Breaking Free from Your Desk: The Power of Real-World Feedback

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about consumer product goods (CPG) innovation, it’s that you might be shocked at what happens when you take a product into the actual selling environment. Yet, at most companies, innovations are iterated mostly from our desktops.

I’m a big proponent of getting perspective on products in real-world environments throughout, but especially, early in the process. Getting out into the field and testing ideas directly with consumers yields invaluable insights that help you iterate to the best product possible. You don’t need to wait until you’ve completed extensive research.

And you don't necessarily need an agency to take your innovation into real-world environments. For example, when I was working on a product for kids, I went to my son’s school and conducted a simple test with second and third graders, which provided immediate, relevant feedback. Here are a couple more examples.

Example: Club Innovation at WhiteWave Foods

I worked on the club business for WhiteWave Foods, as most innovators do, we were designing packaging on a monitor. I realized that this wasn’t enough. I wanted to see how the packaging would look in a store, under different lighting conditions and against the big, orange Costco shelving units.

It would have been both impractical and costly to create a pallet and get it delivered to a store to see it “live” so instead our designers created a few variations of the front of the packaging and blew it up to scale, printing it on large foam core. The designers and I took these mockups to our local Costco and asked if we could put them in front of a pallet to see how they looked. Our own reaction to the in-store experience was invaluable, as was stopping a handful of shoppers as they walked by and asking them their opinions-the decision on the winning design was clear-we could immediately see what worked and what didn’t.

Example: Freeze-Dried Pet Treats

Another time, I had a client working in freeze-dried pet treats. We had various early design directions which were very different from each other and we weren’t sure which one would resonate best.

We printed about a dozen designs on a color printer, cut them to actual size, and then took them to several local pet stores of different sizes and with different competitive products. We pegged them on the store’s shelves, stood back, and took pictures, observing how they looked in a real retail environment within the different competitive sets. This hands-on approach revealed insights we couldn’t have gained from office-based testing and helped accelerate the process of narrowing down to the three lead designs that moved forward. We went on to repeat this process each time we need to decide to narrow or progress.

Consider this your invitation to be creative and proactive in getting out of the office, and continually refine the product based on real in-store environment. Shift the mindset and get your team into the real-world environment with stimulus to help progress and support your innovation process.

Looking for in-store product testing support? Send us a note at hello@mission-field.com.