Design testing with buyers
If you are planning to launch a new product or rebrand an existing one, then you need to conduct design testing with the participation of buyers. This is a method of evaluating a product or service by real consumers before entering the market. Testing allows:
get feedback from potential customers;
choose the most relevant positioning and/or design option;
to refine the shortcomings of the packaging of the goods in case of their detection.
The test result is the real response of the market. You will receive valuable information about your product and the buyer, his preferences.
Abbydraw designs professionally conducts testing with the participation of buyers. We recommend this form of research to all our customers because it is the one that allows us to minimize risks when launching a new product or an updated packaging design.
Types of testing
Testing can be quantitative and qualitative.
In quantitative, buyers are asked closed questions that require short yes or no answers. At this stage, a fairly large sample of participants is made, on average, from 300 to 1000 people. The result will be statistical quantitative data (one or more options will become the leaders of the vote).
Qualitative testing takes place in the form of a conversation with the participants. In this case, we will find out the answers to the question “why?” and understand the motives of consumer behavior. Why did you choose this particular product? Why did you decide to read the text on the packaging? and so on.
The ideal option is a combination of two techniques. So, when analyzing the design or packaging design, it is preferable to test in two stages:
the stage is to single out one most successful design from a set with the participation of a large number of respondents.
stage – to conduct qualitative testing with the participation of a small number of respondents in order to understand the mechanism of how people make choices.
It is important to carry out quantitative testing for the choice of packaging design next to competitors in a trading environment, using the situation of buying in a store. When a new brand enters the market, it is necessary to evaluate how effectively it works on the shelf in the first seconds. Participants are shown a shelf with goods (it can be interactive) and are asked to select (click) something that fell into their field of vision in the first seconds. Accurate measurements are taken, which the buyer noticed in the first three seconds, the next three seconds and in the third three-second period. It’s great if people notice a new brand in the first three seconds, in the second three seconds it’s also a good result.
If some people look at your product, but it is not yet in the store, this is a great success.
The next step is testing the design itself (the front side of the product). Participants mark those places of packaging that caught their attention (if the testing is virtual, click on them).
When quantitative testing is completed, it is necessary to conduct qualitative testing – in-depth interviews with buyers or work with a focus group. At this stage, with the help of correctly formulated questions, we find out
how people read the design: how correctly they perceive the logo, brands, food zone, slogan;
whether they experience discomfort during perception;
regional or national features that will help in promotion.
Based on the results of two stages of testing, the product design may need to be finalized.
Important Features
During testing, it is important to observe how people behave in the store: where they look, what they pay attention to, what they buy in addition to your brand category, which stores they go to, what kind of people they are. And of course use common sense.
Abbydraw designs developed the Prov foods brand for Ehrmann. The Prov foods design you see on the shelves now actually ended up in second place in customer testing of the concepts. The first one was occupied by category design, which was very convenient for customers to choose a product – the packaging immediately informed them that they had yogurt in front of them, what taste it had, and so on.
But we saw the future behind the second design option – charismatic, innovative, original – and decided to compete for it.
To do this, during the tests, we asked the buyers: “What is wrong with this package?” People responded, “We like the design, but we don’t understand that it’s yogurt.” After receiving feedback, we finalized the packaging, adding a drop of yogurt to the fruit image and the inscription “Lots of protein, so many calories.”
What does this example say? If we had gone about the choice of test participants, perhaps the success story of EPICA would have been very different. But together with the client’s marketing department, we decided to use common sense and got amazing results and sales figures. Choose the one you believe in and work on it. Always use feedback, it will help you figure out what the buyer is missing.
Is it possible to launch a product without testing?
Yes it is possible. However, this path is risky. Without testing, you can bring a product to the market that will not attract the attention of buyers, and therefore will not be successful.
How much does customer testing cost?
The cost depends on the number of participants in the sample and varies from 300 thousand rubles, which includes the search for respondents, their remuneration, as well as research and analysis of the data obtained.
