Concept Testing

This is done when a product/service idea is finally developed to a point where its benefits can be communicated to target consumers in order to assess their reactions. Concept testing is a quality check between the description of an idea and actual product development. A variety of approaches are available for concept testing. All methods involve a group of potential consumers rating one or more concept statements in which each concept is presented with specific focus on consumer needs or benefits. Consumers are presented with a stimulus (the concept) and measures of reaction are taken which the researcher believes are predictive of the behavioral response, such as eventual purchase Purposes of practical concept testing: - to develop the original idea further - to estimate the concept's market potential - to eliminate poor concept(s) - to identify the value of concept features - to help identify the highest potential customer segment(s) - to generate an estimate of sales or trial rate