Services
Our Services
Here at WSS, we know that no two projects are the same when it comes to sensory and consumer research. That’s why we offer a full spectrum of services. Regardless of whether you simply want to gauge consumer liking with an independent audience, or optimise your products with a full program of sensory and consumer testing, we are on hand to help.
Taste Testing
Taste Testing is the process of consumers assessing your product along with those of your competitors in order to find out where your product ranks is in terms of consumer preference.
Sensory Profiling
Sensory Profiling uses trained panellists to assess products against their key parameters. This research takes the ‘liking’ out of the analysis, focusing instead on assessing products through objective measurements of each key parameter.
Product Optimisation
This technique links consumer research to sensory profiling. Correlation of consumer research and sensory data enables the identification of key drivers for consumer acceptance and allows us to create a profile for a ‘Gold Standard’ product.
Online Research
Online research is a valuable research method when identifying and exploring concept development or brand awareness. Through the use of visual representations of new product packaging for example, you can identify if consumers like the mock-up, their general opinions and ways to which it can be improved.
Focus Group Study
The art of qualitative research is to explore the reasons why consumers say and think as they do. The most common form of qualitative research is through focus group sessions. These sessions typically involve 8 respondents who discuss research topics in detail for a period of up 2 hours.
Children’s Testing
The majority of our research with children is conducted through home use tests. Whether assessing food and beverage products, toys, games or personal care products, we can provide feedback directly from your target audience.
Claim Support
Claim support is a very useful tool for increasing consumer awareness of your product as well as increasing sales. Consumer endorsements of your products can mean the difference between shoppers picking your product off the shelf or choosing that of a competitor.
Packaging Research
Packaging Research is a fundamental part of any product. If you do not stand out on the shelf then a customer is less likely to pick out your product, especially if it’s unfamiliar to them. Generally, packaging will tell consumers what they can expect to find within, so it pays to make sure each packaging option conveys the intended message.
Branding
The power of a good brand name is evident wherever you look. We all know of traditional brands that appear in consumer’s baskets in every weekly shop, so it pays to make sure that your brand, as well as your products, is popular with your core consumers.
Efficacy Testing
Prior to launching a functional product it is essential to know how effective it is. Measuring the level of efficacy allows for substantive claim support such as “offers 24hr protection”.
Fragrance Technology
Fragrance plays an integral part in determining consumer acceptability of a product. Perfumes play many roles; masking unpleasant base odours, providing hedonically pleasing fragrances, and perhaps most important of all, reinforcing brand image and positioning.