Product and Motivation Research

Introduction
• The single most important strategy of any firm is the
development of a product line which meets the needs
of certain groups of consumers.
• Though several new products are launched every year,
a majority of them fail. Some may succeed initially,
but face decline very fast. Only small proportion of
new products is successful.
• A report by the leading marketing research firm AC
Nielsen states that the success rate of 35% is observed
for the new products.
• The success of a marketing plan depends on consumer
motives to buy. As such motivation research is of great
significance for extending product life cycle.
Product Strategy and Marketing Research
• Product strategy decisions relate to innovation,
product mix, product line and product item
developments. Product tactics refer to matching
product in terms of attributes and functions with those
of competitors and excelling them. In view, of the need
for taking short term and long term decisions,
marketer need information on the following:
▫ Market developments – consumer research,
competition research and channel research
▫ Product developments – process innovations,
technology developments, and international product
developments, innovative ideas from different sources,
etc.
New Product Development Process
Product development -Idea to Design
• It is necessary to determine that set of product
attributes that are optimum for the market
segment(s) to which the product will appeal.
• At the very minimum, marketing research
should provide information pertaining to what
features must be included in the product and the
level and relative importance of each (the ideal
brand).
• It should also report on how consumers rate
products or brands now on the market and
different versions of the new product against the
ideal brand.
Product development -Idea to Design
• Methods - Measures can be obtained on a
variety of new product proposals using pictures
or drawings, models or prototypes, or
advertisements that describe the benefits
provided by the product’s features.
• Such research is often referred to as concept
research and is useful in determining how
prospective customers evaluate a proposed new
product’s attributes in light of the benefits
claimed.
Product Testing
• Lab tests - This is particularly true for products that
can be submitted to lab tests to determine reliability
and performance over time.
• Field tests - For some industrial goods, it is feasible
to have customers try the product under a set of
specified conditions.
• Panel tests - Another way to test new products is
through the use of a panel of experts.
• Blind paired comparison tests - When the new
product is designed to replace an existing one, either
of the firm or of competitors, blind paired-comparison
tests (where the consumer does not know the brands
involved) can be employed.
Product Testing
• Staggered Comparison Tests: Such tests are
similar to the side-by-side comparison tests
discussed above; but they differ in that respondents
use one product first and then, either days or weeks
later, try the second product. The identities of the
two products are masked.
• Disguised Comparison Method: This type of
study attempts more nearly to duplicate actual
market conditions in the test situation without
actually being a sales test. Respondents were asked
to use the products, but they were not told that any
future interviewing would be done
Product Testing
• Laboratory Test Markets- One low-cost
alternative to traditional test marketing is the
laboratory test market.
• For packaged consumer products, the procedure
typically consists of a simulated supermarket,
where respondents buy products under
controlled conditions, and of auditorium-like
facilities, where respondents are exposed to
advertisements and other promotional
materials.
Pre-test market research methods.
• While they are no substitute for test marketing, can
provide important diagnostic information about a
new product and its likelihood of success faster than
a full-scale test, and at a lower cost.
• Pre-test market research methods have been used
primarily for frequently purchased consumer
products but have been adapted—with some degree
of success—for use with consumer durables and
industrial products.
• While the more successful methods are primarily
concerned with predicting the test product’s share
potential, they also provide information that will
help improve the product and its advertising.
Test Marketing
• Test marketing is a procedure by which a
company attempts to test on a small basis the
commercial viability of a new product. Such a
test has a twofold purpose, it is designed:
1. to provide a reasonable estimate of the sales
and profit potentials in the new product, and
2. to help management identify and correct any
problems having to do with the marketing plan
and the product before making the final
commitment a full-scale introduction.
Deciding What to Measure
• Researcher may measure a number of variables as given
in Table.
Forecasting sales
• The difficulty in forecasting future sales lies in the fact that
the demand for a new product typically raises rapidly, then
peaks and declines to a lower level.
• The present state of the art allows reasonably accurate
forecasts to be made between three and six months after
introduction.
Forecasting sales
• The three most common projection methods are
those having to do with income, sales, and
market share as follows:
Electronic Test Markets
• Increasingly, companies are using electronic mini-
market tests that not only reduce the costs of a
traditional test market project by as much as a third
but provide the needed data more quickly.
▫ Such “high-tech” research methods generate single-
source data; that is, they track the behavior of
individual households with respect to both their media
habits and their purchases.
▫ The result is a measure of the impact of one or more
marketing variables such as advertising copy, price, and
a particular type of consumer promotion (e.g., coupons)
on the trial and repeat purchases of a new product.
▫ Such single source research systems are also used to
test the effect of advertising commercials, advertising
weight, media scheduling, and pro-motions on the sales
of established products.
Significance of Motivation Research
• Motivation research is a “Systematic analysis of
the motives behind consumer decisions, used
especially by advertisers and marketers to assess
attitudes toward products and services”.
• The research used to investigate the
psychological reasons why individuals buy
specific types of merchandise, or why they
respond to specific advertising appeals, to
determine the base of brand choices and product
preferences has gained significance with
increasing competition and growing awareness
of consumers.
Significance of Motivation Research
• Known hidden motives - Motivational research
methods are aiming to bring out and comprehend
what the consumers do not fully understand about
themselves. On the other way, implicitly, these
researches presume the existence of an underlying
or unconscious motive, which will influence the
consumer behavior.
• Drivers of consumption - Motivational research
methods attempt to identify various forces / factors
which influence / drive consumers, of which they
may not be aware of them exactly (e.g., cultural
factors, sociological forces).
Projective Techniques
• They play an important role in motivational
research. Sometimes a respondent can see in
others what he cannot see—or will not admit—
about himself.
• The motivational researcher often asks the
respondent to tell a story, play a role, draw a
picture, complete a sentence, or associate words
with a stimulus.
• Photographs, product samples, packages, and
advertisements can also be used as stimuli to
evoke additional feelings, imagery, and
comment.
Cultural Level Analysis
• Cultural values and influences are the ocean in
which we all swim and, of which, most of us are
completely unaware.
• What we eat, the way we eat, how we dress, what
we think and feel, and the language we speak are
dimensions of our culture.
• These taken-for-granted cultural dimensions are
the basic building blocks that begin the
motivational researcher’s analysis.
Video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4mLTKvv
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