Concept testing is a great approach to explore appeal of product and services, and it’s highly recommended when first deciding if a product is worth your time and money to develop.
But when these tests are not well designed, they can yield generalized information that is not very actionable or, worse yet, misleading. Simply running a concept test isn’t enough. It needs to be administered correctly to empower you to make informed decisions.
The first step in creating an actionable, accurate concept test is to create product concepts that clearly define the “reasons to believe” in the product and the experience the customer may expect from it.
It’s vital to remember that the best source for good product concept descriptions is the product’s potential customer.
If you keep that prime directive in mind and follow these best practices, you’ll have a product concept test that you can rely on.
An Unsuccessful Product Concept Test
Conducting qualitative market research should be the first step in the concept testing process.
It can provide a lot of value by uncovering what is important to customers and how customers talk about the product.
I recently was invited to take an online survey that was being used to conduct a concept test to measure the appeal of online marketing research courses.
Thinking back I wonder if the sponsor of the survey did his homework in trying to identify what features really matter to potential end users of online marketing research courses.
The survey presented four features of the courses. Of the four features described in the concept, the only one I found relevant was the 24/7 accessibility. The other three were quite vague and somewhat immaterial to me, one of the product’s potential customers.
Getting Specific About Product Features
What does it matter if the courses will have 3 to 8 hours of total instruction if I don’t know the length of each class? Is it 30 minutes or 60 minutes?
My work schedule and home life may only allow me to sit for 20 minutes at a time to attend an online class.
Furthermore, I don’t know what they mean by “comprehensive instructions.”
Are the classes task-oriented? Will I need to do a lot in preparation to take the class? I associate the word “instructions” with manuals, so when I read this I feel exhausted already. Who reads manuals these days?
“Dynamic interfaces” and the images they included didn’t tell me much either.
A more concrete example would have helped to set my expectations.
Without any direction, my expectations could be too high, which can lead to deep disappointment if the courses don’t align with my notions of what a “dynamic interface” is in this context.
A short video showing different screens would have provided a better illustration of what the user can expect from the interface.
Finally, the most relevant feature to me is the course topic and this is absent from the product concept.
Better Product Tests Through Specific Concepts
One may contend that there are many topics of interest and this survey was testing only the format. On one hand, I would argue that the format is irrelevant if the topic is not of interest.
The approach followed here doesn’t really reflect how the end user thinks about this product.
If topic is the most important feature when selecting an online class, then excluding it creates an artificial product concept to which it is difficult to give an accurate answer.
When they asked if I would be interested in these courses, my only plausible answer was “I might or might not.”
I have a feeling that if I had so much trouble providing an answer that the study produced misleading results for them.
Creating Actionable Product Concept Tests
So what are the key steps in conducting product concept tests that yield accurate results?
- Conduct qualitative research with members of the target audience. Avoid “inbred” concepts based only on input from internal staff. A few interviews with marketing research professionals would have provided a richer and more realistic foundation on which to base the concept.
- Create concepts that are concrete and put them in relevant context. An online course on a particular topic would have allowed me to give a more realistic response. A video could have shown me what to expect from the “dynamic interface.”
- Write concepts in the target audience’s language. No “instructions” please!
- Focus on Reasons-to-Believe arguments that highlight what is important to your audience. I need more than 24/7 accessibility to assess the value of this service. Topics are a good start.
If you’d like more help with concept testing, please head over to Relevant Insights’ and see our Concept Testing and Product Optimization services.