Behavioral Science and Concept Testing (Part 3 of 6)

Behavioral Science is often used to answer big complex questions; how do we define value? What role does sustainability play in our purchasing decisions? But to only look at behavioral science through this lens misses the true value of the approach.

Research participants don’t always tell us the truth. That’s not because they’re making an active or conscious decision to withhold, but more likely because we’re terrible at articulating our behavior and motivations. This creates a gap between reported behavior and actual behavior that can lead to poor outcomes for brands, products, and services.

However, there is an answer; behavioral science. In this series, I’ll be sharing how you can apply behavioral science techniques to traditional research methods and close the gap between claimed and actual.

This week we look at concept testing

The trusty concept test is the workhorse for many researchers. Translating an idea into a written concept, collecting ratings on three standard scales, and benchmarking against your previous tests – what could be simpler and more practical?

Problems arise when you ask a respondent about the likelihood of purchasing, asking for a number from 1 to 10. In reality, whether we buy something depends on context. I might be very unlikely to buy certain products in a store, but I’d order it online for home delivery. Or vice versa, for clothes or food I may want to see or feel the product before buying.

Purchasing is a function of mindset, advertising, need state, and the alternative options available. Traditional concept testing forces a respondent to leap to a numerical answer that reflects none of this context.

Then there’s the credibility question: “Is this claim credible?” Shoppers are not really thinking about credibility when they buy stuff. In reality, customers do implicitly judge whether they believe what an advertiser is telling them, but they certainly don’t know how to translate it onto a 1-10 rating scale.

Concept test techniques such as BASES try to calibrate the responses to account for over claim (everyone says they’ll buy something but only a few really will), adjust for the quantity of advertising the concept will get, and so on. The adjusted figures are certainly better than the raw ones.

 But they can’t adjust for the fact that some types of product are simply more suitable for trial, other products are promoted through word-of-mouth more than advertising – and truly new ideas are simply never that predictable.

Concept tests are better than no tests, but they are a long way from being a true predictor of market success. With the right approach, you can get much deeper insights out of a concept test and protect your marketing strategy and product design.

What can you do?

The biggest change is to think of your concept test as also a context test. Whether someone buys a product or even enjoys it will depend on where, when and what mood they are in. You can prompt the respondent’s imagination by describing a store they might find themselves in, or how they may be feeling one evening. Immerse them even further by asking open questions such as “Tell us about the last time you were in a store like this?”

Only after that, introduce the product concept. You are now testing the combination of context + concept – a much more accurate proposition than the concept alone. Consumers might say in the abstract that they would buy your product, but when they put themselves in a specific time and place – can they see themselves paying money for it?

Other additions that will make your test stronger:

• Include competitor products or concepts alongside yours. This is the real acid test — will your new idea beat the existing market leader?
• Have the respondent tell you a story that the concept evokes for them. This tells you where their mind goes when they see the concept — what words do they use, what associations and memories do they have? The resulting data is a powerful tool for optimizing the product as well as giving you a quantitative score.

In the end, you can still ask her traditional questions – appeal, purchase intent, believability – and compare them to her benchmarks. But you’ll have a far deeper and more detailed picture of how consumers have responded. A behavioral concept test will give you some clear extra insights beyond what a conventional concept will tell you:

• The impact of context — where and when will people buy and use the new product, and how universal is it?
• Demand space profile — which demand space and need states will lead to a purchase?
• Narrative — what stories will people tell themselves about the product?
• Competitive performance and market share – where will the concept fit into the market, and from which competitors (if any) will it steal share?

The concept test is one of the most notorious areas where the gap between claimed and actual manifests itself and has been the cause of an immeasurable number of new products failing once they hit the market. However, by using behavioral science, you can significantly minimize that risk and give your new product every chance of success.