What Research Is Best to Test New Product Development Efforts?

October 20th, 2020
Rich Raquet | Chairman, TRC
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A few times a week I get the privilege of talking to an inventor/entrepreneur. The products they call about range from pet toys to sophisticated electronic devices. But they all have one thing in common — they want a proof of concept for their invention. In most cases they want it in order to attract investors or to sell their invention to corporate entities.
Of course, unlike our fortune 500 clients, they also have limited budgets. They’ve often tapped their savings testing prototypes and to trying get a patent so they are weary of spending a lot to do consumer research. Even though only about a third of these conversations end up in our doing work for them, I enjoy them all.
First off, it is fun educating people on the various tools available for studying concepts. I typically start off telling them about the range of techniques from simple concept evaluations (like our Idea Audit) to more complex conjoint studies. I succinctly outline the additional learning you get as the budget increases. These little five to ten minute symposiums help me become better at talking about what we do.
Second, talking to someone as committed to a product as an inventor is infectious. They can articulate exactly how they intend to use the results in a way that some corporate researchers can’t (because they are not always told). While some of their needs are pretty typical (pricing research for example), others are very unique. I enjoy trying to find a range of solutions for them (from various new product research methods) that will answer the question at a budget they can afford.
In many cases, I even steer them away from research. For many inventions something like Kickstarter is all they need. In essence the market decides if the concept has merit. If that is all they need then why waste money on primary research? My hope is that they succeed and return to us when they have more sophisticated needs down the road.
Of course, I particularly enjoy it when the inventor engages us for market research plan for new products. Often the product is different than anything else we’ve researched and there is just something special about helping out a budding entrepreneur. The fact that these engagements make us better researchers for our corporate research clients is just a bonus.