The secrets of good product testing

Based on 30 years of marketing research experience that spans thousands of research projects, I am convinced that product testing is the single most valuable marketing research that most companies ever do. The great value of product testing is perhaps best illustrated by its many uses. It can be used to:-- achieve product superiority over competitive products;-- continuously improve product performance and customer satisfaction (i.e., maintain product superiority, especially as consumer tastes evolve over time);-- monitor the potential threat levels posed by competitive products and understand competitive strengths and weaknesses;-- cost-reduce product formulations and/or processing methods, while maintaining product superiority;-- measure the effects of aging on product quality (shelf-life studies);-- implicitly measure the effects of brand, price, brand name or packaging on perceived product performance/quality;-- provide guidance to research and development in developing new products or upgrading existing products;-- monitor product quality from different factories, through different channels of distribution, from year to year; and-- predict consumer acceptance of new products.Companies committed to rigorous product testing and continuous product improvement can, in most instances, achieve product superiority over their competitors. Product superiority, in turn, helps strengthen brand share, magnifies the positive effects of all marketing activities (advertising, promotion, selling) and often allows the superior product to command a premium price relative to competitors.Most companies, unfortunately, do very little product testing. Few companies really understand the power of continuous product improvement and product testing. Even fewer know how to do product testing the right way. Fewer still budget enough money to support a serious product-testing program. These shortcomings in most companies, of course, create opportunities for the few firms dedicated to continuous product improvement. How can companies realize optimal value from product testing?