Insights for strong, successful products and services

    Quickly identify products and features that have a high probability of success
    Identify the products and features customers want
    Identify how best to talk about your products and features – messages that work
    Identify the right pricing
    Understand the benefit
    behind the features

    Understand how your product stacks up against the competition

    The

    approach

    The most successful products are those that truly solve a problem

    But too many start the process by designing a set of features.
    • Customers don’t care about features
    • Customers don’t care about how good you are
    • Customers don’t care about how innovative you are

    Customers do care about the benefits they receive – primarily the emotional benefits

    This is true even among B2B products.
    (e.g., the safe choice, makes me look good)

    If we don’t find the emotional benefits, we will have missed what truly drives choice and our products will have underperformed

    There is a lot more to product research than focus groups and concept tests

    For that matter, not all concept tests are the same.

    The right method depends on so many things.

    • Your current market knowledge
    • Your product’s life stage (new to the world vs. established)
    • Your budget
    • Your timing

    “What I like about you guys is that you don’t put us into a research box. You think through what we really need.”

    - Karen Padgett, President of Unfenced Animal Health

    One approach to identifying the best research approach is understanding where your product falls in the New Project Development Process

    Identifying the best research approach depends on where your product is in the product development funnel.

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    Before spending a dime on research, pre-screen ideas internally. Advance only the best ideas. These tools below help you do that.

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    Here are a few types of product research we can do for you

    Qualitative Insights

    Interviews with current, former, and prospective users. We listen for the emotional reaction, not just the rational.
    Learn more

    Concept Screen

    A fast and predictive way to quickly screen out “the dogs.” So that you can spend more time focusing on the products or features that have higher probability of success. We evaluate just the idea.
    Learn more

    Concept Test

    Interviews with current, former, and prospective users. We listen for the emotional reaction, not just the rational.

    Problem Detection

    Customers may leave due to problems they encounter with your brand. Problem Detection identifies problems that may exist before customers leave. It will identify those frequent nuisances as well as the infrequent big deals.
    Learn more

    Awareness & Usage

    Awareness of your product as well as competitive products. Capture market consideration and usage of all relevant products in your category. competitive products. This will include identifying drivers of choice and revealing where each of the brands performs on these drivers of choice.

    Pricing

    A number of potential methods exist depending on the situation. Are you testing a “new to the world” product? An individual product? Or a line of products?

    Virtual In-The-Moment Shopping

    Sometimes there is nothing better than hearing from a perspective customer while they are in the midst of their purchasing decision. That is, while they are standing in front of the store display. This method immediately reveals the reasons customer choose to purchase or reject your product versus another in the competitive set.
    Learn why you will have better insights with True North by watching these short videos.

    A faster, more predictive, and lower-cost way to screen out new product ideas or features

    Researchers love scales. The problem is, there are so many problems. There are better ways.
    The latest on how consumers make decisions (and it’s not on scales)

    We have tested thousands of concepts

    • This experience allows us to offer more insight and opportunities on how to make the concept better.
    • This means you can trust our results when you share them with your management.
    • Your recommendation (based on our results) will be stronger, more compelling, and lead your company to a better decision.

    This is just one reason we have been named a “Most Trusted” market
    research firm

    This is just one reason we have been named a “Most Trusted” market research firm

    • Trusted to deliver high-quality insightful results
    • Trusted to deliver results you can share with your management without re-writing
    • Trusted to have True North present to your management

    1. Set up a meeting

    Schedule a Meeting

    2. Discuss your situation

    Explain your situation and what you hope to deliver to your organization

    3. Get a plan

    We’ll build a plan specifically for you