Product testing sounds simple. Here's how to avoid costly surprises.

Some of the complexities we handle every day:

• Product type. From ambient to fresh, from pouches to cans, from liquids to solids, from ready-to-use products to full user experience. Each product type is different and needs its own well-thought-out protocol.
• ‍Habits around eating, drinking, and household routines. Take beer. Serving habits differ per country: ice-cold in Australia, cellar temperature in England. Or let’s talk about detergents: some wash clothes in the river (India), others use a dishwasher tablet in their dishwasher (Netherlands). These differences, and the piloting they require, are often a study in themselves.

• Customs. Getting products through customs in certain countries is a bureaucratic maze. It's no surprise Tom Hanks got stuck between two countries in The Terminal and stopped "existing" on paper. We know this world well, and we help our clients navigate it. We're not naive about customs. We've learned our lessons over the years.
• ‍Culture. How countries approach fieldwork quality differs a lot. In some countries, you can trust that the protocol will be followed to the letter (Germans, very stereotypically, sorry). In others, you really need people on the ground. Virtual checks alone won't cut it.
• ‍Speed. Fieldwork used to be the slow part of testing, waiting weeks for results to come in and get processed. Automation and AI have helped to go from those results to insights a lot faster. 

Miss one of these details, and it doesn't just show up as a strange number in a report. It can mean a product that underperforms after launch, or a decision made on the wrong signal. This is where fieldwork experience and our insights experience work together. Local knowledge tells us what to check, and we turn what we find into a clear answer.

The examples are just some of the bigger complexities. But when it comes to delivering accurate product testing insights, the real value is in the details. We could list more, but every project is different, so a generic list won't tell you much. 

Want to see how this works for your product? Get in touch with Haystack Consulting. We'll walk you through it, sharing the real nitty-gritty of (international) product testing, so you can test with confidence and avoid costly surprises after launch.

To close, a quote that captures our approach to product testing and consultancy-forward insight delivery:

"On behalf of the team, thank you very much for all your support and partnership throughout this project. It was a pleasure working with you and the team. We truly appreciated the collaboration, responsiveness, and flexibility along the way. The study brought many valuable learnings, and we are confident the insights will help inform our future decisions."

Lays Machado de Oliveira, Heineken Brazil Consumer & Marketing Intelligence

Ready to conduct product testing?

Get in touch with Haystack Consulting and be amazed by our operational excellence and true value delivery.

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