Blog - Wirral Sensory Services

Central Location Tests: Gathering Precise Consumer Feedback in Controlled Settings

Launching a successful product hinges on understanding how consumers will truly perceive it. While methods like home use testing offer valuable real-world insights, sometimes you need a more controlled environment to gather precise, unbiased feedback, especially for sensory attributes or when direct observation is key. This is where Central Location Tests (CLTs), often referred to […]

Maximising Insight: Best Practices for Effective Consumer Testing

You understand that listening to your target audience through consumer testing is vital before launching or reformulating a product. It can illuminate preferences, uncover potential issues, and ultimately guide your product towards market success. However, simply conducting any test isn’t enough. The quality and reliability of the insights depend heavily on how the research is […]

The Power of the Panel: Why Trained Experts are Essential for Objective Sensory Profiling

Understanding how a product is perceived through the senses is crucial for success. In that regard, sensory profiling aims to provide an objective, detailed description of a product’s sensory characteristics. Unlike consumer testing, which measures liking and preference, sensory profiling dissects the ‘what’ – the specific attributes and intensities that make up a product’s sensory […]

The Financial Case for Sensory Research: Measuring Testing ROI

Many product development teams view sensory research as simply another expense on their balance sheet. This perspective often leads to minimising or even eliminating crucial testing phases to “save costs” during development without considering the long-term financial implications. The numbers tell a sobering story about product development success rates. According to Nielsen research, approximately 76% […]

Efficacy Testing in the Age of Social Media: Protecting Your Brand from Viral Backlash

Remember when product feedback was mostly limited to focus groups and customer service calls? Those days are long gone. Today, one disappointed customer with a smartphone can create a viral sensation that reaches millions of potential buyers in hours. In this social media landscape, the gap between what your product promises and what it delivers […]

Why Consumer Testing Timing Matters: Strategic Points for Maximum Impact

As a brand, you’ll already understand the importance of creating products that meet the needs and expectations of your target audience. Consumer testing is a well-known critical component of this process, allowing you to gather valuable feedback and insights that inform product development and marketing strategies. But have you given much thought to when you […]

How Home Use Testing Uncovers Real Consumer Behaviour

Laboratory conditions and controlled testing environments serve their purpose, but they rarely capture how consumers truly interact with products in their daily lives. When participants know they’re being observed or feel pressure to provide immediate feedback, their behaviour often changes, leading to insights that may not accurately reflect real-world product use. Home use testing addresses […]

The Impact of Age Demographics on Sensory Testing Results

Your product testing strategy might be missing a crucial element, costing you valuable market insights. While you’re likely considering factors like taste preferences, packaging appeal, and price sensitivity, a fundamental influence often gets overlooked: the age of your test participants. If you’re investing in product testing, you need to understand how age demographics shape sensory […]

Why Consumer Research Fails: Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

The stakes are particularly high in today’s fast-moving consumer goods market. Your competitors are constantly gathering consumer insights, and falling behind on quality research can impact your market position. However, consumer research represents a major investment of your business’s time and resources. Worse, too many projects end up delivering nothing but wasted budget and unusable […]

Bridging the Gap: Using Consumer Research to Align Product Development with Market Demands

Consumer preferences are evolving faster than ever before. What delighted your customers last year might barely interest them today, and tomorrow’s preferences are already taking shape. You’ve likely experienced this firsthand, perhaps watching a previously successful product slowly lose its market position or seeing competitor innovations rapidly capture consumer attention. Yet many businesses continue developing […]

Why Mouthfeel Matters in Sensory Profiling

When developing a new food or beverage product, you might focus primarily on taste and aroma. However, mouthfeel can make the difference between a product’s success in your chosen market and its failure to gain consumer acceptance. This crucial sensory attribute influences not only initial consumer response but also drives repeat purchases and brand loyalty. […]

Cost-Effective Approaches to Product Optimisation

Product optimisation can feel like an expensive luxury, especially when development budgets are under pressure. You might be tempted to skip this crucial step or cut corners to save costs when reformulating your existing products. However, the truth is that well-planned product optimisation can actually save your brand money while significantly increasing your chances of […]

Why Guesswork Doesn’t Work: Scientific Approaches to Fragrance Selection in Product Development

You might think you know what your customers want when it comes to fragrance selection. After all, you understand your brand, your product category, and current market trends. However, with virtually infinite fragrance combinations available, relying on intuition alone is a risky strategy that can lead to costly mistakes in product development. The truth is […]

Why Consumer Acceptance Testing Matters More in Economic Downturns

In times of economic uncertainty, the ways consumers interact with products changes dramatically. You’ll likely have noticed this shift already: from increased price sensitivity to a greater focus on proven quality over experimentation. With inflation continuing to squeeze household budgets and consumer confidence remaining volatile, launching new products or reformulating existing ones carries more risk […]

Listening to Customers: How Consumer Research Creates Products People Actually Want

Consumer research has long been the backbone of successful product development. By tapping into your target audience’s thoughts, preferences, and behaviours, you can create products that truly resonate with them. This approach increases the chances of market success and helps build stronger relationships with your customers. However, many companies still rely on guesswork or internal […]

Quantifying the Impact of Product Changes Through Packaging Research

Your product’s packaging is often the first point of contact between your brand and potential customers. It’s not just a container or a wrapper. Rather, it’s a powerful marketing tool that can make or break a sale. Packaging serves as a silent salesperson, communicating your brand’s values, quality, and uniqueness in the few seconds a […]

What Advantages Does Home Use Testing Provide as a Consumer Research Method?

Understanding how your product performs in real-world settings is crucial in the competitive world of consumer products. While other consumer research methods like focus groups or central location testing can provide valuable insights, they don’t capture how a product fits into a consumer’s daily life. Home use testing (often called HUT) offers unique advantages that […]

How Brands Save Money Through Product Concept Testing

In an industry where launching a new product can be a costly gamble, ensuring that your investment is sound is crucial. Product concept testing is one of the most effective strategies for mitigating financial risks and maximising the chances of success. By validating ideas before they reach the market, brands can save substantial amounts of […]

The Importance of Efficacy Testing in Consumer Trust and Brand Loyalty

As a consumer goods brand, it’s vital to understand that efficacy testing is far more than a box to tick in the product development process. It’s one of the most effective ways to build consumer trust and foster long-term loyalty by scientifically proving that your product delivers on its promises. Customers are more likely to […]

Central Location Testing: Your Top Questions Answered

At Wirral Sensory Services, we’re often asked about Central Location Testing (CLT) and its role in product development and market research. To help you understand this crucial research method, we’ve compiled detailed answers to the most common questions about CLT. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in. What is Central Location Testing? Central Location […]

Sensory Research: Answering the Questions That Drive Product Success

Understanding customer preferences is often the key to product success. That’s why so many companies turn to sensory research – a scientific approach that delves into how our senses influence our perception and enjoyment of products. This methodology has become an indispensable tool for companies striving to create products that not only meet but exceed […]

From Screen to Shelf: Exploring Effective Packaging Research Methodologies

Product packaging is often an underestimated element of product development. However, leading brands understand the crucial role it plays in getting customers to pick their product up off a supermarket shelf over a rival. It’s often the difference between a half-decent product ending up in a shopping trolley and a far superior one gathering dust. […]

Beyond Taste Tests: The Multifaceted World of Sensory Evaluation

When most people think of sensory research in the food and beverage industry, taste tests often come to mind. However, sensory evaluation is far more complex and nuanced than simply determining whether a product tastes good. In fact, sensory research plays a crucial role in developing all kinds of products, including household and personal care […]

Home Use Testing: Your Questions Answered

Understanding how consumers interact with products in their natural environment is crucial in product development. In that regard, perhaps there is no better consumer research method than home use testing. This method allows consumers to trial products in their own homes and gives companies the ability to gather invaluable insights that lab-based testing simply can’t […]

The Hidden Costs of Neglecting Product Optimisation for Food and Beverage Brands

Given the competition and stakes in today’s fiercely competitive food and beverage market, product optimisation cannot be viewed as a mere buzzword. It should be treated as imperative. While many manufacturers understand its importance, some may underestimate the consequences of neglecting this crucial process. Product optimisation isn’t just about tweaking flavours or adjusting packaging; it’s […]

How Brands Leverage Consumer Research to Drive Product Innovation

Brands that want to stay ahead of the curve must put their customers at the heart of everything they do. That means going beyond surface-level assumptions and diving deep into the minds of their target audience. By leveraging the power of consumer research, they can uncover valuable insights that will help them create products that […]

Food Benchmarking

Are your food products meeting consumer expectations and outperforming competitors? How do you know if you’re not testing your offerings against the competition? The answers you seek will likely be found through food benchmarking – a testing process that provides critical insights into the performance and perception of your products in the market. By objectively […]

The Importance of Sensory Testing in Quality Control and Assurance

Sensory testing plays a pivotal role in ensuring that products meet consumer expectations, which is why so many leading companies incorporate it into their quality control and assurance processes. Ensuring sensory consistency within their products ensures companies can drive consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. When customers know what they’re going to get in terms of […]

What Is Efficacy Testing?

In the ever-competitive consumer market, efficacy testing has become a cornerstone for companies striving to establish trust and credibility with their customers. Whether it’s a pharmaceutical company validating the potency of a new drug or a household cleaner brand proving its stain-removal claims, efficacy tests are crucial. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the […]

The Role of Central Location Testing in Launching Successful Products

Launching a successful product is no small feat. It requires careful planning, research, and testing. Central Location Testing (CLT) plays a crucial role in this process. It’s a method used to gather valuable consumer insights before a product hits the market. CLT allows companies to identify potential issues early in the development process. It’s a […]

The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Profiling in Consumer Research

Understanding consumer preferences and behaviors is pivotal for businesses looking to create products that truly resonate with their target market. Sensory profiling, a key component of consumer research, offers invaluable insights into how consumers perceive products through their senses, which can significantly influence their buying decisions. Wirral Sensory Services specialises in leveraging these insights to […]

Consumer Research Services

In today’s highly competitive market, businesses need to deeply understand their target audience to create products that resonate with consumers. Consumer research is a critical tool that helps companies gain valuable insights into consumer preferences, behaviours, and attitudes. Leveraging these insights allows businesses like yours to make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and […]

What Are Some of the Key Challenges of Home Use Testing?

Home use testing, also known as in-home usage testing (IHUT), is a valuable tool for brands seeking real-world product feedback and insights. By allowing consumers to test products in their own homes, brands can gain a deeper understanding of how their products perform in everyday situations and identify areas for improvement. However, while home use […]

In-Home Usage Tests (IHUTs): A Comprehensive Guide for Brands and Consumers

In today’s competitive market, it’s more important than ever for brands to gather feedback from consumers. This feedback helps brands understand their target audience, improve their products, and ultimately increase sales. One effective way to gather this feedback is through in-home usage tests (IHUTs). In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore what IHUTs are, why this popular market research methodology is important for both brands and consumers, and how to conduct a successful IHUT.

The Advantages & Disadvantages of In-Home Usage Tests (IHUTs)

In today’s competitive market, it’s crucial for companies to gather feedback on their products before launching them to the public. One popular method for product testing is the in-home usage test (IHUT). In this blog post, we’ll explore the advantages and disadvantages of IHUTs and why they may or may not be the right choice for your product testing needs.

Why Efficacy Testing Is Essential For Your Products Success

As a product manufacturer, you want to ensure that your products are safe and effective for your customers. This is especially important for products that are used on the skin, such as hand sanitizers. One way to ensure the safety and effectiveness of your products is through efficacy testing. Efficacy testing stands as a crucial milestone and is a pivotal process that can determine a product’s fate in the market. In this blog post, we will discuss why efficacy testing is essential for your product’s success.

How Home Use Testing Is Redefining Consumer Research

Consumer research is a crucial aspect of any business, as it provides valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and needs. Traditionally, consumer research has been conducted through surveys, focus groups, and in-store testing. However, with the rise of technology and changing consumer habits, a new method of consumer research has emerged: home use testing. In this blog post, we will explore what home use testing is, how it is redefining consumer research, and why it is becoming an essential tool for businesses.

Your Quick Guide to Efficacy Testing for Cosmetic Products

Efficacy testing is more important in the cosmetic industry than almost any other. It doesn’t just ensure that a product works. It also validates the promises made to consumers. When you’re marketing a cosmetic product and make claims like “reduces fine lines” or “intense hydration,” it’s efficacy testing that provides the evidence behind these statements. As a brand, efficacy testing builds trust, assures quality, and sets the foundation for transparent communication with consumers.

Mistakes Brands Should Avoid When Product Concept Testing

Product concept testing is pivotal in brand development, offering invaluable insights into potential product viability and consumer preferences. However, while the process can be a game-changer for many brands, it’s not without its challenges. All too often, brands stumble into pitfalls that can skew results and lead to misguided decisions. With that in mind, let’s delve into some of the most common mistakes brands make during product concept testing and offer guidance on how to sidestep them.

The Value of Home Use Testing for Personal Care Products

The personal care industry is a competitive landscape, constantly evolving to meet the ever-changing needs and preferences of consumers. In this fast-paced environment, product testing has become a crucial aspect of product development and marketing. One method that has gained popularity for its effectiveness and practicality is home use testing (sometimes referred to as HUT).

The Success of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte: A Case Study in Sensory Research

Sensory research is pivotal in product development and marketing, providing invaluable insights into consumer preferences and behaviours. By analysing the sensory experiences of consumers, businesses can create products that not only meet but exceed customer expectations, ultimately driving sales and fostering brand loyalty.

What Is Product Testing?

Product testing is essential before launching any new product. Consider it the last dress rehearsal before the big performance. Proper testing ensures that your product is prepared to enter the market in its best shape, whether it’s a brand-new laundry stain remover, vacuum cleaner or a new flavour of soft drink.

Guide To Product Concept Testing

Product concept testing is an early market research technique that increases the likelihood that you will introduce a product that consumers will be eager to buy. Early on, you test a product’s feasibility with its target audience, and you make adjustments to it based on their comments and the data acquired from concept testing.

Personalised Palates: The Role of Sensory Evaluation in Customised Food & Drink Experiences

In today’s consumer-driven landscape, the pursuit of personalised experiences has significantly transformed the way we approach food and beverages. Consumers are no longer satisfied with a one-size-fits-all approach; they seek unique, customised experiences catering to their tastes, dietary requirements, and lifestyle choices.

How Efficacy Testing is a Key Driver in Lean Product Development

In the challenging landscape of product development, efficiency and effectiveness are paramount. To achieve these outcomes, companies must create products that serve their intended purpose and streamline their development process to minimise waste and maximise value.

Smelling Success: Olfactory Perception in Sensory Evaluation

Few of our senses can evoke powerful memories and emotions quite like our sense of smell. From the comforting scent of freshly baked bread to the invigorating aroma of freshly cut grass, our olfactory experiences profoundly impact our lives. It’s no surprise, then, that understanding and harnessing these experiences are critical in product development across various industries. Welcome to the fascinating world of olfactory perception in sensory evaluation, a realm where science and sentiment blend seamlessly to shape how we perceive and interact with products.

Why Brands Should Take a More Holistic Approach to Product Concept Testing

In the multifaceted process of product development, concept testing is a critical stage that often focuses solely on the product itself. However, in the modern consumer landscape, other elements surrounding the product – such as branding, packaging, and marketing strategies – hold significant sway in a product’s overall success. Consequently, as a brand, you need to take a more holistic approach, one that encompasses these vital extra-product elements. So, let’s explore holistic product concept testing in more detail and what it means for you as a brand developing products.

Food Concept Testing: How to Validate Your Next Delicious Idea

Food concept testing is an essential part of the product development process in the food industry. It involves gathering feedback from potential customers to evaluate a new food product’s viability before investing time and resources into its production. By conducting concept testing, food companies can identify potential flaws in their product ideas and make necessary adjustments to ensure they meet consumers’ needs and preferences. This comprehensive guide will examine how you conduct this type of product research. But first, let’s weigh the pros and cons of going down this route before launch.

How Sensory Evaluation Aids in Sustainable Product Development

While you may not have thought it, sensory evaluation and sustainability are actually interconnected aspects of product development that contribute to a product’s overall success and environmental impact. The connection between sensory evaluation and sustainability lies in consumer acceptance, preference, and perception of sustainable products, which all combine to significantly influence their adoption rate and market success.

7 Tips for Conducting Successful Home Use Testing with Consumers

Home use testing is an established market research tool, enabling companies to gather valuable insights into consumer behaviour and preferences in real-life situations. However, companies need to follow best practices to ensure that their testing produces reliable results and accurate insights.

Sensory Evaluation Case Studies: How Top Brands Have Honed Their Products

In the competitive world of consumer goods, sensory evaluation plays a crucial role in developing and refining products that stand out from the crowd. As our senses greatly influence our purchasing decisions, understanding and optimising the sensory attributes of a product is vital for success.

Sensory Evaluation

Wirral Sensory Services are one of the UK’s leading providers of sensory evaluation services. Our expert panellists boast excellent acuity and sensory perception, and our in-house research team can provide a tailored service to suit your needs. But, just in case you’re wondering if sensory evaluation is something your brand might want to pursue, it’s […]

Sensory Testing: The Key to Developing Competitive Products in the Food Industry

Food products must taste good, look appealing, and have the right texture to succeed. That’s why so many brands turn to sensory testing. In short, it helps food manufacturers understand how consumers will perceive their products by evaluating the sensory properties of the food, such as appearance, taste, aroma, and texture.

What Aspects of Food Products are Measured During a Sensory Taste Test?

When developing and marketing food products, ensuring that they appeal to consumers is essential. Many factors will influence a purchasing decision, including the food’s packaging and taste. This is where sensory taste testing comes in. In short, it’s one of the most effective methods to evaluate the sensory characteristics of a food product.

The Importance of Consumer Research in Understanding Customer Needs

Understanding customer needs is crucial for any brand because it helps them develop products that meet the preferences and expectations of their target audience. For instance, if you’re a food or drink brand, conducting consumer research allows you to better identify your customers’ taste preferences, dietary requirements, and lifestyle choices.

5 Ways You Can Utilise the Results of a Sensory Taste Test

Sensory taste tests are a vital part of developing and evaluating food and drink products. They deliver a wide range of insights influencing product decisions, from flavour and taste profiles to texture and appearance.

Consumer Research

All market-leading products depend on consumer research to achieve success. Without consumer feedback, companies can’t make informed decisions about their products either before launch or after they’ve been on the market for a while.

Sensory Taste Test

When developing a market-leading food or beverage product, you must gather all the data you can to ensure success. While you might well spend time on packaging research and get focus groups together to help refine your product, you should also pay attention to flavour and texture.

Sensory Services

Sensory services are key in the development of successful products, particularly in the food and beverage industry. By investigating, measuring, and reporting how consumers interact with products, we can help you to design and improve products to better meet consumer needs.

5 Benefits of Working with Wirral Sensory Services

Research is a vital part of the product development process. From gauging product acceptance to evaluating flavour profiles versus leading competitors, research is an essential tool for any brand looking to succeed in the marketplace.

Which Feedback Methods Are Available with Home Use Product Testing?

Home use product testing offers brands developing products numerous advantages. From observing how a product performs within its intended environment to studying unscripted user behaviour, this type of testing provides brands with a wealth of feedback that can be used to improve product design and functionality.

What Can Your Brand Expect as Part of a Sensory Research Service?

If you’re a startup or established brand looking to secure increased market share, you need to understand your target audience’s preferences. At Wirral Sensory Services, our range of sensory research services help you do just that.

Which Products Are Best Suited to a Home Use Product Testing Service?

Home use product testing is a cornerstone consumer research methodology for many industries. Home use product tests are a type of consumer research in which products are sent to consumers’ homes for them to test in their everyday environment. This allows manufacturers to get feedback on how their products perform in the real world, as opposed to a controlled laboratory setting.

Who is an Efficacy Testing Service Most Useful For? Brands or Consumers?

When trying to prove the effectiveness of a product, using an efficacy testing service is an obvious choice. But who does this type of testing benefit the most? Is it more useful for brands to test their products before releasing them to the public, gathering data, assessing performance, and making changes based on the findings?

Taste Testing Companies

Taste testing is a vital component of consumer research for food and beverage companies. It allows manufacturers to identify potential problems with their products, gauge consumer acceptance, and make necessary adjustments prior to widespread distribution.

Sensory Testing

Sensory testing is a vital component of product development for many leading brands. It allows manufacturers to assess how a product will be perceived by consumers and make necessary adjustments before it hits the market. Sensory testing can provide invaluable insights into consumer preferences and help ensure that products meet or exceed customer expectations.

5 Things You Need to Know About Home Use Product Testing

Home use product testing is an excellent way to develop critical insights about how a product will perform once it hits store shelves. In some cases, it can even revive a failing product by allowing manufacturers to better understand how customers interact with it.

What Packaging Research Reveals About the Colour of Your Brand’s Products

The colour of your packaging plays an integral role in the way consumers perceive your product. In fact, 85% of customers buy products based on colour alone. And yet, many companies overlook the importance of colour in their packaging design.

What Are Some of the Most Common Sensory Testing Methodologies?

Sensory testing plays a vital role in the development of food products. It helps ensure that products are appealing to consumers and that they contain many of the traits of current market leaders.

How Sensory Testing Helps in the Development of Plant-Based Food Products

With a 30-fold increase in the number of vegans over the last 15 years, food brands are now in a race to tap into this ever-growing market. And while there’s been an explosion of plant-based products, from vegan cheese to plant-based meat, the development of plant-based foods replicating the full range of textures and flavours that we associate with animal-based foods is still lacking.

5 Tips for Conducting Consumer Research with Children and Young People

Plenty of home, food, and beverage products focus almost exclusively on the under-18 market. Items, including yoghurts, cereals, and toys, are all heavily advertised to children, so it’s no surprise that companies want to know what young consumers think about their products and how to make them even better.

What Are The Advantages Of Home Use Testing?

Home use testing (HUT), or in-home use testing (iHUT) as it’s often referred to, describes the process of using a product in a target consumer’s home and gathering feedback concerning a product’s performance in its intended setting.

What is a Blind Taste Test?

When conducting consumer testing, blind taste tests are a valuable tool in gathering consumer feedback without being influenced by other factors such as branding, price, packaging etc. In a blind taste test, participants are given products to sample without knowing which brand they are trying. This allows testers to focus purely on the taste, smell, and texture of the product in order to make an unbiased judgement.

Who Carries Out Sensory Testing?

Sensory testing is an integral part of product development in the food and beverage industries. The process helps establish the sensory profile of a product and can identify potential off-flavours or other sensory defects.

5 Elements To Look Out For When Choosing A Consumer Product Testing Company

When carrying out consumer research, the chances are that you’ll need to enlist the services of an experienced consumer testing company to ensure that the process is conducted smoothly and to the highest possible standards. However, with so many different consumer testing companies to choose from, it can be tricky to decipher which one will be the best fit for your brand.

What is Product Optimisation?

No food manufacturer or beverage brand should ever stand still. Even if you currently hold the position of market leader, without continuous and ongoing product optimisation, you will lose the top spot to another brand carrying out this vital exercise.

5 Reasons Why Your Brand Should Commit to Ongoing Product Testing

While sales might be indicative of your product’s performance, how can you really tell if your product is meeting customer expectations and delivering on its promises? Product testing is one of the best ways to dig much deeper into your performance and gain valuable feedback to help you assess and improve your product.

How Home Use Testing Saved One of the World’s Most Successful Products

Back in the early 1990s, the world’s largest consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble, was busy working on a new product. It was a spray that would completely eliminate bad odours. From wet dog stenches to the lingering smell of cigarette smoke, Febreze was meant to become a revolutionary golden-goose product that would bring in billions of dollars of revenue to the company every year. In the end, it did. But only thanks to the intervention of home use testing. So, with that in mind, let’s look at how one of the world’s most successful products nearly didn’t make it.

Should You Ever Rename Your Product?

Renaming a product is something that food and beverage manufacturers consider from time to time. Sometimes it’s the right thing to do. By contrast, there are other circumstances whereby renaming a product is likely to have negative consequences and potential knock-on effects for your wider brand.

Your Quick Guide to Successful Product Claims

Making your product stand out on the shelf is more challenging than ever. With as much as 85% of household shopping derived from repeat purchases, it’s become harder than ever to convince consumers to switch to your food or drink product from their current preferences.

The Four Steps Required for Developing a Winning Product Concept

When developing new products, there’s a massive difference between thinking you have a winning product concept and knowing you do. With extensive product concept testing, you could be pouring significant resources into a project that is doomed from the start.

Why Taste is So Vital for Food Products

Did you know that of 12,000 food product launches across Europe, 76% fail to retain their listing after 12 months? Worse, as many as two-thirds even fail to reach the milestone of 10,000 units sold. If you’re in the final stages of launching a new product or revamping an existing one, those statistics make brutal reading.

Taste Testing Company

When developing food and drink products, taste plays a pivotal role in consumer acceptance. That’s why leading food brands and manufacturers team up with taste testing companies to gather crucial insights into how their products perform within target demographics before investing in production or marketing campaigns.

Sensory Food Testing

Sensory testing (or sensory profiling as it’s often referred to) involves the objective evaluation of food (and beverage) products based on the five senses. Rather than using members of the public, sensory food testing required trained panellists who evaluate products based on sensory factors such as smell and taste.

How To Make Your Product’s Rebrand A Success

Rebranding, renaming or revamping existing products can be a worthwhile endeavour for products in desperate need of a new lease of life or a significant sales boost. But rebranding is not without risk, and getting it wrong can be incredibly costly both in terms of brand reputation and resources spent. Even the biggest brand names in the world have made costly errors before, as we shall now explain.

How Packaging Redesign Blunders Cost These Leading Brands Millions

Packaging research is a crucial component of product development. Yet, this vital phase of branding (and rebranding) is often overlooked, creating enormous issues for the brands that didn’t carry out consumer testing correctly.

The Challenges Of Central Location Testing

Central location testing (CLT) is a vital piece of the puzzle for brands looking to gain consumer insights into their products. CLT is a qualitative market research approach in which research takes place in a specific, controlled environment such as a testing lab, restaurant, shopping center, department store or other suitable locations where the brand wants to have a presence.

Product Concept Testing

Product concept testing is an early market research method that maximises the odds of you launching a product that people want to purchase. You explore the viability of a product with its target consumer early on and improve its development from the feedback and data acquired from the testing.

How Consumer Taste Tests Boost Your Brand’s Product Performance

Consumer testing forms one of the cornerstones underpinning any leading brand’s success. For those competing in the food and beverage industry, consumer taste tests, in particular, provide vital data and insights that can give your brand an edge over the competition. With that in mind, let’s look in more detail at why consumer taste tests often hold the key to success for consumer products.

3 Reasons Why Product Concept Testing is So Important

History is littered with mistakes made by brands launching products without conducting the necessary research. Who can forget the launch of the “New Coke” in the 1980s (which lasted all of two weeks) or the flop that was Google Glass? The latter example proves that even the most innovative of companies can badly miss the mark with their consumers.

What Are the Most Common Types of Food Product Testing?

When bringing a food product to market, there are a whole host of product testing methods you could undertake before reaching the launch stage. But which ones are the most important and therefore used the most? In this post, we’ll take a look at the product testing methods you are most likely to use on your new or reformulated food product.

Why Carry Out Consumer Testing?

Consumer testing is a vital part of developing industry-leading products, yet many fledgling brands try to bring a product to market without conducting any. Even established brands can make the mistake of not thoroughly carrying out consumer testing on a reformulated product and become shocked when the relaunch doesn’t go to plan (remember the “New Coke” disaster of the 1980s?).

What Is The Point Of Product Benchmarking?

Product benchmarking is a vital process that ensures your product is up to scratch. Yet, despite its importance, many brands forgo this vital aspect of consumer research. So with that in mind, let’s examine product benchmarking in more detail and explain why, when executed correctly, it can help your brand deliver a product that is head and shoulders above competitors.

What Are The Different Types Of Central Location Testing?

Central location testing is a vital piece of the puzzle for brands looking to gain consumer insights into their products. They tend to occur in neutral environments such as shopping centres, department stores, or other locations where the brand wants to have a presence.

3 Reasons You Should Put Your Product Through Efficacy Testing

Home While you might think that your product offers enhanced performance or lasts longer, you cannot make claims regarding those thoughts without first carrying out robust studies to provide evidential proof. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) strictly prohibits making unsubstantiated claims in marketing materials (including product packaging). As a consequence, your brand will rely on […]

What Are the Advantages of Central Location Testing?

Home Central location testing is a method of consumer market research that takes place in a controlled environment as opposed to an individual’s home, as is the case within home use product tests. By conducting product research with potential consumers in this manner, brands can secure a number of advantages. With that in mind, let’s […]

What Is Sensory Research?

Home Sensory research is a vital part of consumer product research methodology. And yet, many brands still don’t realise that it’s not always technically part of consumer research since many sensory research methods depend on the work of trained panellists and research scientists. Therefore, with that in mind, this article will run through precisely what […]

Why Choose Home Use Product Testing?

Home Home usage testing or in-home use testing (iHUT), if you prefer, is a product research method that allows brands to monitor the performance of their products within their intended environments. By allowing would-be consumers to put their new or revamped products through their paces, brands can gain deeper insights into how their products function […]

Taste Testing

Whether you’re a startup launching a new product or an established internal brand looking to improve your products, taste testing is a great way to gain critical insights and feedback from potential customers. Not only can you gauge how well your product is likely to perform when compared to the competition, but you can also […]

Central Location Testing

Over the years, businesses have come to understand the importance of conducting thorough market research before launching a new or improved product. But, of course, there’s plenty to choose from when it comes to consumer research methods. The most suitable one for your brand depends on factors such as the nature of your product and […]

Sensory Profiling

Great-tasting food products do not just appear out of thin air. Before a best-selling food or beverage product reaches the supermarket or retail shelves, it’s always subjected to sensory profiling and taste testing. Sensory profiling is an essential part of the testing and development process of food and beverage products. It is an impartial research […]

How Does Sensory Research Differ from Consumer Research?

To turn your great idea into a profitable product, you’ll need time and the support of experts. While some brands only conduct market research before launching the products, successful brands include sensory research before launching new and improved products onto the market. So, why should you invest in sensory research? Below we provide a guide […]

Food Tasting Research: What’s Involved?

Home Food tasting research is essential for your product’s success. Every year over 300,000 businesses fail in the UK. However, some brands still choose to rush onto supermarket shelves without conducting appropriate food tasting research. Often, their products do not make their way into consumer’s shopping trolleys. Without prior research, they may never find […]

What Are Some of the Different Types of Consumer Testing?

Home In 2020, UK citizens spent over £250m more on groceries each week than in previous years. To take advantage of current consumer spending trends, your product must meet, and in most cases, exceed customer expectations. Consumer testing gives brands the insight they need to develop high-quality products. This form of product testing includes research […]

Central Location Testing vs Home Use Testing: Which is Right for Your Brand?

Home While no brand ever sets out to fail, hundreds of UK food and beverage brands do just that every year. Many of the failures occur because brands simply aren’t meeting their target audience’s expectations. Whether your product packaging is too dull or the taste is too bland, you won’t know what consumers think unless […]

Which Products Benefit From Efficacy Testing

Home Before a product is launched, it must undergo a rigorous testing process to measure its effectiveness. Efficacy testing gives brands the evidence and the certainty that the product will perform as advertised in marketing materials. Some food, beverage, household product brands view efficacy testing as a burden and try to launch products without scientifically […]

Sensory Profiling vs Taste Testing: What’s the Difference?

Home Creating a high-quality product that the market will respond to requires input from experts. Whether you are a startup or an established brand, it is essential to invest in product research that gives you the certainty you need to produce a product that will thrive in your chosen market. With so many research options […]

How to Create Industry-Leading Products With Product Optimisation

Every year thousands of products are introduced to the UK market, but less than 3% of those products will enjoy a successful launch. To overcome the barriers to entry in mature markets, companies have had to find innovative ways to stand out from the crowded grocery store shelf.

Prove Your Product’s Effectiveness with Efficacy Testing

Before launching a functional product, such as deodorant, it is essential to measure its effectiveness. Measuring a functional product’s level of efficacy allows brands to make substantive claims about their product’s performance supported by scientific research.

What Is Central Location Testing?

Home According to researchers, food manufacturers waste more than £30.4 billion a year on failed product launches. However, thorough market research methods, such as central location testing and packaging research, can reduce the likelihood of failing with a new product launch. Central location testing is essential for your product’s success, as it will provide you […]

What Are Some Of The Different Research Methods Involved In Food Testing?

Food testing is an essential part of the successful launch of any new food product. Market research is essential for food companies because this is one of the most competitive consumer markets.