Put your new product to the final test.

Before launching any new product, you want to make sure that consumers have a positive experience when using your product at home and are as enthusiastic about the actual product as they were about the initial concept. Only then do you know for sure that your product is ready for launch or whether any final changes to the product need to be made. MetrixLab's In Home Use Test (iHUT©) provides you with exactly this information.

Outline

With iHUT©, consumers use your product at home in their own environment rather than in an artificial test environment, simply because this approach results in more realistic outcomes on product satisfaction, usage and potential improvement areas. Respondents meeting your recruitment criteria are selected from our online panel OPINIONBAR to participate. The in-home usage period depends on product category and your specific needs and varies from one-time usage (often the case for FMCG) or usage over a longer period of time (mostly durables). After respondent selection, your products will be sent to the participants. At different times during the usage period, participants receive an invitation to fill out an online questionnaire.

Methodology and setup

For iHUT©, we use interactive and fun questionnaires to track and analyse consumers' experiences with your product. The first questionnaire, generally done before the actual usage starts, is based on a confrontation with your original concept to determine the level of acceptance among consumers. To this end, we use our proven acceptor-rejector methodology for concept testing.

Depending on the product category and your requirements, a second questionnaire captures the participants' first impressions and experiences with the product after the first week of usage. We use the final questionnaire - after a couple of weeks of usage - to determine the experiences and satisfaction with the product in detail, as well as areas for improvement. The acceptor-rejector questions are repeated to determine whether your product meets the benefits promised to consumers. Varying from stage to stage, iHUT© measures the following elements:

Key Performance Indicators - These include first impression, appeal and purchase intent. We compare the results on these KPIs across different measurements in time to track the product performance Acceptor-Rejector analysis. Before and after using the product, participants answer the key questions of our acceptor-rejector methodology to assess whether the product is meeting consumers' expectations. It also assesses the level of acceptance before and after usage. In case of a decline in acceptance, we will analyse the results to determine the cause of this decline.

Overall satisfaction - We measure overall satisfaction as well as satisfaction on specific product features to provide first insights into potential areas of improvement. In addition, we measure the importance of the different aspects to make sure your time and resources will be spent to optimize those elements that really matter to consumers. In case of a longer usage period and multiple questionnaires, we measure levels of satisfaction over time.

Benefit take out - We measure the benefit take out with our card test tool: the product benefits are placed on cards, and these are shown to consumers. For each benefit, they indicate the level to which it fits with their product experiences, simply by dragging the benefit card to the right answering category. Again, this tool can be measured over time to check any changes. The outcomes of the benefit test provide good input for the final positioning and communication of the product when launched.

Brand communication - With the help of another card test, we measure the level to which your product experiences fit with the image consumers have of your brand. We use this information to determine to what extent your product supports and strengthens your brand values.

Recommendation Intent Score (RIS) - With questions on recommendation, we calculate your product's Recommendation Intent Score, providing insight into the level of advocacy among users for the product.

Areas of improvement - Various open-ended questions throughout the questionnaires allow us to focus on potential areas for improvement.

The outcomes of the different tasks (over time) are all analyzed in combination. We provide you with clear and relevant results and recommendations. You will know exactly whether or not your product is ready for full market launch, its potential in terms of acceptance, the additional improvements needed and how to best position your product.

Your benefits

iHUT© allows you to execute the final and most important check on your product before launch by means of real consumer-usage testing. MetrixLab offers you

• an efficient and cost-effective way to check whether your product is ready for launch.
• more realistic outcomes than from a controlled test environment, thanks to its real-life setup.
• inclusion of the acceptor-rejector methodology, providing you with clear insight into the level of acceptance before and after product usage.

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