What is concept testing?

As a product manager, I receive daily requests to add new features to our existing products. Along with this, people are constantly coming to me with new product ideas. Deciding which feature requests to make for your company and which products to invest in can be difficult. Especially when you think 95% of product launches have failed: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/clay-christensens-milkshake-marketing

Therefore it is very important to see that every aspect of the product and its launch is accurate. This is where concept testing comes in.

Table of Contents

Concept testing is defined as a research methodology in which customers are asked questions about their concepts and ideas before launching a product or service. Therefore, you can assess the acceptance of your customers and their willingness to buy and therefore make important decisions before launching.

In this post, we will talk about the benefits and different methods of concept testing. You will also learn how to determine which method is best suited for your research. We summarize with some real-world examples of how concept testing is important in helping companies launch their products successfully.

For further understanding just go through the video below.

Benefits of Concept Testing

I always believe that every new feature or product idea that comes with it will be a success. However, this rarely happens. Only customers can tell if an idea is successful or if it crashes. That’s why it’s important for your customers to test your thoughts and ideas before launching them. Insights gathered using Concept Testing can help you launch an effective and successful product.

By using Concept Testing, you can also gain in-depth insight into the various aspects of your thinking. You can ask questions about a specific feature, look, price and, more. Therefore you can guarantee the validity of every detail before starting the product.

Companies and businesses use surveys to conduct concept testing, which makes it an easy-to-use proposal for brands of all sizes. In the next section, we will discuss the different methods of concept testing. Learn about App store optimization.

If you want your website to appear in search engine results, there are no better results than Google Adwords. Some people do not know how to take advantage of their PPC advertising campaigns. Therefore, we are going to share some tips that will help you get the best results from your campaigns.

Keyword research

Keyword research is important for many reasons. In fact, it is your best weapon if you want to succeed as a business owner. First, you need to know about Google AdWords Keyword Planner. After setting up your AdWords account, you can easily do keyword research and list relevant keywords for your PPC campaign.

Concept test

Your website landing page should be simple yet effective. This is important if you want to build a campaign that will drive a lot of traffic to your website for the next several months. Now, if that page helps you generate a lot of leads and sales, you can develop your long-term strategy based on this page.

Conversion test

Like concept testing, the importance of conversion testing is undeniable. With a combination of keywords and conversion data, it will be much easier for you to target your basic keywords for the success of your search engine optimization.

You may want to give conversion tracking to the go-to phone. This great feature provided by AdWords will help you get the most out of your PPC campaign. Therefore, you may want to install it today. Learn about conversion rate optimization.

Concept Testing Methods

Over the years, researchers have developed and applied a wide variety of concept testing methods. These methods are classified based on how the concepts are represented. Each of these methods is suitable for a variety of research. Concept testing can be easily achieved with the help of a research platform. Here are four basic methods of concept testing:

Comparison test
The trial of the monks
Sequential monadic test
Proto-monadic test

1. Comparison test

In the comparative test, the respondents are given two or more concepts. Defendants will compare these concepts using rating or ranking questions or ask them to choose the best concept to be presented.

Comparison tests give clear and easy-to-understand results. Determining which concept is the winner is easy. However, the results have no context. There is no way to tell why defendants choose one concept over others. Understanding these details is essential before successfully launching a product. Learn about the A/B test from here

2. The trial of the monks

On the intelligence test, the target audience was divided into several groups. Only one concept is shown per group. These tests focus on an in-depth analysis of a single concept. The hermit trial survey is usually short and highly targeted.

Since the respondent group sees the same concept, it is possible to go deeper without extending the survey. Researchers may ask further questions about the different features of a concept, such as what they like about the concept, its appearance, and feel, price points, etc. Although each respondent team sees different concepts differently, the concept of subsequent questions for each is similar. Learn about CTR

Monadic test surveys are minimal and allow researchers to ask many subsequent questions. The results provide more context as to why a particular concept is better than others. However, since the target audience is divided into several groups, the sample size required to perform the monadic test is wide. Since different concepts require testing, the sample size is very important. Increasing the sample size increases the cost of research significantly.

3. Sequential monadic test

Like monadic testing, in sequential monadic tests, the target audience is divided into several groups. However, instead of showing a concept separately, each group is presented with all the concepts. The order in the concepts is random to avoid bias. Defendants ask the same set of follow-up questions to get more insight.

Since the group of respondents sees all the concepts, the size of the target audience to perform the sequential monadic test is relatively small. Multiple concepts can be tested in a single round. Sequential monadic tests are therefore more costly and easier to field. This concept testing methodology makes it ideal for research with budget constraints or when only a small target audience is available.

However, since all the elements are provided for each group of each concept, the length of the questionnaire can be very long. This affects the full rate and may introduce unresponsive bias. Researchers can reduce the length of the questionnaire by limiting the number of questions. However, this affects the depth of insight collected.

Sequential monadic tests are subject to other biases such as reciprocal bias or order bias.

Protomonadic testing

The protomonadic testing consists of a sequential monadic test, followed by a comparison test. Here, the respondents first evaluate several concepts and then ask them to choose the concept they like.

This design can be used to verify sequential monadic testing results. Researchers can verify whether the items selected in the comparison test match the insights gathered about each concept.

This article describes how to choose the most appropriate concept testing method for research.

You will use it once you have finalized the method; You need to prepare a survey to conduct your test. Create a survey and then use the block randomizer to get the best results. The following section discusses guidelines and best practices for creating an effective concept testing survey.

Concept Test Survey Design

A concept test is achieved using an online survey. The survey should be designed to evaluate how respondents feel about their feelings or thoughts. The data collected using these surveys will be used to determine what type of conservation has taken place.

Concept testing examples

Some good examples of concept testing are:

Tesla

Tesla launched its Model 3 in 2017 and made headlines all over the world. Tesla used a unique launch strategy, using concept testing to gain approval from customers and raise capital.

Participants were presented with the Model 3 concept. Once they were familiar with the various features and benefits of the car, they had the option of submitting. This strategy was a huge success, and Tesla was able to raise $400 million.

Thus using concept testing, Tesla gathered invaluable feedback from customers and financial resources to move forward with its launch.

YAMAHA

The Yamaha is one of the largest producers of musical instruments in the world. When designing its Yamaha Montage keyboard, the company faced difficulties in deciding whether to use knobs or sliding faders. So he decided to conduct a concept testing survey with his customers to assess their preferences. After collecting over 500 responses from musicians around the world, they were ready to make their decision. What could have taken weeks to be debated internally was resolved in a day?

NASCAR

NASCAR decided to change the format of its most important race in 2017. They wanted to collect feedback about the audience’s experience after the transformation. This project was important because the revenue NASCAR generates through advertising is directly affected by the number of viewers.

NASCAR engaged in a concept testing and research study with over 200 super fans to assess their experience, views, and reaction to events and commercials. This study helped NASCAR validate its new format. He also gathered important insights that enabled him to successfully launch the new race format.

Lego

Lego has always had difficulties selling its products to the female demographic. Despite their best efforts, only 10% of their toys were purchased by young girls. Lego decided to invest heavily in doing concept testing and market research over an extended period of time to change this. The main objective of this research was to understand the playing habits of girls.

This research made them realize that girls prefer to create entire environments rather than structures alone. The girls also focused more on the interior layout and structure details.

Using these insights, Lego decided to create a whole new line of products for the female demographic – Lego Friends. The series was launched in 2012 and tripled the value of construction toys for girls from $400 million to $950 million in 2015.

Conclusion

As you can see, from products to ads, it is important to test your concepts with the target audience to understand what will and will not work before proceeding with the launch. The ability to understand your customers’ points of view is more important than ever.

Using concept testing, you can enhance your product development and marketing strategies, reduce the time required to bring and launch your product to market, and keep your customers happy.