Consumer and Product. Research

Key Questions to Address through Consumer Research
Product and Innovation Research
What are the needs of our current and potential consumers?
What solutions (i.e. product or service) can we imagine to meet those needs?
Which of these imagined solutions should we develop into products?
How should we market those products to current and potential consumers?

Where does Innovation come from?
Consumer Need
Market Opportunity
Technology Breakthrough
Innovation is a process, not luck
Responding to consumer need leads to innovation

Generalized Product Innovation Research and Development Plan
Concept Development
In conjunction with Brand / Product managers, develop conceptual offer that responds to category needs of target consumers
Conceptual Testing
To gauge consumer response to conceptual offerings and mixes of different attributes; prioritize before actual product development
Product Marketing Development
To develop and test messaging for Product Marketing efforts including go-to-market advertising
Product Testing
To gather feedback on actual product or prototype performance on basis of specific attributes; design, taste, inhalation experience, usability, etc.
Consumer Ethnographies
To develop basic understanding of category consumers, how they differ from each other, and their category needs

Key Questions to Address through Consumer Research
Consumer Research
Who are our consumers? Who else is in our addressable market?
How should we think about separate groups in our addressable market? What segments of addressable market should we prioritize?
How do our target segments make purchase decisions? At what touch point along their purchase journey can we influence them? How can we influence them?