Consumer insights for new product development

Market research

Client

Dove is an established brand of personal care products and was seeking a new skincare product idea and research partners who could assist it in knowing what customers really desire. As a subset of this broader investigation of insights, our group was chosen in order to assist them in collecting feedback that would inform decisions at the early development phase.

Project

The issue that Dove had to resolve before making the final decision about the direction of the new line is to have a clear idea of how the customers think of product names, where they would see similar products being sold in the stores and what kind of description they find most reliable and convincing. They were also interested in knowing the general interest in the product concept to ascertain the reaction that the market would have toward it.

The study had an intention to include a big population of actual consumers so that the comments would reflect varied age groups, circumstances as well as skin care requirements. So we were instructed to have at least 40,000 participants that are authentic.

Our team's task

We developed a research method that integrated web-based surveys and concept pre-tests. This assisted us in getting useful feedback on:

  • Appealing or memorable product names.
  • The relative ratings on various aisle positions like Natural Care, Skin Hydration or Sensitive Skin by the customers.
  • What people preferred and did not like about the draught product descriptions and why.
  • The perception that customers have to purchase the product after being released.

We were to provide Dove with clear and practical insights that would be of use to aid in their decision making. The results were used to point at the emotions that were attached to specific words, the descriptions that were relatable, and the categories of benefits that were inherently tracked by the customers.

Outcome

The findings indicated good product concept interest. A lot of the participants ended up reacting well to messages that emphasised on natural ingredients, gentle care and simple wordings that were easy to comprehend. These pieces of information assisted Dove in polishing the product title, changing the description to be more consumer friendly and making decisions on where the product would most preferably fit in the store setting.

Though we were able to give our work a good guide to the further actions, the specifics of the findings were also not disclosed as per the agreement with the client.