Take the guesswork out of your packaging-design evaluation.

Is your current packaging design still modern and up-to-date? Or is a redesign needed? Which design elements on the package are essential and work best for your consumers? Does the new packaging design communicate the desired brand values? And is it an improvement compared to the current pack? These are all valid questions that might come up when your company considers the introduction of a new packaging design. And all are questions that can be clearly answered by the unique approach of MetrixLab's PACT©.

Outline

With PACT©, you can take out the guesswork out of your packaging design and understand which design elements work best for your consumers. MetrixLab's PACT© is set up to evaluate a new package design or an update of your current package design. For this, we use a monadic setup: One group of consumers evaluates the current packaging in detail, while another group of consumers evaluates the new design. The questionnaire for both groups is exactly the same, except for the packaging designs shown. By keeping the background variables of both consumer groups similar, differences in outcome between the two groups can directly be attributed to the different packages, and any outside bias is eliminated.

Methodology and setup

PACT© consists of a combination of tasks and assignments for participants and covers all relevant topics related to packaging design. Throughout the various tasks and assignments, we benchmark your new package design against your current design, as well as key competitors' packaging, providing clear insights on the level of improvement of the new design. Extensive benchmarking data from many tested designs in a wide range of categories is available.

The exact setup of your specific PACT© test depends on your requirements. In helping you choose the appropriate combination of assignments, we create the best possible way to extract what you need to know about the various elements that contribute to the overall success of a package design.

Attention:

• Tachistoscope - Identification: We show the package for a very short time and record what participants remember (color, brand, product, etc.). We make an analysis of correct product identification and brand recognition for the new pack. In the analysis, we pay special attention to misidentifications.
• Shelf impact - Recognition: "Virtual" shelves are built to show your packaging in its competitive field. By asking respondents to click on your product as fast as possible, we measure the percentage of correct recognition and the time needed for this.
• Shelf impact - Attention value: This assignment is also based on "virtual" shelves to show your packaging in its competitive field. We invite participants to take a look around, as if in

  

  front of a real shelf in the store, and pick up any package at which they would like to have a closer look. As we count the times the packages are picked up, in total and individually, we uncover to which extent your packaging design is able to attract attention on the shelf.

Package performance & evaluation:

• Key Performance Indicators - We confront respondents explicitly and on a full screen with either the current or the new package design and its main competitor, allowing them a good look at the packaging. We ask respondents to give their opinion on important key performance indicators, like first impression and appeal, to measure the overall performance of the packaging.
• Likes/dislikes(optional) - We ask respondents to indicate and explain their likes and dislikes of your packaging by placing green and red dots. This action results in information on any likeable and dislikeable features of your packaging and the reasons behind specific opinions.

Communication:

• Communicative Value Test - With another creative method, the card test, we measure the values and benefits your new packaging communicates. Respondents are asked to value the design on several statements related to the company/brand values and product benefits (both category drivers and specific product benefits) by dragging and dropping a set of cards with package visuals to one of five answering fields representing levels of agreement to the statement.
• FocusTracker on the package - We present respondents with a full-screen image of the packaging. Subsequently, we ask them to indicate how they scan the package by following their eye movements with the movement of the mouse. The results render information on the high/low attention areas on the package, the scanning order of consumers and the role of the various elements of the packaging.
• Product category drivers - We ask respondents to indicate which criteria are most important to them when buying a product within your specific product category. Results provide insights on the importance of the specific benefits of the tested proposition.

Action potential:

• Shelf preference - To give you information on the extent to which your package is preferred in its competitive environment, we confront respondents with a "virtual shelf" and ask them to select the packaging they prefer and why.
• Purchase Intent - We include a question related to purchase intent to provide insight on the extent to which the packaging design leads to action potential.

All PACT© results are thoroughly and holistically analysed by our experienced research analysts. We report to you with clear findings on your new packaging and actionable recommendations for any required additional improvements.

Your benefits

PACT© is a quick and efficient way to evaluate the performance of your new or updated packaging designs before introduction. MetrixLab offers you

• an innovative method that covers all different elements that contribute to the overall success of a package design.
• a "game-like" test environment in which participation is fun, inspiring and stimulating. We use a strong visual approach, where known offline creative techniques are transferred to an online environment.
• a customized approach with the right set of online methods/techniques for each project, and the flexibility to adjust the approach when needed.
• results that are put in context by using the current and competitive designs as a benchmark to provide solid recommendations on the performance of the new packaging designs.
• the possibility to cost-effectively involve large numbers of consumers across different countries and regions simultaneously.
• broad experience in packaging testing within different product categories and countries.

Top of page