Question

Pick a common household product. If this product were brand new and the basis for your startup, explain how you would test the product with customers. 

What process would you use and what questions would you ask? 

2 pages in length.

Answer 1

Product choosen: Maggie ( a product of nestley)

While launching a product and promoting it , it is important to test the viability of the satisfaction that consumers would derive. It is important to do some market research and understand who are the focus group of the product. In case of Maggie, being a noodle will probably be liked by childern and teen and also upto some extent the young adults. It is also important to know who are the competitors in thar market. This all steps are done in order to understand if the product launch would successfully generate more revenue. Also branding and promotion plays a important role so as to reach out the focus group and make them aware of the existance of the product.

Product testing plays a important role in understanding the needs and likes of the focus group also helps to promote the product's launch and helps suppliers to understand how to deal with customer satisfaction thereby making them aware of what consumers would love.

Taking the case of Maggie , the startup can use Home usage test technique wherein the consumers are given free samples of product to test at their home as per their convienience and later review their experiance by a survey. This method provides flexibility to consumers to test producy as per their need. Also at times if more samples are made available to a single consumer they can act as a coordinator by making the samples available to their close ones or neighbours thereby helping the company to get a large number of participants.

*Another mode of technique to test the product to consumer is by making available the product at a central location. In case of maggie, it must be served after being cooked readily to customers and asking their review at the same place . The plus point of this technique is that review of the customers are immediate and every participants are likely to respond because of the environment. As per the product choosen , that is maggie, as it is a product which needs to be cooked before consuming, people will be more approachive to test the new product at their home rather than at a outer location. Hence the product must be tested to the consumers by selling sample packets of the maggie. This can be done by selling the samples at schools and at retails shops, also at a distinct location by the startup.

*The possible question to ask in respect of noodle are:

1. Is the product liked by you?

2. Does the product meet your level od satisfaction in terms of taste and flavour?

3. What is something that you didnt like about the product?

4. Would you choose it over any other similar products available at the market? If no , then why?

5. What do you think it is easy to prepare and less time consuming ?

6. Would you like to serve it to your guests?

7. Would you like to recommend this products to others?

8. Rate your satisfaction level as per taste, smell, easy to prepare out of 5 star.

By asking all the above question it will be easy for the startup to understand if there is anything that consuners didnt like about the product, so as to make any changes into it. Also alk the above questionnaire will help to understand whether people prefered the peoduct over other product, thereby helping to gauge the markwt capture the product can make in future. All of the questions will enable to understand how people percieve and think about the product, thus helping to fix price at which it can be a competitive product in response to products already available in the market.