Use caseLaunch a new product
Carry one defined set of target buyers through every launch decision, from the concept to the name, the price and the message, and go to market knowing each choice was tested on the people you plan to sell to.
Between the first concept and launch day, a product team, a brand agency, finance and sales each make a call the launch depends on, usually weeks apart.
The brief defines the target buyer down to the product they use today, and that same profile is recruited for every study in the plan, every participant screened for fraud, so the name study hears the same kind of buyer the concept study did.
Concept, name, price and message are scheduled as four studies against the launch calendar, each timed to the meeting where that decision is made, so no decision is taken on evidence gathered for another.
Interviews run without calls to schedule and the report builds as each one finishes, so when a late question lands, such as a rival's price move or a legal change to a claim, the launch team gets buyer evidence before the decision closes.
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GrowwThe outputs follow the launch past its date, from the plan's decisions to the sales floor to the first weeks on the market.
Each study closes with the decision it was run to make, such as which concept goes to development or which name goes to legal, written beside the buyer reasons for it and the doubts still open.
The message study shows which claims buyers found believable and which drew doubt, so the sales team launches with a short list of claims it can stand behind and a note of the ones to avoid.
In the first weeks on the market, people who bought and quickly stopped are asked what they expected and what let them down, which tells the product team what the second release has to fix.
Understand how people interpret, value and respond to a new product, service or feature concept, before you invest in building it.
Research for a new product follows the launch sequence. Concept testing comes first, giving target buyers a short, neutral description of each idea and measuring appeal, believability and purchase intent to show which deserves development. Naming and message testing then refine how the product will be described, and pricing research estimates what buyers will pay and how demand changes with price. Each stage narrows risk before a larger commitment, with development money following the concept test and campaign money following the message test. Samples include people who currently buy a competitor, since they are the customers a launch most needs to win, and pairing each score with interviews explains the preference behind it. The last check before launch confirms that the finished message still carries the benefit the concept promised.
The support team faces launch week with questions nobody has asked yet. Transcripts from the concept and message studies point to the passages buyers found confusing, so support can write its answers before the first ticket arrives.
Some defined buyers say they will wait until others have tried a new product. Asked whose verdict they would wait for, a trade reviewer, a creator, a colleague who bought first, they tell the launch team where the early samples should go.
The first buyers of something new are often enthusiasts who forgive rough edges. The screener can split enthusiasts from mainstream buyers of the same profile, so the plan knows whether the message that wins the first wave will carry the second.