Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

When Should We Test?

I was recently asked by a student, "When is the best time to test?"  I initially thought he meant time of day.  But actually he was asking when in the development process of an idea was the best time to test.  My response was that basically testing should be a continuous process as long as you are in business.

Assuming you are in business or even about to enter a market, you should be monitoring and testing your competition's products.  That should be a basic part of your Market Analysis and Competitive Intelligence programs.

Exploratory Stage

You should always have a Future Opportunities program in place where you are actively looking to the needs, wants and desires of the consumer.  There are a broad range of long-range methods in this area using different protocols, ranging form questionnaires, Focus Groups and One-on-Ones.

If you already have a product in place, you will want to utilize short term opportunity protocols such as Category Improvement Research and Brand Improvement.  In past Views, I have covered research methods in both areas.  You can find them at the Sorensen Web Site www.mrlibrary.com.  Just click on Views and use the search engine provided.  One cheap, fast and effective method for Brand Improvement is the Negative Brand Share Technique (NBS).

After uncovering ideas for new market introductions, line or version extensions or a brand improvement, you will want to create a word description and vision of the new product for idea evaluation and product development.  As this initiative moves from a product to a brand, you will want to explore the words and phrases that describe and position the brand.  One of my methods of choice for evaluating potential and exploring words, phrases and scenarios is the technique "Sequential Point Assessment in Concept Evaluation (SPACE) which is also covered in an essay on the web site mentioned above.  (See September 27, 1994 )

Experimental Stage

Once there is a product (note it is product not a brand at this stage), you will want to determine the extent to which it lives up to the promises.  This step in Product Development usually utilizes a "Concept & Use" protocol.  In this phase of development a great deal of laboratory testing is used to maximize the effectiveness of the new product.  Within this phase, we would also explore the basic physical properties and packaging.

Evaluative Stage

As the product moves from the product stage of the launch model, you enter the Brand Development stage.  In this time frame, we look to develop the positioning and image of the brand.  At this stage, we will be working heavily on the aesthetics of the brand along with the copy to appear in the promotions and on the package.  During this stage, it is advisable to conduct a Dress Rehearsal of the brand before market introduction.  With a new product failure rate of 90% in the first 12 months of a brand, it is wise to utilize a sound method to evaluate the viability of the new brand.  My choice of methods i the "Disposable Test Market" (DTM) method.

Brand Maintenance

Once the new brand hits the market, early readings of sales, image, awareness and distribution need to be obtained.  I have also found that it is advisable to determine if the distribution is as expected.  I have seen good brands fail when after six months, it was expected that there would be a 75% market distribution when actually we had only achieved 35%.  Sales figures did not reach expectation and the project was killed.

Bottom Line

A better question form the student should have been, "When do we stop testing?"  We stop testing when we decide to get out of the business and not before.

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