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How to Conduct Product Concept Testing

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Table of Contents

01

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.

Product Concept Testing1

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02

How to Conduct Product Concept Tests?

  • 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

(1) 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.
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(2) 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 on 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. 

(3) 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. 

(4) 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 the careful evaluation of the collected feedback.

Product Concept Testing2
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03

Why Choose Voxco?

These are a few reasons why Voxco’s surveying software is perfect to conduct 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 personalised branded surveys to increase your survey response rates.

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04

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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