Product Concept Testing and Evaluation
How successful will your new product or service be?
Beacon's experts will create a targeted study according to the questions that you want answered. The sections below include examples of questions asked by our clients and the insights we provided to help them make sound business decisions.
What will be the market's acceptance of your new product?
| CLIENT NEED | Assessment of potential interest in the client's new product. |
| BACKGROUND | A technology publishing firm wanted to launch a new publication into a market sector that it did not normally reach. Beacon was asked to assess potential interest for the new publication and possible pricing. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon conducted in-person focus groups and a follow-up survey (with various pricing approaches) to provide insights into the potential interest and price points in the marketplace. Research tools that we used also included Gabor-Granger pricing methodology. |
| HOW WE HELPED | Beacon's research found that, to be successful, the new publication would require several editorial readjustments, such as improving content and carrying articles with a business emphasis as opposed to a technical emphasis. A cultural reorientation would also be needed within the company itself. |
| CLIENT NEED | To find out if the marketplace's acceptance of a new product line would change the public's perception of the client. |
| BACKGROUND | An international fast food restaurant chain had introduced several new menu options to bolster its emerging "quality" and "premium" image. Beacon was asked to assess the success of the new items and whether their introduction had changed the image of the restaurant chain. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon conducted extensive qualitative research using a combination of in-person focus groups, virtual focus groups, and asynchronous focus groups with loyal customers and non-customers in several US cities. |
| HOW WE HELPED | This research showed that not only were the menu items evaluated positively, but that their introduction helped change consumer perceptions of the restaurant chain – especially among frequent visitors of the restaurant - toward a "premium" quality positioning strategy. |
Which of your product concepts have the greatest growth potential?
| CLIENT NEED | To assess which products and services the client should invest in and develop. |
| BACKGROUND | A "Software as a Service" (SaaS) provider wanted to identify the best ways of delivering various storage and security services online. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon surveyed IT executive and managers who were personally involved in or open to SaaS applications. Tools that we used included Gabor-Granger demand function. |
| HOW WE HELPED | Beacon's research enabled the firm to rank order and prioritize which product concepts were feasible and merited further investment. |
What's the most effective way to bring our new product to market?
| CLIENT NEED | To identify the most appropriate name for a new product/service. |
| BACKGROUND | A digital information retrieval service needed to decide which of several suggested names would be the most appropriate for its new product. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon used a combination of focus groups and hybrid approaches to data collection to assess several possible brand names. More information on these research methods can be found by clicking here: in-person focus groups |
| HOW WE HELPED | By determining direct associations with particular names, an implied equity to these names, and best choices for names, Beacon's research enabled the client to make a decision based on well-substantiated information. |
| CLIENT NEED | To determine the best way for the client to market its new products. |
| BACKGROUND | A large semiconductor supplier needed to determine how to position, differentiate and market its new product line effectively in select target markets that already had competing solutions. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon conducted focus groups with potential users in North America, Europe and Asia, followed by a global quantitative study that examined interest in the product line in the context of current positioning for the company itself, its current products and architectures. |
| HOW WE HELPED | From the results of Beacon's study, the semiconductor supplier gained insights into how the new product line would be received worldwide, the most attractive themes to use in promotion, and targeted application niches that showed the most interest. The quantitative analysis showed how the new product line could most effectively be positioned alongside the company's other products. Analysis tools used by Beacon included the following: correspondence analysis, leverage analysis and CHAID analysis. |