Modern marketing research is a dynamic discipline for new technologies continues to develop, scientists discover new statistical methods, new procedures are being introduced to solve old problems. Consider three particularly interesting techniques that have recently emerged in the market for business research (B2B): product testing, computer simulations, and contextual research these are elaborated as below:

Testing the use of the product

Testing the use of the product focuses on the interaction between the consumer and the product. In testing, the potential consumer interacts with the product or prototype of the product under carefully controlled conditions, i.e. testing allows you to check whether the customer’s intended mental model is correct for the interaction of the consumer with his product. This is provided by monitoring how the consumer tries to use the product. This technique allows you to determine what kind and where the developers made mistakes. The uniqueness of testing the use of the product is that, unlike traditional techniques of marketing research, here the interaction of the consumer with the product is investigated. In other techniques, the memory of the interaction with the product or quantity, the frequency of agreement with the statements about the product. In choice modeling and controlled experiments, buyers make choices that are then analyzed. Thus, none of these techniques refers to the actual interaction of the consumer with the product.

The method is effective for testing

A new complex product at the same time, it is necessary to study not only the history of buyers, their reactions and the choices made, but also to consider their interaction with the product while performing certain tasks so the consumption testing is not limited to products.

Computer simulation

Computer simulation has the same goals as any laboratory study to reproduce in a controlled environment a reliable model of some real-life situation that the researcher is interested in. Today it is carried out with the help of video monitors and multimedia software. In the near future, the technologies for creating a virtual reality should provide even greater reliability of models. Let’s consider an example that will help to reveal their essence.

Example

It was developed at Harvard a computerized interactive method for testing packaging design. A supermarket shelf is shown on a large monitor. Existing packaging or packaging with a new design can be placed on this shelf among the packages of competitors in the same way as the buyer sees it in a real store. Participants in the study can direct traffic between the “shelves” of the virtual store with the mouse. If consumers want to study the packaging in more detail (as everyone sometimes does when shopping, they can “zoom in” the packaging and see the list of ingredients or other information that can be printed on the package. The program tracks and measures everything that the research participant does. Accordingly, you can experiment with different packaging design and measure their effectiveness in different ways.

Contextual research

A distinctive feature of contextual studies is that the product designers watch the buyer at his workplace. These studies can be considered a specific type of visit to the client or an approach to testing the use of the product. In the process of contextual research, developers are discussing with consumers, what they did now and what happened. The basic idea is that much of the consumer’s experience cannot be expressed in words and discussed until he gets into the consumption situation. Thus, it becomes clear the need to monitor the buyer in the context of using the product. The research procedure includes a meeting of developers to determine the area of interest. What interests them should be reflected in the list of actions and events to be monitored.

Author Bio

Amanda Cerny is a journalist working in a prominent media cell in the United Kingdom. In this article, she explicates the modern methods used for online marketing. She also works at online essay help | English Essays for the betterment of students.

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