In the early stages of a new product development effort, the first goal is to generate as many new product ideas as possible. Typically 50 to 100 or more new product ideas result from early-stage brainstorming. The next crucial step is to evaluate these embryonic ideas and decide which of them are good enough to be developed further.

How Does ConceptScreen® Work?

The structure of ConceptScreen® allows for the comparison of many different concepts to each other. Typically, 10 to 20 early-stage concepts are tested together as a group. That is, each respondent sees and evaluates every concept.

A representative sample of 200 to 300 target-audience consumers are recruited to review and evaluate the concepts. Each respondent sees all of the concepts twice. The respondent first reviews all of the concepts but does not rate them. The second time that respondents see each concept, they are asked to answer four questions about each one.

The answers to these four questions are fed into a mathematical model that computes an overall score for each concept. The score of all of the test concepts can be compared to the scores of the control concepts to estimate which of the test concepts are likely to do well in the marketplace.

The results from ConceptCheck® can give you a better idea of the needs and desires of consumers, so you can refine the new product concept to improve its chances of success-before going to a full-blown, predictive concept test. ConceptCheck® includes verbatim "why" responses from respondents on the new product concepts.

How Does ConceptCheck® Work?

Each concept is tested monadically. That is, each respondent sees and evaluates only one concept. Qualified respondents are invited to Decision Analyst’s encrypted website to participate in the survey. A total of 75 target-audience consumers are asked to review and evaluate the concept. Each respondent has continuous access to the concept. The respondents see the concept then they are asked to answer several questions about it. The questionnaire includes some standard closed-end questions, as well as a series of open-ended questions to determine how the concept could be improved.

Since one of the main purposes of ConceptCheck® is to enrich and flesh out a concept, the report contains the verbatim results of all open-ended questions and insightful diagnostic feedback based off of normative data from the closed-ended questions. ConceptCheck® results provide a "directional" estimate of a concepts probable effectiveness as well as, guiding the creative development of the concept.

Our predictive mathematical model calculates an overall SuccessScore® for each concept, based on a number of important variables. This score is then compared to our action standards to determine if the new product concept warrants further development.

How Does ConceptTest™ Work?

A representative sample of consumers is invited to Decision Analyst's encrypted web server to view the new product concept and complete a battery of questions and diagnostic ratings. Recommended sample size is 300. Each concept is tested monadically (i.e., no respondent evaluates more than one concept). Then the respondents complete a battery of questions and diagnostic ratings about the concept. The results are tabulated and then fed into the predictive mathematical model that calculates an overall SuccessScore®. This score is compared to our action standards for successful new products.

The SuccessScore® Model

This predictive mathematical model calculates an overall SuccessScore® for the new product concept, based on the following variables:

• Trial Interest
• Purchase Intent
• Expected Frequency of Purchase
• Uniqueness Rating
• Pricing Reactions
• Value Rating
• Category Breadth