What is Concept(s) Testing/ Evaluation-

Concept testing is a research methodology that involves asking customers questions about a company’s concepts and ideas for a product or service, which allows the company to gauge customer acceptance, price sensitivity and willingness to buy prior to launching the offering in the market.  Concept testing provides companies with in-depth insights about preferences for specific features and capabilities, as well as direction on pricing and market positioning.

When to use Concept(s) Testing/ Evaluation-

At the exploratory phase à this phase happens early in the conceptualization of a new product or service, and is used to determine early on if the product is viable enough to move forward from an idea to a fully developed concept.

At the detailed concept check phase à in this phase, a detailed description of a concept, its capabilities and benefits are tested with customers to assess their preferences and purchasing intentions. This phase is also when a company may test multiple concept options to determine which concept has the best opportunity in the market.

At the maturity or post-launch phase à this phase allows companies to assess market acceptance and opportunity of an additional feature added to an existing product or service

Why use Concept(s) Testing/ Evaluation

To gauge market potential à . Concept testing determines if a company’s target market values and would be willing to purchase the new solution, and gauges market readiness by understanding the concept’s ability to meet the market’s benefit requirements and expectations.

To refine the idea/concept à Concept testing enables companies to understand customer preferences and to determine which features should be prioritized and deprioritized.

To understand critical targets or market segments à Concept testing allows a company to test it’s idea or concept with different target customer segments to determine which segments see the most value in the solution and have the highest probability of purchasing the product or service after it is launched.

Normative Benchmarking in Concept Testing

Normative benchmarking is performed to make the most out of concept testing and add another layer of analysis. One of the key questions after a concept testing study is: “How good is this score – Is a mean or 7.6 good enough?”

When concepts are tested and reported singularly, no control/ benchmark is specified. Usually, the response bias is different for different regions, target group, or care area which makes it difficult to separate better from good, and best from better based on an intuitive understanding of response patterns. A normative benchmarking that will compare current survey data to past research work done will add a lot more value to the insights reported

Learn More about Normative Benchmarking