subject: Keeping Your Research Honest [print this page] How do we make certain that the new product is offering a significant point of difference that appeal to people? How do we hear the consumers final say before investing millions on a new product? In other words, how do we increase our odds of being right? The answer lies in research.
All too often, however, research fails to produce the right answers. It says go when it should say stop. To avoid this error, there are five maxims to keep the new product research honest:
First, test new products alongside competitive products. To illustrate this, let us take a hypothetical example. This new 3-ply toilet tissue is extra soft and strong, and costs $1.44 for four rolls. This is a typical new product concept statement; a typewritten statement on a card. It achieved favorable consumer reaction in Canada and the United States but the product failed in each country after considerable test market expenditure. Research had given the wrong answer: it had said go when it should have said stop. So how could the research have been designed to give the right answer? The new product gave fewer sheets per dollar; and in this market economy, value for money matters as much as softness and strength.
Second, identify and test key differences. But what exactly should you test? Companies often fail to identify the key variables in their new product proposition that they end up testing the wrong things. For instance, if you run a presentation folder printing business and would like to develop new presentation folders, quality and price are only part of the story. You need to test the image of the new presentation folders vis--vis the competitors since this is where the difference will lie. And if you are developing a new cereal for children, fun and size impression are the key. These are the variables that should be tested.
Third, establish who your target market is. This third maxim concerns the nature of the consumer sample you should use for your new product research. Taking an example from the confectionery market, if you carry out your research among a representative mix of heavy and light buyers of candy bars, you might find that the majority opinion tends to favor a new taste of sensation when it comes to new product requirements. But if you consider carefully, there is often an important difference between what heavy and light users want. Light users the majority in this and in most markets may well want a new taste sensation. Heavy users, on the other hand, could want something very different value, or a longer lasting bar, for example. And this is where one should market with the most heavies (perhaps literally!) account for 80 per cent of the volume. All too often market researchers recruit all users and therefore submerge the critical opinion of the minority.
Fourth, get to the bottom of consumer motivation. Consumers themselves however, cannot analyze their motivation. They cannot put their motivations into an order of importance. Thats the researchers job and it is best approached indirectly. For instance, let us assume you want to find out why motorists go to specialist exhaust replacement shops like Kwikfit or Midas. You get an easy, logical answer like because theyre quick and efficient. A logical answer like this makes the respondent feel god because he or she answered the question. And it also makes the researcher feel good because it is simple to pass on to the client. Nevertheless, it is still the wrong answer.
Last, use realistic consumer stimuli. This final maxim concerns speaking to consumers in a way they understand. Too many good ideas are lost because of the way they are presented to consumers. You would not speak Chinese to an Italian and expect him to understand. So it also does not make sense to speak to the consumer in marketing or research jargons. Do not show unresolved hypotheses; rather, show things that look like advertisements or television commercials. Or better yet, show a look or sound like that of the radio sports.
If you follow these five maxims to be included in your R&D, you will arrive at an honest and accurate research result.
