Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques E-Book

Cecilia Y. Saint-Denis

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 337

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Practical reference on the latest sensory and consumer evaluation techniques available to professionals and academics working in food and consumer goods product development and marketing This unique manual describes how to implement specific sensory and consumer methods based on context and objective. Presented in a direct and straightforward language that will speak to the industry professionals and academics who are on the ground attempting to solve technical questions, it reviews, step by step, the various stages of a product evaluation. Included are practical examples from many industries that practitioners can relate to. The book also shows how to build a sustainable short-, medium-, and long-term product evaluation strategy, and guides readers on how to create customized methods, or even completely new approaches. Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques speaks to management and decision-makers within organizations and addresses the main questions (eg: "How much will it cost?" and "How quickly can it be achieved?") that are faced when developing and testing new products before a launch. Chapters cover: the pillars of good consumer and sensory studies; sensory profile of a product: mapping internal sensory properties; the foundations of consumer evaluation; study plans and strategy--sustainable short, mid and long-term vision; real-life anticipation with market factors: concept, price, brand, market channel; and internal studies versus sub-contracting. * Uses examples from multiple sectors to show how to build a sustainable product evaluation strategy * Analyses the critical milestones to follow and the pitfalls to avoid * Supports the decision-making process while developing fast yet robust test strategies that will increase the likelihood of a product's success Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques is the perfect resource for students, faculty and professionals working in product development, including formulators and marketers.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 The Pillars of Good Consumer and Sensory Studies

1.1 Leveraging Existing Consumer Insight Prior to Building a Test Plan: What Do We Already Know?

1.2 Pillars of a Test Design

References

2 Sensory Profile of a Product: Mapping Internal Sensory Properties

2.1 Origins of Sensory Evaluation

2.2 Definition of Descriptive Sensory Analysis

2.3 Existing Descriptive Methods, Advantages and Disadvantages

References

3 The Foundations of Consumer Evaluation

3.1 Qualitative Consumer Studies: When We Are at the Stage of Proof of Concept

3.2 Quantitative Consumer Studies: As We Get Close to Product Launch

3.3 Ethnographic Studies: In‐Depth Exploration of Consumer Needs and Expectations

3.4 Additional Approaches to Detect Breakthrough Innovations: How to Assess the ‘Wow’ Factors?

References

4 Study Plans and Strategy: Sustainable Short‐, Mid‐ and Long‐Term Vision

4.1 Definition of Key Performance Indicators

4.2 Exploratory Phase

4.3 Confirmatory Phase

4.4 Necessary Reconsiderations and Back and Forth

4.5 Spin‐Offs to Capitalize on Successful Products

References

5 Real‐Life Anticipation with Market Factors: Brand, Concept, Market Channel, Price

5.1 Highly Challenging Markets

5.2 Blind Versus Identified Quantitative Tests

5.3 Specificity of Concept Tests

5.4 Notions of Modellization

5.5 Preference Mapping and Its Variants

5.6 Incorporation of Market Factors in Modellizations

References

6 Internal Studies Versus Sub‐Contracting

6.1 Outsourcing: When and When Not?

6.2 Precautions When Outsourcing

6.3 Criteria to Select a Market‐Research Company for a Specific Study

References

Appendix

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 01

Table 1.1 Typical monitored parameters on social media.

Table 1.2 Extract from blind product questionnaire, followed by concept assessment.

Table 1.3 Screener criteria.

Chapter 02

Table 2.1 Mean comparison, example of descriptive statistics.

Table 2.2 Mean comparison, example of ANOVA results.

Table 2.3 Mean comparison, example of multiple comparison analysis.

Table 2.4 PCA, example of total variance explained.

Table 2.5 Summary of different descriptive sensory analysis methods.

Chapter 03

Table 3.1 Reasons to undertake a qualitative research.

Table 3.2 Means to collect data.

Table 3.3 Example of interview transcript (final wrap‐up comments on an anti‐wrinkle cream).

Table 3.4 Classification of numbers for a qualitative study (example of a

N

 = 15–16 study).

Table 3.5 Qualitative consumer test report content.

Table 3.6 Successful study checklist.

Table 3.7 Top/bottom nomenclature for structured semantic scales.

Table 3.8 Top/bottom nomenclature for intensity scales 1–10.

Table 3.9 Top/bottom nomenclature for intensity Likert scales 1–5.

Table 3.10 Example of large‐scale study summary chart (Top 2 boxes).

Table 3.11 Example of large‐scale study summary chart (Bottom 2 boxes).

Table 3.12 Example of correlation matrix liking × JAR attributes.

Table 3.13 Example of penalty analysis results.

Table 3.14 Example of ranking results.

Table 3.15 Demographic information (relative distributions).

Table 3.16 Example of question in a Kano questionnaire.

Table 3.17 Kano log table.

Table 3.18 Example of Kano frequency table.

Chapter 04

Table 4.1 Template for SWOT analysis.

Table 4.2 Template of scorecard.

Table 4.3 Scorecard for sensory evaluation results (example of new orange juice development vs market leader benchmark).

Table 4.4 Example of scorecard for qualitative results.

Table 4.5 Example of scorecard for mini‐quantitative results.

Table 4.6 Example (extract) of scorecard for a large quantitative.

List of Illustrations

Chapter 01

Figure 1.1 The four puzzle pieces of a test design.

Figure 1.2 Product definition.

Figure 1.3 Illustration of balanced incomplete block designs.

Figure 1.4 Sequential monadic with

N

subjects and two products, Q1–Qn questions.

Figure 1.5 Monadic cells with two separate cells for products A and B (N and M subjects, respectively).

Figure 1.6 Target definition.

Figure 1.7 Location definition.

Figure 1.8 Timing definition.

Figure 1.9 Foundation of a successful consumer or sensory study.

Chapter 02

Figure 2.1 Sensory descriptors word cloud.

Figure 2.2 Example of sensory descriptor definition.

Figure 2.3 Example of an acceptable distribution of sensory ratings.

Figure 2.4 From the evaluation on a hair swatch to reality.

Figure 2.5 Sensory profile of cocoa beans – linear representation.

Figure 2.6 Sensory profile of cocoa beans – spider diagram representation.

Figure 2.7 Sensory map: products projection on axes 1 and 2.

Figure 2.8 Sensory map: attributes projection on axes 1 and 2.

Chapter 03

Figure 3.1 Process to design a test.

Figure 3.2 Timeline for a classic qualitative test.

Figure 3.3 Frame for emotional journey log.

Figure 3.4 Example of completed emotional journey log.

Figure 3.5 Monadic design: absolute measurements.

Figure 3.6 Sequential monadic design: direct comparison.

Figure 3.7 Sniff screening test sequence.

Figure 3.8 Overall liking intensity scale represented with a bar chart. *, statistically significant difference.

Figure 3.9 Frequency of liking scores for samples MD and WF.

Figure 3.10 Consumer overall satisfaction bar graphs.

Figure 3.11 Percentages for JAR levels, example for four attributes.

Figure 3.12 Ethnographic research timeline.

Figure 3.13 Example of daily routine template for report.

Chapter 04

Figure 4.1 Product development strategy.

Figure 4.2 Consumer insight and project launch.

Figure 4.3 Sensory evaluation and concept definition and positioning.

Figure 4.4 Qualitative approach and concept definition and positioning.

Figure 4.5 Mini‐quantitative approach and proof of concept.

Figure 4.6 Quantitative approach and large‐scale projection.

Figure 4.7 Marketing test and product validation.

Figure 4.8 Bi‐directional multi‐paths to success.

Figure 4.9 Spin‐offs of winning product.

Chapter 05

Figure 5.1 Modellizing impact of 10 sensory variables on two consumer measures for eight products.

Figure 5.2 Schematized example of a preference mapping.

Figure 5.3 Elements influencing consumer arbitration.

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques

How to Sense Successful Products

Cecilia Y. Saint-Denis

Westfield, New Jersey

This edition first published 2018© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

Names: Saint‐Denis, Cecilia Y., 1972– author.Title: Consumer and sensory evaluation techniques : how to sense successful products / by Cecilia Y. Saint‐Denis.Description: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |Identifiers: LCCN 2017041389 (print) | LCCN 2017052695 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119405603 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119405573 (epub) | ISBN 9781119405542 (pbk.)Subjects: LCSH: Sensory evaluation. | New products–Evaluation. | Marketing research.Classification: LCC TA418.5 (ebook) | LCC TA418.5 .S35 2018 (print) | DDC 658.5/752–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017041389

Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © Jacqueline N. Denham

“Even the biggest most competent companies fail. The trick is to create an organizational culture that accepts failure so that you can fail small … rather than failing big.”

“True innovation requires learning from the complexities of each failure – a skill that most companies fail to hone.”

Samuel West, Museum of Failure,Helsingborg, Sweden

Preface

On a Sunday morning, the doorbell rings. UPS just threw on my porch a box that contains the precious item I ordered online less than 24 h ago. It is the latest technological tool that everybody wants. Its reviews, which I read thoroughly, are outstanding, five stars across the board. I hurry to the door, grab the box and open it frantically. Now I have it! Let’s see how it works and what new avenues it will open in my daily life. At the same time, my son, a 4‐year old toddler, grabs the cardboard protecting the device and turns it into a spaceship, which will keep him entertained for a couple hours.

At first sight, the new device is appealing, with a tasteful and modern design, luxury colour and lines, smooth and pleasant texture to the touch. When I get to the instructions, they seem less intuitive than expected. As the new generation shopper that I am, I want to be able to operate immediately. I do not conceptualize it but the on/off bottom seems a little cheap. It might be the noise it makes or just the material itself. I persevere for a few hours. Ultimately, this tool doesn’t revolutionize my life. Some of its functionalities are redundant with my previous device. It’s not worth the effort. I might use it but it will eventually die as quickly as it emerged.

Meanwhile, my son has made the most out of the cardboard, which, after being a spaceship became an artistic and colourful fort and a car track. But its appeal has died as well, leaving space for new outbursts of imagination.

Nowadays, consumers crave for unique, authentic, customized products. Consumers actively search and seek everywhere rather than passively responding to advertising. In that context, big consumer packaged‐goods companies struggle to sell their products. The market is inundated with a never‐ending variety of offers making it more challenging to be visible and leaving very little room for innovation. For small, as well as for giant companies, the motto seems to be ‘innovate or die’. However, launching a real breakthrough innovation has become a hard‐to‐achieve and hard‐to‐predict holy grail.

For years, in the pre‐social media, pre‐Amazon era, demand for innovation was lower. Big companies could get distributed much more easily than smaller ones, and consumers were used to seeing the same products on the market.

Today, consumers are more informed, more aware and have wider access to very small brands and sellers. Through cooperative websites, anybody can create and sell from one side of the world to the other. This causes challenges to brick and mortar traditional stores and major market share points lost by larger brands.

For decades, decisions on innovative products were based primarily on the intuition of a few creators; or on the intimate conviction of a few top managers. Today, the path to innovation has become way riskier. Developing new products, testing them, weighing market response, predicting failure or success has become critical for managers to ensure success and prevent yearly losses. It has become vital for big brands to invest in robust R&D teams and to consolidate their experience to be able to launch great new products and survive.

The challenge is of course to foster creators and creative teams, but first and foremost to be very solid in supporting the creative process to ensure its success. Until today, teams in charge of evaluation methods as to how new products fit into consumers’ life have been very pragmatic and worked mostly on an empirical basis. There are no real common manuals on how to systematically approach consumers all along the creative development. Within each company and among the scientific community with the expertise in this domain, knowledge is passed along via word of mouth through a network of connoisseurs. Everybody moves along following their instinct on how best to test and predict. Given the stakes, it is time to issue systematic approaches. This is precisely what this manual is about. Of course, any method and approach will never be carved into stone, as for the following of the creative process, one needs to remain very flexible and open‐minded. Each product category, each invention or creation needs to be approached as a unique case. However, a methodological background is necessary to ensure robustness in the process and to circumvent basic pitfalls.

This manual will therefore dive into the global (Chapter 1) and specific (Chapters 2 and 3) aspects of sensory and consumer test designs: how do we test, when, where and with whom. All of it depends on the objectives we want to pursue and the methods we consider. The testing strategies must be developed (Chapter 4) based on where we are in the development process going from a small‐scale to a large‐scale approach. Very practical elements will be covered such as tools to be incorporated, as well as deliverables and budget. Chapter 5 goes beyond intrinsic product quality with a more holistic picture of real‐life market factors. Chapter 6 concludes with considerations to decide whether to outsource studies.

Before diving into the subject matter, I would like to thank the following people for their inspiration, support and for their challenging and curious minds. Everything goes back to them and how generously they taught me at some point in life. I learned to remain open‐minded while they instilled in me the desire to always question, grow and learn.

Acknowledgements

Gilles Trystram, General Director at AgroParisTech. During my Ph.D. research and years after, I have kept from him the love for research as a means of always questioning apparent certainties and applying rigour.

Douglas Rutledge, Director of Analytical Chemistry Department at AgroParisTech. Thanks to Douglas, biostatistics have become approachable to me and a true means of rationalizing complex realities such as sensoriality and consumers’ minds.

Joseph Hossenlopp defines himself as an independent thinker. His support, advice and guidance have forged in me respect for knowledge, an instinct to always seek for the right answers, as set out by the best specialists, unfolding reasoning, in order to build a new enriched opinion.

Agnès Giboreau, Living Lab at the Institut Paul Bocuse. Agnès rapidly became one of my mentors when we first met in the food industry at the time of the sensory and consumer methods genesis, being deployed in the industry. Agnes is one of those pioneers who extended these methods to all new fields such as the auto industry and now the hotel industry. Her rigor and curiosity of mind stand before me as an immense source of inspiration.

Jacques Barthélémy was the head of the Sensory Evaluation Department at Nestlé until he retired. He left us in the dawn of 2016. Jacques was a pioneer of the implementation of sensory and consumer methods in the food industry when just freshly established in the academia. He fought against all the obstacles as he was convinced of its relevance. Many in our generation grew up and were fashioned in his pugnacity.

Mara Applebaum, AVP Product Performance Evaluation at L’Oreal USA. Mara has been a colleague, a manager and a true mentor all along my journey in the industry. I have learned so much thanks to her immense knowledge, her incredible open‐mindedness and desire for permanent innovation and experimentation in our field. Thanks to her very American ‘can do’ attitude, many of us have learned how to transpose academic guidelines into the pragmatic world.

Annie Hillinger, Partner, Heads Up! Research, Inc. Annie has a very rigorous and pragmatic approach to research in the consumer field. Working with her has been an incredible opportunity to grow and learn from her sense of careful listening, moderation and translation of consumer insight into action and vision for the future.

My former colleagues in the industry. I have had the immense privilege of travelling through food and cosmetic industries. Multiple windows have been opened into infinite fields of application of sensory and consumer methods way beyond the domains where they took off their first steps. All I know, I do owe it to all these people I have met and worked with along my amazing journey.

My family who is my unfailing daily support. My kids, who at times had to endure my professional dedication, have always carried me with their love and recognition. I am grateful to see them grow up with passion, ambitions, aspirations, positive values and critical minds. My husband, who for years encouraged me to share all I have had the privilege of learning and thus gave impetus to this project. My uncle Edgardo Flores‐Rivas, former ambassador, who was an unconditional English advisor all along. And finally my friend Jacqueline Denham for designing the beautiful cover.

All these people, for whom I am so grateful, have a common wonderful asset: a unique sensitivity to small sensorial pleasures of life like sharing a sophisticated flavoured home‐made meal, while appreciating the subtlest notes enhanced by a rare vintage wine, the sound of a harmonious musical note or the view of a luminous horizon.

1The Pillars of Good Consumer and Sensory Studies

1.1 Leveraging Existing Consumer Insight Prior to Building a Test Plan: What Do We Already Know?

For a long time, three major departments in companies have taken the lead: Research, Marketing and Sales. A new product was developed and a consequent budget was put in place to push it into consumers’ homes. Within the past couple of decades, the media universe that surrounds us has changed in such a way that this simple approach does not suffice anymore. Marketing environment has become way too complex. Companies must deal with hundreds of cable channels, satellite networks and online social media. This makes the interaction between companies, their brands and consumers more complicated and risky (Blackshaw 2008). As explained by Kietzmann et al. (2011) a simple negative post or tweet could turn into a boomerang. At the same time, interaction with consumers has reached a more personal level. This has forced most companies to embrace what is called Consumer Insight in their mind‐set and develop ad hoc teams within their organization (Stone et al. 2004).

The consumer insight objective is to go way beyond figures and statistics that were traditionally analysed by marketers. Consumer insight research gathers skills from multiple backgrounds: marketers, psychologists and ethnographers. The idea behind it is to get into the consumer’s mind understanding what they purchase, why, how this fits into their daily routines, when, as an individual, as a group, as a community. Consumer insight is now the binder that provides understanding on who consumes what and why. Consumer insight digs into geography, seasons, gender, ethnic and cultural background, age differences and the role these factors play in the consumption of each product category. The goal is to find the truth on existing and emerging behaviours, experiences, beliefs, wants and needs. Consumer insight is the tool that allows researchers and marketers to make a new product that coincides with consumer’s needs by either finding the appropriate market space for something creators have envisioned or by finding the need gap to be fulfilled that steers and inspires creators with new ideas. Consumer insight serves for both push and pull processes (Walsh 1984). Some distinguish the terms insight and foresight. Insight being the ability to interpret present trends to then predict and prepare the future as the foresight approach.

With that in mind, it is easy to understand why, before engaging in the evaluation of any new product, it is crucial to conduct a full consumer insight research on that category. Oddly enough, in many cases, consumer insight gathers information that everyone already knows. It is just a question of putting it together in a meaningful way that will speak by itself and make sense.

After the Canadian writer Coupland (1991) popularized the expression Generation X to designate the individuals that succeeded baby boomers, all other new sociological designations just flowed out naturally for sociologists to segment the different age groups in our societies. Consumer insight often observes behaviours based on this breakdown (e.g. Kumar and Lim 2008). Whether we want to address, for example, Baby Boomer1 women skin beauty needs, Gen X2 men soda drinking drivers, Gen Y3 (Howe and Strauss 2000) reading habits or Gen Z4 social media activity, the approach will always be the same. What geographical region are we considering? What is the existing market offer? What are the key benchmarks and the more ‘niche’ players? Is there a seasonal aspect to be taken into account, and what are the trends, the drivers, the needs and the gaps?

In many cases, companies have a lot of information internally into which they can dig before doing any further research (data mining of existing ‘primary research’ sources is often called ‘secondary research’): intrinsic background knowledge, previous small‐ or large‐scale studies done in that category, marketing and sales data are the first sources to consider. Usage & Attitude (U&A) studies are often conducted every 2–5 years for large categories. Very popular in the 1970–1980s these long and costly studies had been misused in the 1990s. However, they quickly came back as a necessity with the drastic evolution of behaviours in multiple categories and with the expansion of many industries towards new emerging markets. Also, running those types of studies became easier thanks to online tools. Ultimately, it is always important to confront knowledge and beliefs within the company itself with up‐to‐date data to avoid a priori certainties.

Social media are an immense source of information: blogs, forums, reviews on electronic commerce sites (broad ones like Amazon or Alibaba, or ones more specialized in a certain category), posts on Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, all the way to public conversations on Facebook or Instagram. Safko (2010) gives a very comprehensive anatomy of modern social media and how they have become an unprecedented and unavoidable window into our society. Depending on the resources the company has, this research, often called ‘social listening’ can be done internally or externalized to numerous market‐research companies who offer the service. Over the past years, several powerful analytic tools and platforms to systematically process the information have been launched on the market, some being free (broadly general such as www.socialmention.com or targeting one single media like Twitter or Google) and some requiring a monthly fee.

The efficacy of them can be assessed in what they measure and how they represent it versus the needs a company has. Many platforms offer online active dashboards and alerts on pre‐set keywords (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Typical monitored parameters on social media.

Measure

Description

Audience volume

Number of posts, comments, tweets, reviews per unit of time for defined key words on designated media

Audience categories

Definition of who is speaking: gender, age, professional or not, and so on. This is usually assessed through clear identification or languages hints

Audience influence

Passive observers or stronger influencers

a

. Level of influence is now often measured not only by popularity and number of connections of individuals, but also by their forwarding activity with specific algorithms as shown in Romero et al. (2011)

Competitors

Usually assessment of a number of brands mentioned per unit of time in designated media

Sentiments

Positive, negative or neutral connotation of the conversations. This is usually assessed through language systematic analysis by appropriate software or by linguists (Chamlertwat et al. 2012)

aUnderstanding the level of influence certain individuals, groups or formal bloggers (professionals or not) may have becomes a tool that goes beyond consumer insight objectives (Agarwal et al. 2008). Online word of mouth has become extremely powerful. Therefore, it is vital for companies to track it down to head off anything that could be negative or damaging and to empower happy consumers to share to an infinite audience (Blackshaw 2008; Berger 2016), very often now through the influence of an expert authority or a celebrity endorsement.

Online social media are a tremendous resource to understand consumers. However, depending on the subject or target audience, in some cases, information found through them may not be representative enough. Millennials and centennials are undeniably present for most categories. However, if the target audience is Gen X or Boomers, information found may be more partial. Furthermore, depending on socio‐economic categories being considered, regions or countries, prevalence of internet and phones may not always ensure total representativeness if research is only done via online social media. Lastly, one must keep in mind that even though people tend to be more and more vocal online, whether they are happy or unhappy with a product or service, human nature does not change much and comments found may more often be on negative experiences (Blackshaw 2008). In such cases, more traditional ‘offline’ consumer insight research may be considered such as focus groups or ethnographies (Gunter et al. 2002). An extensive methodological description of these is provided in Sections 3.1 and 3.3 of this manual.

There are also many online free resources that allow to investigate market facts and trends such as:

Google’s Marketer’s Almanac

US Census: American FactFinder, County Business Patterns (CBP), Business Dynamics Statistics

Claritas MyBestSegments by Nielsen

Lastly, another type of secondary research can be done on additional external sources of information such as Pew Research Center (Pewresearch.org) or Mintel (Mintel.com) with their Global New Product Database (GNPD), as well as their Household Market‐Research, which has become one of the industry gold standards to access information on new product trends. Although Mintel is very well known, there is an infinity of analytical online panels, tools and programs that offer information, some being broader, some being more specialized: IRI, Symphony Marketing, Ipsos, Dunnhumby. A few platforms that provide consumer insight by tracking new trends and products can be mentioned (non‐exhaustive list): TrendWatching (trendwatching.com), Euromonitor International (euromonitor.com) or Trend Hunter (trendhunter.com). They usually require monthly fees to be accessible, or offer reports that can be purchased. Of course, there is also a plethora of market‐research companies5 that either have information or can develop ad hoc studies. It is interesting to consider organizations such as Esomar (esomar.com) which is a global community of researchers and industries on the market‐research field. Their publications and seminars are an invaluable up‐to‐date source on market data and methodology. Organizations such as Esomar usually require an annual membership.

1.2 Pillars of a Test Design

This sub‐chapter details the four crucial puzzle pieces (Figure 1.1) that need to be defined to build a test design.

Figure 1.1 The four puzzle pieces of a test design.

1.2.1 What Are We Testing?

Figure 1.2 shows the four pillars of a test design: product, target, location and timing that will be further developed in details.

Figure 1.2 Product definition.

1.2.1.1 Circumscribe the Test Product

Before moving forward in defining a test design, it is very important to restrict what is the to‐be‐tested product. Do we want to test the container, the content (sometimes called the ‘juice’ in the food or cosmetic industry) or both? One must keep in mind that every single component of a packaged good is going to impact the way the product is perceived overall. Sometimes, a tiny detail can overshadow everything else and determine the overall acceptance, rejection or banality impression. For example, if we are considering testing a yoghurt, when the objective is to test a new recipe, one may consider using bulk and serving it in neutral white or black bowls. It is important to never underestimate how certain components can sway the consumer’s perception. Let us imagine that the new yoghurt recipe has a slight beige tone and is presented in a snow‐white bowl under regular day light. The beige colour may infer in the consumer’s mind a creamier, heavier recipe (see research from Harrar et al. (2011), which shows how implicit knowledge on fat content can be based on appearance). In our example of yoghurt in white bowls, it remains an assumption; but the most important fact is that, whatever it infers in consumers’ minds, it is often uncontrolled. Colour of the contents is always important to assess prior to launching a test. A very insightful experiment that can be easily done is to have a panel of consumers test a grenadine syrup coloured in green and a mint syrup coloured in red. Under regular day light, there will always be a larger proportion of the panel that will assess the wrong flavour influenced by the colour, compared to a blind test (for instance, under a light that hides the colour). In the same way, one can ask a panel of consumers to rank cocoa flavour intensity of chocolate milks that have been artificially coloured in different intensities of brown not related with the actual flavour intensity. Most consumers will rank on the base of colour intensity or at least be very puzzled by it. These effects have been known and studied extensively over the past decades (e.g. DuBose et al. 1980 or Zampini et al. 2007). Spence (2015) calls this phenomenon ‘disconfirmation of expectation’ which has been known and studied for a long time as well (Cardello and Sawyer 1992). Disconfirmed expectations tend to have a negative impact. This varies depending on context, culture and age. Indeed, in the same article, Spence shows that people tend to be more open to their expectations being disconfirmed in a fancy restaurant than in a testing laboratory. Some cultures are less open‐minded than others with regard to food. Also, several researches, detailed in Spence review, support that children tend to be more open to artificial miscoloured food.

In the cosmetic field, colour of the ‘juice’ is also very impactful. Some colours intuitively do not naturally match certain categories in the consumer’s mind and may cause repulsion. Yet in that aspect, cultural differences can be significant (Madden et al. 2000). A skin care cream will rarely be accepted in anything else than white; however, the variety of colour tones found in the market for that category is wider in Asian countries. Some visual effects like a pearly aspect may infer either luxury, non‐natural or any kind of uncontrolled interpretation that can bias the test. Yet not much is known today in that field (Elliot and Maier 2014).

Colour, shape and material of a packaging or container are also aspects that can bias the perception and therefore the results. Here again a multitude of articles have been published supporting this phenomenon, especially in the food domain. Among the recent researches, we can mention Piqueras‐Fiszman and Spence (2012), Spence and Wan (2015), Wan et al. (2015) and the state‐of‐the‐art review by Piqueras‐Fiszman and Spence (2015). Typically, the industry tends to test in white neutral containers, labelled with minimal information and instructions to limit the impact. Black packaging is also used often. However, Piqueras‐Fiszman et al. (2012) have shown that a black plate can tone down flavour intensity in some cases. Also, depending on the material, black can convey a luxury connotation for certain product categories. One must be careful that the colour of the blind packaging never evokes any brand or conceptual universe. In the case of food, a research from Michel et al. (2015) that relates to eatery industry is particularly interesting as it demonstrates that even the type of cutlery used exerted significant impact on food liking. Of course, when consumers know that they are in a testing environment they might naturally relativize. However, in many experiences they do not. Often, tests can be overshadowed negatively by a cheap accessory on which the consumer will focus all his/her attention on (a classic example is the gloves that are put in hair colour kits: if cheap and uncomfortable, they can completely skew the test).

Obviously, the quality of the material that is used (even if just for the test) needs to be inspected conscientiously for its neutrality and for its integrity. As trivial as it may seem, everybody in the industry has one day experienced tremendous loss due to a cheap material that did not function, a nozzle that did not dispense or broke along the testing period. When a product is to be used by consumers for a certain period at home, it is also very important to provide enough product, having previously assessed how much may be needed on a fairly wide range (Section 1.1). For a shampoo or a daily moisturizer, quantities used by women from a same panel may be quite variable. Too often tests are skewed because consumers were upset not to have enough product.

Lastly, although obvious as well, it should be reiterated here that when comparing several formulas or recipes (contents), all should be packaged identically. When comparing a new recipe with an existing market product, the latest should always be repackaged identically to the test product. Too often, competitors are purchased and just covered with tape. Consumers are always intrigued in finding out what they are given and any hint will lead them to assume or find out. Products that are hard to be repackaged could be spray painted. This obviously implies an additional cost but it is worth it. There is a case in which the product should not be repackaged, which is if the package or dispensing device (nozzle for example for a hair spray) is intrinsically linked to the content and therefore overall experience for the consumer should encompass the comparison of the specific packages. In case it is impossible to repackage a shelf product, one should always keep in mind that there can be a bias. Consumers can then be told upfront to disregard the package differences.

1.2.1.2 Do We Test Blind or Identified Products?

Once the product to test is defined, the next question is, how is the product going to be presented to the consumer? Since consumer society has arisen, it has been widely assumed and then thoroughly studied in several product categories, that when a product is presented blind or ‘nude’, impacting factors are almost exclusively intrinsic (except for possible presentation bias that the previous paragraph shows how to minimize). This means that what is assessed are product physical attributes and qualities; whereas, if the product is presented under any kind of concept or brand, marketing influences become prominent. For years, most companies have gathered knowledge on label, concept, brand impact versus product intrinsic properties. Many are publicly available especially in the food industry. A few examples that can be mentioned are: Allison and Uhl (1964) for the beer category all the way to Shankar et al. (2009) for the confectionery category or Lowengart (2012) for wine. Deliza and MacFie published an interesting review on the subject in (1996). All studies prove that as soon as a non‐generic label, a brand, a concept or any kind of context is disclosed, the expectation will be impacted and the qualities of the product will be assessed in relation with that information.

Thus, the main question to be answered is: is the objective of the test to assess how the intrinsic properties of the product are perceived and liked independently of any kind of market context? This is more often the case in early stages of product development or when a product has not yet been positioned on a given market. When this optic is selected, the product should be tested blind with minimal information. This approach will determine more accurately the consumer’s true preferences and product true strengths and weaknesses. Those can then be rolled out to the market place within a brand through a specific concept in the appropriate context. Strengths that have been highlighted through a blind test can be emphasized in the marketing communication. When product strengths match the marketing communication programs, it assuredly improves chances of consumers choosing the right product and better guarantees an ultimately increased market share. A fully blind test approach is also necessary when the purpose is to rank a product with respect to other competitive products or prove its superiority in performance or when an existing product is being reformulated, especially if the current product is highly anchored in the market or has a very loyal group of consumers.