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How to Conduct Product Concept Testing

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Product concept testing is a significant step in product development. It helps you evaluate and refine your product ideas before you invest resources in development and marketing. It’s important to note that 95% of product launches fail. 

This process enables you to gather feedback from potential customers and determine the viability of a product concept in the market. In this blog, we’ll explore this process in detail to understand its importance in the business world.

What is Product Concept Testing?

Concept testing is a method of market research that involves asking your target audience to evaluate your concepts or ideas before you launch them. It gives organizations an idea of whether their concept is likely to be successful or not, and in doing so, it can help prevent financial losses. 

Product concept testing specifically focuses on testing product concepts before a new product is launched into the market. It helps identify customer preferences in regard to the product and also identifies points of product weakness. This process helps outline areas that may need improvement so that they can be improved on or fixed before the product is launched into the market.

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How to Conduct Product Concept Tests?

Here, we have summarized the steps to conduct product concept testing. 

STEP 1: Select the product ideas you want to test

STEP 2: Select the metrics by which the product concept will be evaluated

STEP 3: Send out your product concept testing surveys

STEP 4: Analyse responses to select a winner

Let’s look into the four steps in detail below. 

01. Select the Product Ideas you want to Test

The first step in product concept testing is to choose the product concept you want to test. It is best to choose products that are in similar stages of development as this makes survey results clearer and more reliable. It wouldn’t be a level playing field if you compared a finished product with one that is still being developed.

The number of product concepts or stimuli you want to test will have an impact on which research design you will need to employ. These are the four most commonly used research designs:

  1. Monadic Research Design: Asks respondents for an evaluation of a single product concept in isolation. 
  2. Sequential Monadic Research Design: Asks respondents for an evaluation of multiple product concepts, each in isolation. 
  3. Comparative Research Design: Asks respondents to compare multiple product concepts and choose which one they like best.
  4. Comparative Monadic Research Design: Asks respondents to compare multiple product concepts, choose which one they like best, and then provide an evaluation of the concept they chose.

02. Select the Metrics by which the Product Concept will be Evaluated

The next step is to select the metrics by which you want your product concept evaluated. You have to focus on the metrics you believe make a product good. For example, if you want your product to be perceived as unique, you may choose to ask questions about its uniqueness. 

These are some key metrics that are included in product concept tests:

  1. Innovativeness 
  2. Purchase Intent
  3. Quality
  4. Appeal
  5. Uniqueness
  6. Value 

The weightage of each metric will depend on your goals for the product. If your main goal is to stand out among competing products, then the most important metric for you may be uniqueness. 

03. Send out your Product Concept Testing Surveys

Once you’ve determined your metrics, you can create and deploy your product concept testing surveys to your target audience. 

04. Analyse Responses to Select a Winner

The final step is to use the data collected to compare your product concepts and choose a winner. This is the most crucial step within the product concept testing process; hence, you must make this decision after a careful evaluation of the collected feedback.

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How to Run a Concept Test For Your Product?

Here are eight steps to help you conduct a product concept test efficiently. 

  1. Define your objective: 

Outline what it is you want to evaluate with the concept test. Clearly describe the purpose of the survey, such as identifying weaknesses or understanding its demand.

  1. Create concept description: 

Write a concise description of the product concept. Communicate the purpose, features, benefits, uses, and target audience in clear and unbiased language. 

  1. Select your sample: 

Choose a representative sample using a market research panel for the test. 

  1. Choose the data collection method: 

Decide on the proper method of conducting product concept testing, such as surveys, F2F interviews, focus groups, etc. 

  1. Collect feedback: 

Share the survey with your sample and gather their feedback.

  1. Analyze the data: 

Convert the data into trends and patterns to identify concerns and positive feedback. Understand their reactions, preferences, and suggestions. 

  1. Reiterate and refine: 

Use the feedback to make required adjustments and repeat the concept testing if needed. 

  1. Make informed decisions: 

Based on the result, validate the concept and make a confident decision on whether to pursue the concept, modify it, or abandon it. 

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What are the Different Types of Product Concept Testing?

Here are some different aspects of product concept testing that you can utilize to determine the success of the idea.

1. Overall product concept performance: 

Which product idea did all respondents prefer most?

Gather reliable and conclusive data on the overall performance of the product idea.

2. Likeability, price expectations, and purchase intent:

How valuable is your product to the target market?

How much are they willing to pay for it?

Determine a product’s three key driving factors to predict the likelihood of purchase.

3. Product idea perception 

How do respondents perceive each product concept in relation to the others?

Uncover customer’s perception towards the concepts and their reasons for their decision. 

What are the benefits of conducting product concept testing?

Here are some reasons why it should be an integral part of your product ideation and development process. 

1. Risk mitigation:

The process helps you identify the bad ideas and potential flaws or issues. You can use customer feedback to identify which concept is valuable to target consumers. 

By testing product concepts before they enter the development phase, you can avoid wasting resources in a potential failure. 

2. Market validation: 

Collecting opinions and perceptions from the intended audience can help you gather meaningful insights into their pain points, needs, and preferences. The data will help validate whether the product is a good fit for the market. You can determine whether there is a demand for the product in the market and make confident decisions. 

3. Cost & time efficient:

Product concept testing saves both time and money by detecting failed products and saving you from wasting precious resources on them.

Additionally,  by using online survey software for this, you can gather insights in real time and run surveys as many times as you want. 

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When to Run Product Concept Testing?

You should conduct this survey at various stages of the product development process. 

  • Idea generation to filter our viable ideas. 
  • Concept development to refine product ideas. 
  • Pre-development evaluation to ensure the right concept is received. 
  • Post-development evaluation to gather feedback for further improvement. 
  • Before launch, for a final check-in to ensure the product aligns with customer expectations.

Conclusion

Product concept testing is a crucial part of the product development journey. It helps you reduce risk, make confident decisions, validate market demands, refine product ideas, and design products that align with market needs.

Why Choose Voxco?

These are a few reasons why Voxco’s surveying software is perfect for conducting concept testing surveys:

  • Omnichannel Concept Tests

With Voxco, you can reach your target audience through multiple channels, such as SMS, Email, Phone, Website, and more. By meeting respondents on the channels they are most familiar with, you can significantly increase your response rates.

  • Identify High Performing Concepts

Our software can conduct advanced statistical analysis on your survey responses and can also create live visual dashboards. These tools help you instantly identify high-performing concepts. 

  • Build Engaging Concept Test Surveys 

Create highly engaging surveys with our question-type library that lets you choose between 100+ different question types. Voxco also allows you to create personalized branded surveys to increase your survey response rates.

FAQs on Product Concept Testing

These are a few purposes of product concept testing:

  • To eliminate products that have a low potential of success in the market
  • To locate the best customer segments
  • To prevent market failure 



Product concept testing is usually conducted in the product’s development stage. It allows organizations to focus on what matters to their target audience, so that they can refine the product’s features to meet customer expectations.

Product concept testing is very useful in product positioning and messaging. Concept testing shows you who your target audience is and also helps outline what is important to your customers. Using this data, you can tailor your messaging to appeal to your best target segments.

The following are the most common survey methodologies used in product concept testing:

  • Monadic Research Design 
  • Sequential Monadic Research Design
  • Comparative Research Design
  • Comparative Monadic  Research Design

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