Product Development

New products are often expensive to develop and they frequently fail in the marketplace. New product development teams would like to know sooner rather than later whether their concept is viable, its strengths and weaknesses, and how best to communicate the product's value proposition to potential customers. Marketing research can contribute to the efficiency and success of the new product development process at several critical points.

Maritz approaches New Product Development Research with the belief that there are seven areas where research intervention can assist at key points in the new product development process.

Concept screening
When many possible products could be developed, but resources exist to support the development of only a few, concept screening can help distinguish more from less promising ideas. In this way marketers can focus resources on the product concepts most deserving of further development.

Concept testing
Once one or a few promising concepts have been more fully developed, concept testing can help quantify each one's strengths and weaknesses. Concept tests can also identify which concepts are more appealing than others to target customers or to different segments of customers.

Concept optimisation
Concept optimisation quantifies the tradeoffs customers are willing to make in terms of product features.

Price sensitivity research
Price sensitivity research can help answer these questions:

Will it be more profitable to have a premium price relative to the category leader, a parity price or a discounted price?
How low does our price have to be to make us the category share leader?
Will we get enough additional volume to make up in total margin a 10% decrease in price?

Portfolio optimization
When a manufacturer already has products competing in a category and the new product is intended to augment them, a portfolio optimization study can be invaluable. A new strong new product that cannibalizes its sister products may be less profitable to a manufacturer than a weaker product that appeals to competitors' customers.

Naming research
Closer to launch, naming research can help insure that the product name is appealing, memorable, and not confusing. It can also test whether the name reinforces or muddles the new product's positioning.

Message optimisation
Often there are many ways to describe a product and its benefits. Through message optimisation, the optimal combination of message elements can be put forth in the limited space of a marketing communication like an ad, a brochure, a website or a package.

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