What is concept testing in marketing research?

Concept testing is defined as the process of trialling and analyzing the potential of your ideas. Insights professionals have been testing their concepts for years, and it’s proven to be an effective way to predict the performance of an idea.

If you want to learn more about concept testing, make sure to read this post.

You can begin assessing your ideas by setting up a concept testing survey, running interviews with focus groups or even trying a DIY insights platform like Upsiide to gain valuable insights. Upsiide’s brand-new (and super intuitive) concept testing methodology allows you to get instant answers to the most pressing questions about your idea.

Why is concept testing important?

It will save you time and money.

A badly-launched concept often equals negative brand association. Anyone remember the Pepsi campaign with Kendall Jenner? The same negative impact can be said for them, too. Pepsi’s experience demonstrates that the decision to skip the concept testing process (whether it’s for a product idea, an ad or anything else) comes at a great cost financially and in the minds of your audience. 

Concept testing is a great place to invest because it will prevent you from spending more energy and money in the future. When you know exactly what your customer wants, and your brand delivers the right idea with the right approach, you set marketing up for success.

It will help you choose the best idea.

The purpose of concept testing is to help you eliminate ideas that might not work in-market. It’s a great tool to gain an objective view of your concept(s) and will help your team choose the best possible direction. 

The concept testing process will also allow you to identify the ideas that might need further improvement. This way you won’t have to discard most of your concepts, but simply optimize them for the future.

Upsiide’s concept testing of sustainable on-pack claims on food and drink products revealed that simple, personal, and direct messages were the most effective amongst the US population. Want to learn other key insights we discovered? View this article now.

It will show you which aspects of your idea matter the most.

Concept testing in marketing is a humbling process because it reveals the weaknesses your idea might have. When you have a new idea, it’s tempting to just run with it and start executing. However, later in the process, you might find out that there are small details that don’t adequately address your consumers’ needs, outlook, or expectations. 

For instance, if you are designing a new ad, running a concept test might help you choose the best font or color scheme for the creatives. You can even break out the tests into two sections of a study, testing both the creative and the messaging distinctly. Armed with this info, you can refine and optimize your ad accordingly.

It will give you tangible proof of the validity of your idea.

Validating the potential of your concept to other stakeholders is not an easy task, especially if you are developing something truly different from the norm. It involves long negotiations with the team and often requires demonstrable proof.

However, if you share the quantifiable results of your concept test survey, you will be able to make a persuasive argument and get your colleagues on-side.

It will allow you to develop an idea that sells.

Ultimately, all that matters is whether your consumers will buy your new idea. The benefit of concept testing in marketing is that it allows you to give voice to your customer and put yourself in their shoes. 

By using different concept testing methods, you can glean valuable insights about the pain points of your consumers and the things they look for when choosing a product, ad or packaging. These insights are your ticket to differentiate yourself from the competition and drive sales in the long run.

It will help you test ideas iteratively.

The great thing about concept testing is that it’s never done. Iterative concept testing involves continuously refining and testing your ideas based on feedback received from initial concept tests. This approach allows you to make incremental improvements to your concepts, ensuring that they resonate with your target audience. By embracing iterative concept testing, you can refine your ideas to perfection and increase the likelihood of success when they are launched in the market.

It will help you gain a competitive advantage.

Concept testing not only helps you validate your ideas but also provides valuable insights into consumer preferences and market trends. By leveraging the data gathered from concept testing, you can identify gaps in the market, understand your competitors’ strategies, and position your brand uniquely. This strategic advantage can help you stay ahead of the competition and drive innovation within your industry.

Our proprietary platform Upsiide has several intuitive and interactive dashboards that can reveal the potential of your concept.

What happens when you don’t do concept testing

In 2017, Dove decided to release a line of limited-edition bottle designs for their body wash. The bottles resembled female “body types.” They likely wouldn’t want us to draw attention to this packaging innovation because it didn’t go well – the backlash on social media speaks for itself. 

Despite the idea behind the innovation – promoting authenticity and beauty for all bodies – what people saw was a tone-deaf approach to representing women’s bodies. If there were one thing that could have saved Dove’s marketing campaign from failing, it’d be marketing research in the form of concept testing.

Dove’s example shows that using rapid research in marketing is essential if you want to do well in the market, no matter if you’re a startup or a big corporation. And it doesn’t only apply to product testing. 

Whether you are launching a new ad, designing a package or even changing logos, you should conduct a concept test to ensure that your idea will be well-received or well-understood by your target audience.

Conclusion 

To sum up, concept testing in marketing research is a valuable tool to use in the decision-making process. It helps you focus on the customers’ true needs, validates the strengths and weaknesses of your ideas, and finally lets you create an idea that will sell on the market.