Engaging consumers

When developing new product concepts or reformulating existing products and accompanying packaging, it is important that you know what your customers really want and like about the product and pack design.

We asked Sarah Thomas, Innovation and Insights Section Manager, how her team approaches this: "First of all we listen to what the client is trying to achieve and then apply the most appropriate course of action in terms of recruitment of respondents, method of data collection and analysis."

So what do you do about the product itself?

"We can screen product concepts, assess new or reformulated products in relation to competitors´ products, and help define the ideal product profile from key drivers of liking and attribute intensity."

Designing products and packaging that engage with customers

How does the packaging come into it?

"As well as evaluating and screening pack design concepts we can measure consumer responses to different components of pack designs to identify which features are most important. For example, we can assess consumers´ cognitive and emotional responses to on-pack images, product visibility, health and nutrition claims, brand statements and sensory descriptions. It becomes really interesting to compare data from product and packaging evaluations to identify whether the expectations derived from the packaging are delivered in the product experience".

How do you evaluate consumer attitudes and behaviour?

"Increasingly we use more implicit ways of capturing qualitative consumer attitudes and behaviour, such as eye tracking and Implicit Association Tests."

What are the advanced analytical tools that you mentioned?

"We have a range of methods and tools at our disposal. We use statistical approaches to manage complex numerical data sets, as well as inductive and deductive processes to analyse narrative and visual data, so that the client gets what is most appropriate for their needs."

Contact: Sarah Thomas
+44(0)1386 842254
sarah.thomas@campdenbri.co.uk