Why You Should Test New Products with Consumers

First, and most importantly, because you want to assure success!   

Finding out if your product meets consumer expectations BEFORE you bring it to market is not only the road to a successful product launch, but the road to making consumers happy, building brand equity, and assuring happy retail partners.     Second, research is cost-reducing.   The cost of testing new products with consumers is so low – literally a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per product tested – that consumer research is the opposite of cost-prohibitive.  It is cost-reducing.   Research reduces the costs incurred by failed/weak/disappointing products.

Consumer reviews now carry more weight in the purchase decision than most other resources.  Let’s face it, the consumer IS going to review you.  Assure 5-star reviews by testing your products with consumers BEFORE you introduce them.

Just like great product development, superior manufacturing, and on-point marketing, research is a necessary investment in your success.

We’ve asked numerous clients what it costs them to bring a new product to market. The answers range from about $100,000 to millions of dollars depending on the product category.  Let’s go with the low end.  When you spend $100,000 to design, create, prototype, manufacture, ship, sell, create support materials and advertising plus overhead, you’ve spent a lot of money with no assurance of product success.  If you were in a casino and were about to bet $100,000 and I asked you whether you would give me $1000 to let you know whether your bet would be a winner, you would pay me that $1000 in a heartbeat.   Why wouldn’t you do that for your new product investments?

Here are all the reasons we’ve heard as to why people don’t insure their new product bets along with our responses:

1. Research is too expensive.  No, it’s really not.  Let us prepare a proposal to show you how inexpensive it really is… no obligation at all!
2. Research is too time consuming –we don’t have the time.  The average time from questionnaire approval to data topline on our projects is three weeks.  And there is no reason why your product development process can’t go on while we’re doing the research.   Great companies build research into their product development cycles, because they know listening to the consumer is not only fundamental, it is vital to succeed.
3. We don’t know how to do research.  You don’t need to know how.  That’s our job.  All you need to know is how to make a phone call (609)896-1108 or send an email Rick@Designres.com.  We know what questions to ask to develop a proposal for you.
4. We wouldn’t know how to evaluate a research proposal.  Our proposals are straightforward; no buzzwords, nothing hard to understand and we walk you through every step.
5. We do research with our employees.  That’s not really research.  They are not your target audience.  They are savvy about your product category and are probably better off than your consumers are.
6. We do research using Survey Monkey.   Survey Monkey does not provide nationally projectable respondent samples.  The key to any valid, reliable research is in the sample design.  You need to speak to the right people.
7. We don’t believe in research.  Research is not a religion.  It is a set of tools that provide knowledge and insights.  When used wisely and competently it delivers great value.  Research represents knowledge, just like your employees do.   Research is NOT a replacement for business acumen, it enhances it.
8. We did research once.  The results weren’t right.  We have decades of research experience.  We’ve never done a study that didn’t deliver what it was supposed to.  We make sure that our studies are designed to deliver the information you need.  And we have many, many clients that use us as partners in their success.  Look at our impressive client list.  We are proud to report 85% of our clients are repeat clients.

Call (609-896-1108) or email us today (Rick@designres.com) to assure the success of your next product introduction!