Everything You Need to Know About Concept Testing Surveys

Did you know that understanding customer preferences could make or break your product launch? Yet, many businesses skip this critical step. The results often spell failure.

Concept testing surveys gauge whether your big idea has what it takes to succeed. These surveys reveal key insights. They help you improve your product. They lower risks and guide smarter decisions.

This blog gets deep into concept testing surveys: what they are, why they matter, and how they can help you perfect your ideas before they hit the market.

What is a concept testing survey?

A concept testing survey is a product research tool used to assess the potential appeal of a product or service idea before it’s developed or launched. It involves the following:

• presenting a concept to a target audience
• gathering feedback on theirsome text
  • reactions
  • preferences
  • likelihood of purchasing or using the product

This process helps companies see if their ideas will work. It also shows where they need to improve. In fact, 85% of product launches fail when companies skip engaging with consumers beforehand. This makes concept testing surveys invaluable for businesses that want to:

• avoid costly mistakes
• ensure their ideas align with customer needs and expectations

Key elements of a concept testing survey

When designing your concept testing survey, several key elements should be included. They’re meant to ensure that the survey captures meaningful and actionable insights. Here are the essential components:

1.  Clear objectives

Start with clarity: What exactly do you want to learn? Focus on the most important concept testing questions. Skip any that don’t add value. Avoid adding "curiosity questions" that don’t help decisions. A sharp focus ensures reliable insights and avoids bias. 

2. Provide clear context

Introduce your concept with precision. Whether it’s a written description or visuals, give enough information to help respondents understand the idea. But keep it neutral. Avoid overly persuasive language to ensure authentic product feedback. Simple, unbiased context leads to honest reactions.

3. Screen the right audience

Use screening questions to filter out participants who don’t match your target audience. This helps ensure your results reflect meaningful insights from the right demographic. It’s also an opportunity to gather segmentation data. It can help you refine your marketing strategy later.

4. Validate your concept

Craft focused questions to assess the following:

• reactions
• likes
• dislikes

Use methods like Likert scales or direct comparisons to gather structured feedback. Trial the survey internally. This way, you can catch confusing phrasing or bias before launch.

5. Assess market fit, purchase intent, and situations

Include questions about competitors and market substitutes. This helps validate the concept’s viability or reveal gaps in the market. Furthermore, to gauge the likelihood of respondents buying and using your product, ask about:

• purchase preferences
• pricing
• recommendations
• when, where, and how respondents envision using your product

This can help you know unique opportunities or reveal potential use cases you hadn’t considered.

8. Wrap it up

End with a thank-you message. Moreover, consider inviting participants to join future surveys. Building a panel of engaged respondents can be invaluable for ongoing testing.

Read this blog to learn more about Surveys vs Interviews.

How to create a concept testing survey

Let’s get into the step-by-step process of creating an effective one.

Step 1: Define the objective

Have a clear understanding of your objectives. Are you testing the product concept? Or maybe its features, pricing, or appeal to a certain demographic? Clear goals shape your questions. But most importantly, they ensure you get results that matter.

Suppose you want to test the appeal of a new skincare product. So, your objective might be to understand:

• whether potential customers would be interested in the product
• what features do they value most
• how much they would be willing to pay

Step 2: Identify the target audience

The insights you gather should come from people who are most likely to be interested in your product. Focusing on the right demographic helps you gather feedback directly relevant to your concept’s success. For example:

• If you're testing a concept for a children's toy, your target audience might include parents or guardians of young children. 
• For a B2B software product, your target audience would be business owners or managers in relevant industries.

Step 3: Use a concept testing survey template to design your survey

Using a concept testing survey template can save you time. It also ensures that you include all the necessary elements in your survey. Concept testing survey templates often include standard survey questions and structures that are effective for gathering actionable feedback.

If you prefer to create your own survey, there are plenty of concept testing survey software with drag-and-drop functionality. This eases designing and distributing surveys. 

Step 4: Include relevant concept testing survey questions

The success of your concept testing survey depends on the questions you ask. Your questions should focus on understanding customer interest. They should also explore perceived value and potential barriers. This helps you gather valuable insights for your concept. Some concept testing survey questions examples include:

Purchase intent questions 

• How likely are you to purchase this product if it were available today?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?

Feature preference questions

• Which features of this product are most important to you?
• Would you prefer this product with feature X or feature Y?

Price sensitivity questions

• How much would you be willing to pay for this product?
• Does the price of this product seem reasonable to you?

Step 5: Test and refine before launch

Test your survey with a small group first. Get feedback. Make adjustments. Then, distribute it to your full target audience. This helps identify any confusing questions or technical issues with the survey. After gathering initial feedback, polish your survey. Also, ensure that it’s easy to understand and aligned with your objectives.

Concept testing survey questions

When creating your concept testing survey questions, balance between gathering enough information and keeping the survey concise. Here are some concept testing survey examples that you can use for your own survey:

Understanding appeal

• What is your first impression of this product concept?
• Does this product concept meet your needs or expectations?

Evaluating key features

• Which of the following features do you find most appealing?
• Are there any features you think are missing from this product concept?

Customer feedback

• What would make this product more appealing to you?
• What would prevent you from purchasing this product?

Concept testing survey tools

Some concept testing survey tools are as follows:

• Qualtrics: A comprehensive survey tool for advanced data collection, analysis, and reporting
• Looppanel: A user-friendly platform that helps researchers organize their research and analyze it with ease. It provides you with summarized insights from hundreds or thousands of rows of text in minutes. In addition, you get citations and a number of mentions for each insight, so you can build trust. 

• QuestionPro: A versatile survey tool offering analytics, customizable templates, and real-time feedback collection.
• SurveyMonkey: A survey platform with user-friendly design, customizable templates, and advanced analytics for collecting actionable insights.
• Typeform: Known for its conversational survey style, Typeform offers engaging, interactive forms that enhance response rates and user experience.

These tools offer features like automated reporting, real-time feedback collection, and customizable survey templates.

How to analyze results from concept testing surveys?

The key to analyzing the results is to look for patterns in the data that can help you refine your concept. Looppanel helps analyze customer data. It automates the organization of notes and responses based on interview questions or tags. Consequently, users can efficiently manage and analyze feedback through automatic tagging and affinity mapping. It simplifies the process by providing easy access to insights, enabling users to generate and share reports quickly.

Here's how to approach the analysis:

1. Quantitative analysis

Look at responses to closed-ended questions, like Likert scale ratings. This helps you understand general sentiment. For instance, if 80% of respondents say they would likely buy the product, it shows strong market interest.

2. Qualitative analysis

Review open-ended feedback to uncover additional insights. Pay attention to recurring themes or suggestions for improvement.

3. Segmentation

Segment your responses by demographics. This helps you understand how different groups feel about your concept. For example, one age group might show more interest in your product than others.

Tip: Combine quantitative and qualitative survey analysis to get a holistic view of your concept, blending numbers-driven insights with customer emotions and preferences. This balanced approach helps with data-informed, confident decision-making for your concept's success.

Conclusion

Concept testing surveys help you understand customer preferences.It helps you validate your product ideas before launching. Start by defining clear objectives. Craft thoughtful survey questions. Use the right concept testing survey tools to collect insights. These insights shape your product's success. 

Get valuable feedback with Looppanel’s easy-to-use concept testing surveys. Whether testing a new app, feature, or service, a concept testing survey can save time, money, and resources. Make better decisions and improve your product’s success with real-time insights. Book a demo now!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is an example of concept testing?

An example of concept testing could be a company testing a new soda flavor. Here’s what they do:

1. Present the idea to a target audience. 
2. Ask about taste preference. 
3. Ask how likely people are to buy it. 
4. Inquire about the appeal of the flavor.

2. What are the 6 steps of concept testing?

1. Define the objective of the concept test.

2. Identify the target audience.

3. Develop the concept and survey.

4. Collect and analyze data.

5. Make informed decisions based on the results.

3. What is the concept testing method?

The concept testing method involves presenting a product idea or concept to a target audience and gathering feedback on its appeal, features, and potential demand. This helps businesses refine their concepts before launching.

4. What is the difference between concept testing and product testing?

Concept testing focuses on evaluating the viability of an idea before it’s developed. On the other hand, product testing assesses a finished product’s performance and user satisfaction after development. Concept testing is conducted earlier in the process, but product testing comes later.