Month: December 2022

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Sensory taste tests are a vital part of developing and evaluating food and drink products. They deliver a wide range of insights influencing product decisions, from flavour and taste profiles to texture and appearance.

But what are some actionable insights you might discern from such a test? Let’s look at five key takeaways that could inform your product development and marketing decisions.

1. Gauge Consumer Acceptance

One of the first takeaways from a sensory taste test is an indication of consumer acceptance – especially if you’ve carried out the project with lay taste testers (members of the general public) rather than trained experts.

Their subjective thoughts on your product’s taste, texture, and aroma can be invaluable in helping you understand how consumers might perceive your products in the future.

By catching any potentially negative perceptions early, you may be able to avoid costly redevelopment processes while the product is already sitting on shelves missing sales targets.

2. Analyse Competitors’ Offerings

An in-depth understanding of your competitors’ offerings is one of the most critical insights delivered via a sensory taste test. When tested side-by-side, you can gain vital insight into how your product compares to competitors’ products in terms of taste and other sensory factors.

You might suddenly discover that your meat pie doesn’t possess as much “beefiness” as your main competitor’s offering – or that your product has a much richer and more decadent mouthfeel than your competitor’s.

These insights can help you refine your recipes to better serve your customers’ tastes and differentiate your products from competitors.

3. Identify Product Strengths and Weaknesses

Another important takeaway from a sensory taste testing project is the identification and analysis of product strengths and weaknesses. You might find that your target demographic loves a particular element of your product – such as its rich, indulgent texture – but finds another element less appealing, such as its strong aftertaste.

Without putting your product through these tests, these weaknesses might not have been picked up until the later stages of product development or in customer focus groups. At that point, it would be far more expensive to fix any issues.

4. Leverage Your Competitors’ Products to Create a Gold-Standard Product

Sensory taste tests have the ability to remove the secrecy behind your competitors’ product’s success. By objectively evaluating your product alongside a selection of the current market leaders, you can identify those factors that differentiate them from the competition, as well as those features that you could incorporate into your own products to create a market-leading offering.

This process, known as product benchmarking or product optimisation, allows you to take the best bits from your competitors’ products and combine them with your own expertise to create a product or service that is genuinely unique – rather than simply “me too” – in the eyes of the consumer.

5. Better Focus Your Marketing Strategy

Lastly, another excellent takeaway from a sensory taste test is identifying a product’s key selling points. There’s no point trying to market your fizzy drink as the “fizziest” on the market if there are others on the market that are considerably stronger on the fizz front.

By uncovering what it is that makes your product unique, you can focus your marketing efforts more effectively and ensure that your brand stands out from the crowd for the right reasons.

Sensory Taste Tests Offer Various Benefits

As you can see, there are many reasons why your company should consider undertaking a sensory taste test as part of the product development process. The various ways in which you can use the data and insights delivered by WSS can vastly improve your company’s ability to create and sell products that truly resonate with consumers – and ultimately improve your bottom line.

To speak to a member of our team about conducting a sensory taste test for your brand, please get in touch today on +44(0)151 346 2999 or email us at info@wssintl.com.

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All market-leading products depend on consumer research to achieve success. Without consumer feedback, companies can’t make informed decisions about their products either before launch or after they’ve been on the market for a while.

Whatever stage of the product life cycle you are at, we can help you with high-quality and easily actioned consumer insights. With over 25 years of UK market expertise, our team offers expert industry knowledge and outstanding research and data analysis skills.

What Are the Benefits of Conducting Consumer Research?

There are several benefits that you can gain from conducting market research, including:

• An increased understanding of your target market: The more information you have about your target market, the easier it will be to develop an effective product.
• Competitors’ strengths and weaknesses: By identifying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to create a product that is better adapted to consumer needs and exploit any weaknesses current market leaders might have.
• Improved product positioning and promotion: By better understanding what customers are looking for in your product, you can more easily identify effective marketing and promotional strategies, enabling you to maximise your sales.
• Reduced product development costs: By researching the wants and needs of your target audience, you will better understand the kind of features your new product will need to meet these needs. This will make it easier for you to make the right investment choices when developing your product, saving you time and money.

In short, when you invest in consumer research services, you will be able to achieve your business objectives faster and more effectively. You may even be able to spot gaps in the market and create products that meet the demands of your customers more effectively than your competitors.

What Consumer Research Methods Does WSS Offer?

We offer a broad spectrum of consumer research services, including but not limited to the following:

• Taste Testing
• Product Acceptance
• Online Consumer Research
• Focus Group Studies
• Home Use Testing
• Children’s Testing
• Packaging Research
• And much more

The option you decide to pursue will depend on your specific product and company needs. Our team is always on hand to advise on the most effective method for your particular circumstances. Of course, we can conduct multiple types of research on the same project if your product requires it.

Why Choose Wirral Sensory Services for Your Consumer Research Needs?

At WSS, we’re proud of our decades-long track record in providing excellent market research services to a wide range of businesses across the UK. We have worked with leading names in various industry sectors, including food and drink, health and beauty, and household cleaning products.

Whatever sector you operate in and whatever stage of your business lifecycle, we can help you with comprehensive and insightful consumer research that will help you achieve your objectives.

So if you would like to speak to a member of our team regarding your requirements or want to find out more about our full range of services, simply contact us today by calling +44 (0)151 346 2999 or by sending us an email to info@wssintl.com.

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When developing a market-leading food or beverage product, you must gather all the data you can to ensure success. While you might well spend time on packaging research and get focus groups together to help refine your product, you should also pay attention to flavour and texture.

Without objectively measuring your finished product, you’ll never be sure you’re developing a product that will hit the mark with consumers. Since taste is such a huge part of product acceptance, it’s only right that you’ll want to conduct a sensory taste test (or several) to truly understand how your new product tastes in the eyes of your consumers and how it compares against your competitors’ offerings.

What is a Sensory Taste Test?

A sensory taste test is, as it sounds, a test to determine the sensory properties of your product. You might measure how it tastes, how it feels in the mouth, how it smells, and how the texture performs so that you can understand where it’s going right or wrong and what you can do to improve it.

You can choose to test your products based on specific parameters, or you can decide to base it entirely on consumer preference.

What’s Involved in the Sensory Taste Testing Process?

Generally speaking, sensory taste tests are carried out by trained assessors who will be guided by a research company such as Wirral Sensory Services regarding which elements to assess. Whether it be odour, texture, flavour, or any other factor that feeds into the taste of a product, the assessor will be instructed to objectively record their observations.

It’s common to subsequently rerun these tests with leading competitor brands, so you have an objective comparison to make and can look for areas of deficiency or strengths in your product development.

Taste testing can also be carried out by members of the public from your target demographic to receive more subjective feedback in neutral settings. Their insights can point to opportunities or problems you might not have considered in your initial tests.

How Can You Use the Results of Your Sensory Taste Tests?

When working with Wirral Sensory Services, you will have your results broken down into jargon-free language that you can easily interpret and understand. With your actionable insights, you can then choose to either develop the product further or make the necessary adjustments to ensure it meets the market’s expectations.

Sensory taste tests often form part of the product benchmarking or product optimisation process, whereby a new product is developed and tested throughout its development cycle against its key competitors to ensure that the final product has a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Why Choose Wirral Sensory Services for Your Sensory Taste Test Requirements?

Since 1997, we’ve been trusted by leading British and international brands to handle their sensory research needs. We have one of the largest and most experienced pools of trained sensory panellists in the UK for conducting qualitative and quantitative market and product research projects.

Whether you need the objectivity of high-acuity testers or the lay perspective of the general public to understand your market better, we can help you identify opportunities for improvement using a range of techniques tailored to your product and your budget.

To speak to us today regarding your next sensory taste test project, please contact us on +44 (0)151 346 2999 or fill out the online contact form on our website.