What Is Concept Testing?
Concept testing is a research process where new ideas, such as products, packaging, campaigns, or pricing, are evaluated by a target audience before launch. The goal is to identify which ideas resonate, reduce risk, and optimize creative direction based on real consumer feedback.
When Should You Use Concept Testing?
You should use concept testing when:
- Launching a new product. This can help you nail down what features resonate most with your customers.
- Redesigning packaging or logos. Concept testing makes it easy for you to choose the best designs before you invest in the production process.
- Reassessing your product portfolio. It can reveal which products or variants should stay, evolve, or be retired.
- Validating messaging or claims before scaling spend. Testing ensures claims connect with audiences before you commit budget.
In short, concept testing is most valuable when the stakes are high, ideas are consumer-facing, and feedback can reduce risk or improve performance.
Read more: 7 Reasons Why Concept Testing Is Important
What Makes a Great Concept Testing Survey?
A great concept testing survey has several key qualities:
- Clarity. Questions are written in plain, simple language so respondents easily understand what is being asked.
- Unbiased framing. Surveys avoid leading language that pushes participants toward a specific answer.
- Focused structure. Each question is designed to uncover one clear insight rather than combining multiple ideas.
- Balanced answer options. Participants are given the full spectrum of responses, including neutral and alternative choices.
- Action-oriented design. The survey is built to gather insights that directly inform product, packaging, or marketing decisions.
11 Best Practices for Writing Concept Testing Survey Questions
1. Focus on the purpose of your study.
Always begin with a clear goal. It might be tempting to continue adding questions to your survey to get more information about the audience. But this might make your survey extremely long and affect respondents’ attention spans and willingness to complete the questionnaire. Therefore, you should always have a set goal in mind when you create your questions.
2. Choose the right stimulus and format
Include images, mockups, or copy variations when relevant. Modern survey platforms let you experiment with different formats—use them to create engaging experiences.
3. Structure your questionnaire carefully
Start broad, then narrow down. Place demographics at the end or rely on built-in platform targeting. This way, it’s easier to group and filter the demographic groups at the reporting stage.
4. Pay attention to question order
Ask open-ended questions before closed ones to avoid biasing responses. For example, if you want to know what your audience thinks about a certain topic, it’s best first to ask their opinion in an open-ended question, followed by a multiple-choice question with more options. That way, your options won’t influence people’s responses, and you will get more accurate data.
5. Use simple and direct language
Pick your words wisely, especially if you don’t want to lead your respondents to unclear conclusions. Don’t use loaded terms and complicated industry-specific jargon. This will not only confuse the participants but will also affect the accuracy of the responses. Keep wording conversational and avoid jargon. Meet consumers where they are.
6. Be specific and clear
Be very clear about what you are asking about. What aspect of your product do you want the consumers to evaluate? Is it the appearance, colour palette, shape or functional properties?
The same advice applies to questions about time and cadence. Instead of asking “Do you work out regularly?” try “How many days per week do you work out?”
7. Focus on one thing at a time
Avoid double-barrelled questions like “Is the packaging colorful and informative?”. What if your consumer thinks the packaging is colorful but not informative? Separate into two questions.
8. Avoid leading questions
Leading questions are questions that are framed in a way that forces a respondent to provide a specific or ‘guided’ answer. Keep questions neutral: “How do you feel about this design?” instead of “Don’t you think this design is great?”
9. Choose balanced answer options
Offer the full range of sentiment, from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
Let’s say one of your product testing questions reads, “To what extent do you agree with this statement?”. Your answer options might include:
- Strongly agree
- Agree
- Somewhat agree
Or, your answer options might be:
- Strongly agree
- Somewhat agree
- Somewhat disagree
- Strongly disagree
In this example, can you see why the first set of answers might not allow you to capture truthful responses? Always make sure to give respondents the opportunity to express their opinions with a more balanced set of options (like in the second example).
10. Include neutral and ‘other’ options
Some respondents won’t have a strong opinion—account for this with “Neither agree nor disagree” or “Other.” It’s best, of course, if your questions feature robust and varied responses. Research possible answers in advance and collaborate with your colleagues to identify other choices you might have missed.
11. Test your survey before launch
Have colleagues or friends test your questionnaire for clarity and bias. When writing a concept testing survey, you might know how you’d like people to respond. To bring an objective perspective to your research, show your concept testing questionnaire to other people around the organization – they can help you identify where your question might be leading to a specific outcome.
Examples of Good vs. Bad Concept Testing Questions
| Bad Question | Why It’s Bad | Better Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| “Don’t you think this product is great?” | Leading | “How do you feel about this product?” |
| “Is the packaging colorful and informative?” | Double-barrelled | “Do you think the packaging is colorful?” + “Do you think the packaging is informative?” |
| “To what extent do you agree?” – Strongly agree – Agree – Somewhat agree | Unbalanced scale | Full 5-point scale: Strongly disagree → Strongly agree |
Case Study: How Coca-Cola Uses Upsiide to Reinvent Early-Stage Innovation
The Coca-Cola Company has embedded Upsiide as their gate zero innovation testing protocol.
In one sprint, the company tested 34 RTD coffee ideas across four markets overnight. Over 3 days, they identified 7 winning concepts that outperformed the benchmark, saving months of work and millions in costs.
Coca-Cola’s story shows how concept testing with Upsiide helps global teams align quickly, validate ideas with data, and focus on million‑dollar opportunities about future coffee innovations overnight.
FAQs About Concept Testing Surveys
Q: What makes a good concept testing question?
A good question is clear, unbiased, and focused on a single idea.
Q: How many questions should a concept testing survey include?
There is no definitive number of questions you should include. But try to keep the length of completing your survey to under 5 minutes—long enough for depth, short enough for completion.
Q: What are examples of bad survey questions?
Leading, double-barrelled, or unbalanced questions can bias results and reduce data accuracy.
Q: When is concept testing most useful?
Before launching new products, packaging, or campaigns to validate ideas and reduce risk.
To conclude
Writing effective concept testing survey questions comes down to clarity, neutrality, and focus. Test your surveys before launch, use balanced answer options, and always keep your research goal in mind. The better your survey design, the more actionable your insights will be.
Ready to build surveys faster? Explore Upsiide’s concept testing capabilities.