Product testing concept: testing market research gaming - case study

Introduction

Successful new product development is the priority for all organizations and this is the section where most of the revenue is spent as well, however there are times when the products introduced to the market are not successful in attracting the customers and regardless of the efforts placed by the organization there is a huge hit to the cost, labor, time and motivation. [ CITATION Fin08 l 1033 ]
There are multiple factors that can attract or detract the customers, and a small miss can lead to a great loss and negative voice of customer (VOC) so is there a way to know before launching the product that what market actually needs? If we look at the below mentioned series of steps, we will understand that there are few important steps before the actual launch of a product that can help us in determining the market needs and will allow us to modify the product per the requirement.[ CITATION Sid02 l 1033 ]

Ideas Generation & Screening > Product Concept Testing > Design & Engineer > Product Testing > Product Launch

In the above given process, Product Concept Testing and Product Testing are the steps that will help us to anticipate the market and will help us to design the product and also take a relative pre-launch feedback from potential customers. We will create a concept test and product test for the new gaming product ‘ Kinect’ and this paper will look at the various pre-launch objectives and market study for this product, the approach will involve a real time concept testing and product testing where we will be taking a feedback on the product and will anticipate the market according to the gaming environment and the current response of the potential customers. [ CITATION Sou07 l 1033 ]

Gaming Industry, Related Ideas and Screening

Gaming industry and related technology has drastically changed in the last couple of years where competitors like Sony and Nintendo have launched a couple of products to improve the current gaming environment with some latest editions. There have been several analyses to understand the demand between PS3 and Game Boy and geographically between Europe, USA and Japan, although the market driver still remains the technology driven aspects it is still important to understand the gaming concepts which are in place at the moment and are attracting the customers to invest. [ CITATION Ulr00 l 1033 ]
Even though the market accepts that there are some hardcore gamers who will be looking forward to the upcoming products from all the key players, it is still expected that some loyal customers will remain with their previous brands and will wait for new products from them in the coming time. The key factors that are being discussed in the present gaming market is the console effectiveness and graphics, also the game releases according to the compatible versions is a strong promoter for the gaming suppliers in the market. We must understand with the above discussion that despite the efficient results from a product the market is still open for a new launch that brings a refreshing change to the current gaming environment. [ CITATION Tho10 l 1033 ]

The new “ Kinect” Concept Test and Market Review

The launch of our new product “ Kinect” is expected to take place in the coming ten months and a concept test will be done in order to understand the needs of the current gaming market, the concept as introduced to the current market and the kind of response that may be expected from the target population. The target of this test will be to ensure that the current features and technology, as provided by the new product which will be introduced, meets the requirements of the market and is compatible to match the current gaming environment and is able to provide an edge over the other products so that a relevant market share can be created after the launch. [ CITATION Sid02 l 1033 ]
‘ Kinect’ is an upcoming surprise for the gaming lovers, as it offers extremely impressive motion gaming and provides full body tracking and unforgettable gaming experience. It provides a very compact console along with great graphics and sensitive motion sensors to enable the user enjoy the most.
This new motion gaming attachment will work with the x-box 360 console and is really easy to calibrate and use, there are no such space or T. V size recommendations however it is expected that best results may be obtained with a 32 inches HD T. V. and a normal living room space. The “ Kinect” is easy to install and does not need a lot of space, it has infrared camera, which may be placed along with the console in such a manner that the body motions are clearly in view.

Concept Overview

In order to understand the customer views on the product, a survey will be developed to capture the customer feedback and a sample size will be selected to cover a sample from all the possible segments of target customers. The research based survey will involve a brief explanation of the current gaming competition and products in the market and will talk about the most basic and most advanced features of the gaming industry and along with that it will give a detailed overview of motion gaming and the current products and features. Before the survey, the participant group will be introduced to the features and qualities of the new “ Kinect”, and then a feedback with be taken on the basis of questionnaire as discussed in the upcoming sections. [ CITATION Jar09 l 1033 ]

Concept Quality and Respondents

The concept will be created where two sections will be introduced to the respondents, in the first section all the respondents will be requested to study the basic features offered by the new ‘ Kinect’, and in the next section the advanced and the winning features will be introduced, in order to ensure that the group providing a feedback is well diverse, we will ensure that it includes both novice and master gamers, so that they can express their views according to their representative population. In order to select a sample group there will be another survey done to precise and concentrate the members of the group in such a manner that they together represent the entire target population that is expected to be a buyer. [ CITATION Dol99 l 1033 ]
The survey for the selection of responding team will involve questions on Age, interests (gaming related), motion gaming experience and no. of hours played each day using we will create a group of hundred individuals where forty members will be between the age of 10-16 years, forty will be between the age of 16-30 years and twenty will be above thirty. Each group will include at least five players who play more than two hours of video game in a day and atleast one player who does not play video games at all. This will help us to understand whether we can target the customers who do not play as of now but with the launch of this product will be interested in gaming.

Concept Standards and the Interview Sequence

Monadic Testing will be the modality that is chosen to fit this kind of a product and the reason behind this is, it offers to get the data in a concept wise manner and will enable us to effectively collect a normative data, without any biases, actually considering the group that we have chosen in any other methodology mutual influence can effect the kind of survey results that we will receive and therefore it is important for us to keep the survey as personal as possible. [ CITATION Sou07 l 1033 ]
The data collected from the monadic tests will also give us an additional advantage, which it will help us to do a simultaneous comparison of the results received; moreover with the kind of data received from this particular method, it is possible to a design modeling and volumetric forecasting. The final step in this section is the creation of questions which will help us to obtain the customer’s feedback and this is actually very important as the questions have to be easy enough for a laymen to gaming world and must also include important technical aspects (on which we want to capture the feedback), both of these can be attained together by giving a basic information to the customers as discussed in the sections above. [ CITATION Wal01 l 1033 ]
There will be three different modes of concept display that we are using, a) a video will be played before each member of the group who will be able to see the product and its use in a video and will also learn about the features. The other will be a written document which will talk about the dimensions, complexity and the degree of finish of the product, the third and the last will be a dummy of the product which will help the respondent to relate it to the video and the document. The scope of this exercise with be limited to qualitative understanding only, quantitative survey and pricing will be out of scope. Finally the questionnaire will appear in this manner:[ CITATION Sid02 l 1033 ]

• Is this new product in motion gaming a real and practical need?
• How likely are you to buy this product over the current product that you are using?
• How would you rate this product against the other similar products in the market?
• Is the product appealing to you? Give Reasons

Preferences and Benefit Segments

As discussed above, while making the plan for a team of respondents, we have subdivided the groups in three teams and therefore with the answers above we will have four-hundred responses in total, now it is important to create a summary of the responses however we must keep in mind that in order to do a selective check on the data collected we will plot the details in terms of the groups and hence that is how we will be able to do a cluster-based analyses to see a graphical representation of the responses received. The segregation of the details received will be on the basis of utility of the product and Gaming Experience as given below.[ CITATION Jar09 l 1033 ]

Cluster Based Analysis Gaming Experience

The preferences of the customers obtained from the data will be used to plot on the basis of regression analysis, we will use the information based on the utility acceptance and gaming experience as identified and the same will be calculated along the frequency of the users. The last step will be do follow a conjoint analysis on the basis of the benefit segments derived in the previous step where the preference data is plotted according to the responses received. [ CITATION Ulr00 l 1033 ]

Market Positioning and Relative Research

With all that we have discussed it is clear that market research will be one of the key aspects and will actually be the path to success hence, it will be a mission to develop an attacking strategy and go ahead with production planning simultaneously after the concept testing gets over this will allow us to create an awareness about the product and a known name even before the product reaches the market.[ CITATION Jar09 l 1033 ]

Research Objectives

The following will be our key marketing objectives which will not only help us to shape up our efforts but will also ensure a proactive approach:-
a.) The primary objective of the R&D team will be to do an extensive research while the initial phase of production development will be going on so that in case if there is any new input that comes it can be readily implemented .

b.) There would be a very significant emphasis on the usage of media like OSN (online social networking) T. V, web portals and news-print. This will ensure that the consumer are also aware of the product and its highlights even before it reaches the market.

Financial Objectives

Following are the financial objectives:-

a.) Base Costs to be minimum possible with the help of extensive financial analysis and automation.
b.) Research and production to ensure equal turn around time for the pilot supply so that the product testing starts as quickly as possible.

Target Markets and Positioning

The two major markets that will be covered with this product will be domestic market and the procurement for commercial purposes. In order to hit the commercial market the strategy will be very simple and after product testing it will be important to ensure that there is a detailed strategy in order to introduce the new product to the upcoming market.

Product Testing

This will take place according to the same groups that were created on the basis of the previous surveys, and it is important that at the same time we also ensure that all the feedback which is taken after analysis is implemented so that the product does not have the shortcomings as per the responses received. The product testing procedure will be the next step and will be followed in detail to provide an idea to the participating groups so that they may be able to use the product and then take part in a real time survey which will help us to estimate a market response, once the product is physically revealed to the potential customers. [ CITATION Jar09 l 1033 ]
In order to capture the customer response we will ensure that the players get access guide and are tested to play a game according to the convenience, we have to understand here that there will be multiple aspects that need to be separately assessed and in this regard we will have to test the product on Installation, Calibration and Gaming Experience one-by-one. The feedback template will be once again created however this time the responses will be segregated on the basis of the areas being assessed, in the first attempt, the users will be requested to unwrap the new product and install it according to the instructions given in the manual, it is important to understand here that as per the division of the groups in each section we will have a response from gaming experts as well as a novice.[ CITATION Sid02 l 1033 ]
The second step of product testing will be basically related to the calibration of the motion sensor and this will be done with all the groups as well, since this will be an individual exercise the testers will simply follow the instructions given to them as written directions and this will help us to asses that how a normal user will learn to proceed with the calibration.
The last step will be the testing based on a game which will be played on the ‘ Kinect’ using the x-box console, the users will be asked to strongly assess the quality of gaming and the motion experience. The above three steps will be finally followed by a questionnaire as mentioned below.

• How would you rate the installation and handling of the product?
• How would you rate the calibration and sensor capacity of the product?
• How would you rate the motion sensor gaming experience?
• How likely are you to buy this product, once available in the market?
• Is there any other existing product in the market which is better? If yes, then why?

Responses to the above questions will be captured and will be used to develop a strategic plan, to finally deduce if the product is good-to-go to the market. The steps involved in this section will include a primary plotting of the feedback given and an average of the VOC calculation. The responses with a score from 1-6 will be considered as detractors, the responses between 7-8 will be considered as passives and the ones getting a 9 or 10 will be considered as a promoter of the product.[ CITATION Ulr00 l 1033 ]

Conclusion

In order to ensure that the value of a product is sustained in the market and there is a strong idea of the kind of response that the market will give to a product, it is important to do concept and product testing. In the above case study we have seen that the gaming product involves a lot of differentiation and competition, hence it becomes very important to take an idea of the potential customer’s views while the product is designed and finally once we have a completed product we do a quality testing to understand the kind of response that we may be expecting from the consumers once they see the product in the market.

Works Cited

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Finn, A., & Peng, L. (2008). Concept testing: the state of contemporary practice. Alabama: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Jared, H., & Woods, J. D. (2009). Secure More Successful Product Launches. Infosurv.
Side, C., & Heyhoe, T. (2002). Chapter 7. Product and Concept Testing—Methods and Cost Control. London: Iowa State Press.
Soukhoroukova, A., & Wolfgang, J. (2007). NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT WITH INTERNET-BASED INFORMATION MARKETS:. Frankfurt: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Thomas, J. W. (2010). Concept Testing (And The “ Uniqueness” Paradox). Dallas-Fort Worth: Decision Analyst.
Ulrich, K. T., & Eppinger, S. D. (2000). Product Design and Development. Irwin McGraw-Hill.
Wallace, M. P., & Ono, M. (2001). Global Multimedia Software August 20, 2001. The Global Video Games Monthly Vol 19 no. 1 , 45-57.