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The Purpose of Concept Testing

Concept testing uses quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate consumer response to a product market launch.

Concept testing is an endeavor used in identifying early on potentially successful products. It focuses on taking into account people’s reaction to a basic idea of the product, helping in making decisions such as pass/fail or go/no go.

Concept testing is taken place before a product is marketed. Hence, while promising a high probability of consumer acceptance, the attempt minimizes the research and development costs as well as the marketing costs.

The process for concept testing often depends on the type of product being developed, however it can be typically summarized in the following manner:

Define the purpose of the test
Choose a survey population
Choose a survey format
Communicate the concept
Measure customer response
Interpret the results
Reflect on the results and the process

Concept testing addresses several purposes. It helps finalize the optimum market that the product should be introduced in. While selecting among alternative concepts, it confirms that the selected concept is most favorable. Concept testing also lays the foundation upon which benchmarking can be carried out in the future. The effort helps in introducing new ideas into the concept. It forecasts the demand and analyzes whether the product is actually ready to be launched.

Nonetheless, it is important to realize that the process of concept testing should be considered as a mechanism to refine, develop and nurture new ideas, thus increasing their chance to penetrate the market successfully.

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