Consumer product launches can be risky, and now this risk may be exacerbated by a number of new realities—including a consumer whose behaviors, attitudes and emotions are shifting from day to day. Smart brands seek a deep understanding of their target audience when developing and launching any new product. Traditional market research methods can provide some insights, but to really get that holistic view, brands need to connect with individuals in tangible ways to obtain feedback.
There are a number of ways to uncover consumer reactions and insights, but one of the most effective is tracking shopping behaviors almost as they happen. This allows brands to get early feedback on new products, so they can pivot before negative consequences occur. The problem with many survey outreach mechanisms is that they rely on recall—asking consumers to remember what they’ve done in the past, which exact products they purchased, and how they felt about it.
There’s a better way to track shopping behaviors. AMC Global’s patented, agile solution for capturing consumer reactions and insights is a bit different. Our ResponseCash PFU (Purchaser Follow-Up) collects feedback from actual purchasers of new products beginning as early as day one of a new launch, and can be successfully implemented even in a pandemic!
How does the ResponseCash PFU work? When a consumer purchases a product as they normally would, they will find a survey invitation attached to the outside or inside the packaging of the product. The offer includes a high-value reward for going online to share their reactions to the new product. This type of strategy can collect more immediate feedback and impressions that can help to brands to take action including:
This approach can greatly improve opportunity for new product launch success in the marketplace, while mitigating risk and limiting exposure. With AMC Global, using this kind of new product launch solution can also benchmark a new product’s performance against other new category launches via our proprietary Normative Database. A normative database benchmark can help brands understand the success of a new product launch with comparisons to thousands of SKUs. This allows the examination of specific product categories, new products versus line extensions, product restages and more.
Some of AMC Global’s new product launch strategies also include a test and learn framework – built by recruiting consumers into a Test and Learn Community. These shoppers then give continuous feedback on their own journey as a customer and guide brands through future product innovations. These individuals can provide consumer reactions and insights to new product formulations or positionings for ongoing decision making.
A “test and learn” approach is different from a traditional market research panel. Brands can obtain feedback from actual, confirmed purchasers rather than an unrelated sample of panelists or respondents. A test and learn framework is flexible enough to use for all sizes of qualitative and quantitative research, as well as nimble enough to provide consumers reactions and insights within days after a new product launch.
Successful consumer product launches are hard enough in “normal” times. In a turbulent economy and social landscape, the rules have changed. Using new product launch strategies that help us to more intimately understand target audiences and their reactions and insights, can make all the difference.
