Concept testing best practices typically involves the use of both qualitative and quantitative market research techniques to evaluate consumer responses to a product or service idea – ideally prior to introduction into the marketplace. The failure rate for new products has remained astonishingly high. In the 1970s, nine out of ten new products failed and thirty years later, what has changed? According to a recent A.C Nielson survey, the same staggeringly high failure rate still exists in the marketplace. This high mortality rate is not limited to consumer-packaged goods; new financial services, movies and television programs, consumer durables, computer software, restaurants, and fast food products are all experiencing this epidemic of failure. Product development, advertising, and promotion can cost a company over $20 million for the national launch of a product – in some cases, even $100 million. The stakes can be very high; so many companies are now turning to test marketing methodologies to forecast their new product's future quickly, accurately, and inexpensively.

So, what techniques are you using to launch your new products or services? What is the potential for your next big idea? Concept testing can help you with the feedback and specific diagnostics you need to improve a product or service prior to launch.

• Understand the marketing environment and where the product fits
• Identify the target for which it is aimed
• Crystallize the positioning strategy
• Forecast sales and profits
• Provide the optimized concept that provides the highest ROI

While concept testing will not answer all these questions, it certainly can help marketers make sure key elements of the product or service are heading in the right direction and gather diagnostic feedback to improve the odds of success. Without this information, the launch of a new product or service can turn into financial disaster.

• Qualitative – understand how the target consumer thinks and explore their reactions to the new product, to gather insight to develop the survey instrument and refine the idea before quantitative testing
• Quantitative – determine how many target consumers actually think that way and use the findings to refine the new product before launch

Qualitative Research
Qualitative research – primarily through the use of focus groups , in-depth interviews or ethnographic research – are an excellent way to explore consumers reactions to new concepts. However, it is important to note that qualitative research should be used for directional purposes only. It is not projectable or statistically reliable; the emphasis is on words and feelings. The benefit of qualitative research is that it allows management to understand emotions, motivations and drivers. By working with fewer respondents, qualitative research can explore reactions on a deeper level, which cannot be accomplished quantitatively.

There are two methods of quantitative testing that can be used for Concept testing purposes:

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