1. Innovation Management 2012 Stefan Wuyts
Product Use Testing
Innovation Management 2012
Stefan Wuyts

2. Agenda Product use testing: discussion Key testing dimensions
α-, β-, and γ-tests

3. Role of Marketing & Manufacturing
Marketing: information coordination (not just gathering)
Manufacturing: also involved early on in NPD, advises on manufacturability
The “I think we’ve got it” phase.
Once this point is reached, the team’s attitude toward the project changes.
Marketing’s role increases as marketing people “rev up” their operations. Marketing “ramps up” for the product launch.
Plan field sales and service availability.
Begin work on packaging and branding.
Begin work with advertising agency reps.
etc.

5. Popular Arguments Against Product Use Testing
“A fortune has already been spent on the product.”
“Market research says the product is a winner.”
“Competitor is working on a similar product.”
“May suggest lack of faith in product.”
“Customers have to learn how to use the product.”
“Competitor may steal our idea and beat us to the market.”

6. Product recalls Infantino’s baby slings: suffocation, 3 infants died
Toyota’s faulty pedals
Chinese cribs
Chinese milkpowder (melamine, infant death)
Ford Pinto, danger of explosion because of fuel tank
Firestone tires (nearly 175 deaths)
Improperly butchered cattle
Peanut butter (salmonella, 8 deaths)
Vioxx (arthritis drug increased chances of heart attacks and strokes; 4.84 billion dollars on 27,000 lawsuits)

7. Arguments For Product Use Testing
Better to build off a technology base that provides some insulation from competitive copying than to worry about such copying.
Customer needs are complex sets — use testing would have identified problems with GTE Airfone (planes).
Delivering a total quality product — avoiding "horror stories" of poor product quality before product is marketed.

8. Some key testing dimensions
Validity of a test
External validity: are the observed test results generalizable across contexts, persons, time?
Internal validity: can we causally explain the test results we observe?
Strength of a measure
Reliability of a measure: do repeated measures give the same result?
Validity of a measure: do I measure what I intend to measure?

9. Laboratory versus field tests
Factor
Laboratory
Field
Environment
Artificial
Realistic
Control
High
Low
Internal validity
External validity
Duration
Short
Long
Number of units
Small
Large
Ease of implementation
Cost

10. Some Key Testing Dimensions
User groups to contact (lab personnel, experts, employees, stakeholders).
Mode of contact (mail vs. personal, individual vs. group, point of use vs. central location).
Identity disclosure.
Degree of use explanation (no comment, some, full explanation).
Degree of control over use (supervised vs. unsupervised)
Singularity (monadic usually less sensitive than paired or triangular comparison).

11. Need for a representative sample?

12. Types of Product Use Tests

13. α-testing versus β-testing
Alpha testing: done in-house
Beta testing: done at the customer site

14. Pitfalls with β-testing
Beta test site firm has no internal capacity to test the performance of the product at the required level.
Developer puts in a wishy-washy performance requirement like "user-friendly" which is meaningless without a measurable specification.
Testing is done too late in the NPD process. Doing testing in increments throughout the process can avoid this pitfall.
Developers attempt to β-test their own products. They are too close to the product to critically test it and find problems.
Developers ignore negative results, hoping that the product will improve by itself during the NPD process. All β-test results, positive or negative, need to be honestly evaluated.

15. γ-testing
β-testing may not meet all the product developer’s requirements.
Does the new product solve the customer problem?
Is it cost-effective for them?
γ-testing involves thorough use and evaluation of the new product by the end user.
It’s an ideal product use test — but in many cases firms go with β-testing.
Cost and time considerations
Keeping ahead of competitors

16. Test phases for pharmaceuticals
Preclinical trials: Not including humans, e.g. animal trials (key objectives: effectiveness, safety, side effects, dosage)
Phase I: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase II: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase III: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase IV: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.

17. “It may well bring about immortality – but it will take forever to test it.”

18. Report for assignment
Make sure you provide also (1) company description; (2) introduction to the problem; (3) empirical support (interviews, assessment of potential demand); (4) references; (5) eventually visualization (what will product look like).