Understanding Concept

Development & Testing

Lesson 09
 CONCEPT TESTING
DEFINITION:

Stage in product development process

where a detailed description of a
product (and of its attributes and
benefits is presented to prospective
customers or users, to assess their
attitudes and intentions toward the
product
 Concept Testing
This is the attempt to predict the
success of a new product idea before
putting it on the market. It usually
involves getting people’s reactions to
a statement describing the basic idea
of the product. It is usually conducted
as a pass/fail, go/no go test.
 Product Development
A much more fruitful approach is Concept
development: the gradual refinement of
new ideas into a form that is most likely
to be accepted in the marketplace. It not
only gives promising ideas a fighting
chance, it provides guidance for the
communication of benefits, uses,
packaging, advertising, sales approaches,
product information, distribution, and
pricing.
What to Look for in a Concept Test?
Concept tests look for early points of
product weakness and market failure
that can be fixed pre-launch. The
core problem that concept tests
target is addressed in the following
list of must “identify” items:
 Identify the effectiveness of individual concept
assets
 Identify the barriers to achieving the concept’s full
potential
 Identify consumer relationships with the concept
 Identify the status of the concept in a competitive
context
 Identify failure of advertising to communicate
clearly
 Identify failure through unmemorable product
personality
 Identify failure through consumer’s lack of value
perceptions
 Identify potential consistencies and
inconsistencies in brand image and consumer
perceptions
 Identify unrecognized product benefits
Survey Components for a Basic
New Product Concept Survey
The major components and measures of a
concept test include:

1. Concept Presentation
Describe the concept completely. Use graphics,
videos, audio, samples, or whatever best portrays
the concept, associated attribute and benefit
messages being tested.
Survey Components for a Basic
New Product Concept Survey
2. Overall Concept Reaction Measurement
• Concept need / relative improvement over current
method of doing things
• Overall reaction to the concept (acceptability,
desirability, interest)
• Likelihood of purchase of concept

3. Detailed Concept Analysis Evaluation

• Likes and dislikes about the concept
• Attribute list evaluation
• Awareness of competing products
• Awareness of substitute and complementing products
• Superiority over other existing products
Survey Components for a Basic
New Product Concept Survey
4. Use Situation Evaluation
• Likelihood of use in specified situations
• Current use of similar / competing products
• Frequency of product use

5. Value Analysis
• Estimate product value
• Price sensitivity analysis
• Preferred method of purchase

6. Segmentation Analysis
Market segments most likely to use (order and
prioritize)
 Flow of a Typical Concept Test
 Introduction and qualify respondents (not part of a
disqualification group)
 Measure awareness of product brands
 Measure brands purchased (within the product
class) in past three months
 Introduce concept descriptions with measures of
likelihood of purchase
 Identify purchase dimensions: number of bottles,
frequency of purchase
 What is the perceived value of the product
concept
 Innovativeness of concept measure
 Affective evaluation: like-dislike measure
 Flow of a Typical Concept Test
 Measure the concept’s power to replace the current brand
purchased
 Frequency of consumption in a day
 Believability of concept
 Relevance of concept to the respondent
 Attribute and benefit evaluations:
• Is a good value for the money
• Would help me to….(do something more easily or better)
• Would benefit me… (tastes good or is something I would
consume everyday)
• Has attractive packaging
• Would improve my health
 Source of purchase (location)
 Demographics
 Graded Activity
5-6 members per group ,
whole yellow paper

 Create 5 product
concepts for Myra E
lotion

 Perform concept
testing (table format)