come?” So listen with your ears, watch with your eyes and enjoy the M&Ms with your mouth and your qualitative will yield you stronger concepts every time!
Copyright 2008 The Rite Concept
QUICK TIP - When you write concept, never ask a question. Why? You never know how your target audience will answer. If they don’t answer the question the way you intended, they’ve just spun out of your concept and you’ve lost them.
Copyright 2008 The Rite Concept
I was recently reading a text book on concept development and found this alarming statistic. A study among 166 managers of new products in 112 food and beverage companies (like Coca Cola, Kraft & Campbell Soup) revealed that only 8% of new product projects survived to reach the marketplace which means the mortality rate is 92%! In addition, these managers also said they did all the consumer insight work prior to launch so the failure must be traced to factors outside the marketing process. With that statistic in mind, just imagine if you have a flawed concept, your chance of success is less than that aforementioned 8%. I’ll say that again – less than 8%.
As such, you’ve got to get all elements of the concept right during your development process. And fundamentally, it all starts with the Benefit. Regardless of whether you offer a functional or an emotional benefit, you need to ensure that your benefit resonates with your target because this is the foundation upon which your full concept is created.
Copyright 2008 The Rite Concept
We love our product! We love our service! But, does your target audience love it? Are you offering them a valuable benefit? All to often, clients lose their objectivity with their product or service offering just because they spend so much time immersed in it. They actually lose track of the consumer experience.
The solution is to stay connected with your consumer in a qualitative setting. Don’t just think focus groups because the universe is so much bigger than that. Think about what you’re trying accomplish and learn, then use your qualitative consultant to help you develop the right approach. Research can be in person, online or over the phone and with one person or many. Your consumer can come to you or you can go to them in the appropriate contextual setting (a home, a store, a restaurant, etc.). You can spend a little time with them (a 15 minute intercept) or spend a week immersed in their life and experiences through some type of diary study. The possibilities are endless – but stay connected to stay relevant.
Copyright 2008 The Rite Concept
When a manufacturer or service provider wants to test new ideas, often one of the approaches taken is to test the ideas individually in some type of benefit screening or sometimes called promise testing. The premise behind benefit screening is that the researcher is trying to decide whether a variety of embryonic ideas have sufficient potential to warrant further development in a concept.
Simplified, this quant test evaluates each idea in isolation by having consumers react to each written as a simple statement. A few examples in financial services could include statements such as:
• Provides a comprehensive assessment of your personal financial health;
• Identifies a financial strategy to meet your retirement goals; or
• Identifies tax strategies to maximize your financial wealth.
The consumer rates the different ideas using a scale on purchase intent or acceptance in addition to other areas such as uniqueness and specific characteristics related to the offering. In our financial example above, these characteristics might include “makes me feel secure” or “sounds trustworthy”.
When it comes to concept development, you need decide if this it the right approach for your brand. There are both pro and cons to benefit screening:
Pros:
It’s Simple – The test is very basic without any complicated mathematics. Respondents simply rate the elements on some type of scale.
Easy to Analyze – The key output from a benefit screen is a sortable list of benefits that can be ranked on any of the tested attributes. The evaluation is easy – you keep the ideas at the top of the list and pitch the others.
Cons:
Too Simplistic – Sometimes benefit screening stops researchers from using new ways to understand the issues. The quant test is pretty much a template where a researcher plugs in the stimuli and runs the test. A good idea, poorly articulated, could be thrown out due to the design of the test. Similarly, a great nugget of an idea could also get lost early because not enough understanding of the challenges could be garnered.
May not be as Helpful for Emotional Benefits – Sometimes an emotional benefit is a bit more difficult for consumer to embrace without context – an insight, a picture, etc. As such, the “nuts and bolts” approach of benefit screening might eliminate these from your development process too early.
Whether you decide to benefit screen or not, make sure you do it with your eyes wide open and triangulate your learning with other modalities. Don’t let something as important as new product development start to fail before the idea has a chance to be nurtured.
Copyright 2008 The Rite Concept
QUICK TIP: When you write a B2B concept, make sure you understand the needs and drivers of the ultimate buyer. Your business buyer often needs to sell through to an end client or customer.