More Product Concept Testing

This is a continuation of the last article on product concept testing. Here we look at the second part of product testing – testing individual features.

Once you've decided on a product – or even if you already had a product but you've been unsure what features to add – you can move to studies about features to add. Here you'll try to discover (either through your own brainstorming, through panels, through 1 on 1 interviews, etc.) what features the product can use. You may have dozens of potential features that can be added, but it's unlikely that these features are all going to have an immediate impact and all of them will take time, money, and resources.

The best (although not only) way to research features is to start with ranks. Have users rank from 1 st to last features in terms of what they believe are most important and would attract them most to the product. Ranking is better than allowing equal numerical values, because it's likely that everyone wants every feature in some way, but would otherwise rank one feature better than others.

You can find out all sorts of information about these features and what should or shouldn't be added, including: Rank relative to other features. Which features would promote a purchase. Which features differentiate the product from the competition.

What features are "musts" and what are simply "nice to haves." You don't necessarily have to add each feature in order. For example, you could find that features 4 and 5 are pretty close in ranking, with 4 coming out slightly ahead, but 4 would require a tremendous investment while 5 would be easily to complete right away. Then you would still choose feature 5 while keeping feature 4 in mind for future releases.

Your business will still play a role in the decision making process but you'll know what are going to be best received, and you can weight them accordingly by how easy they are to implement.

While it's your company's job to be innovative and provide a product that is truly valued on the market, it is your customers that are ultimately going to buy it. Product concept testing plays an important role in determining what ideas are going to work in the market, and will help you discover how to create a product that is beneficial to the user. Without this type of testing, everything you do would be a guess, and you would open the door for a competitor with more research to beat out your company's products.