Research Services
Concept and Product Testing
BrandSpark International tests new product concepts, package designs, claims and messages with the consumers who would buy them. Studies use monadic and rotated monadic designs, MaxDiff and forced choice, and report which option to take forward.
What Concept and Product Testing Includes
- ›New product concept testing
- ›Package design evaluation
- ›Communication optimization and claims testing
- ›Feature, benefit and barrier ranking with MaxDiff
- ›Innovation pipeline prioritization
- ›Positioning territory identification
How BrandSpark Tests Concepts and Messages
- ›Each respondent sees a concept or message on its own before any comparison, so the first read is uninfluenced by the alternatives.
- ›Diagnostics such as likeability, relevance, uniqueness and purchase intent are followed by a forced choice between the options.
- ›MaxDiff ranks long lists of features, benefits or barriers, with results reported as share of choice against a fair-share threshold.
- ›Samples are screened to category buyers, and the sponsor is masked where that protects the read.
Concept and Product Testing Case Studies
- Why the most-liked message finished last: a two-phase message test
In a two-phase message test for a consumer wellness brand, the message that tied first on top-box likeability (42%) finished last of 6 on forced choice (13.3%). The message that ranked last on likeability won its concept on forced choice. A ratings-only test would have picked the wrong message.
- Ranking features, benefits and barriers for a premium connected fitness brand
BrandSpark ran three MaxDiff exercises in one survey, on 17 product features, 17 consumer benefits and 17 purchase barriers, and linked features to benefits. The result cut a long feature list to 5 focal features, and the client adopted it as the reference for later positioning and campaign work.
Concept and Product Testing: Frequently Asked Questions
What is concept testing?
Concept testing measures how consumers respond to a product, package or service idea before it launches. Respondents see a description or image of the concept and rate it on measures such as purchase intent, relevance and uniqueness, and the results show which concepts to develop, change or drop.
What is MaxDiff?
MaxDiff (maximum difference scaling) shows respondents small sets of items and asks which matters most and which matters least. Forcing that choice produces a clear ranking where a rating scale would score almost everything as important. In one BrandSpark study, three MaxDiff exercises on 17 features, 17 benefits and 17 barriers cut a long feature list to 5 focal features.
Why add forced choice to a message test?
Ratings and forced choice can disagree. In a BrandSpark two-phase message test, the message that tied first on top-box likeability at 42% finished last of 6 on forced choice at 13.3%, and the message ranked last on likeability won its concept on forced choice.
What is a monadic test?
In a monadic test each respondent evaluates one concept, so every concept is judged on its own merits by a separate, matched group. A rotated or sequential monadic design shows each respondent more than one concept in a rotated order, which lowers the sample needed.