Van Kleef et al. (2005): Consumer research in the early stages of new product development: a critical review of methods and techniques

18 important questions on Van Kleef et al. (2005): Consumer research in the early stages of new product development: a critical review of methods and techniques

In which 3 stages of NPD is consumer research most widely applied?

  • Development stage
  • Testing stage
  • Launching stage

What is the research in the paper by Van Kleef et al. (2005) about?

This paper reviews and categorises ten of the most common methods and provides guidelines for the appropriateness of these methods in the NPD process.

In which stage is consumer research most important according to the authors and why?

The authors state that the opportunity identification stage is the most important to do customer research, because successful NPD strongly depends on the quality of the opportunity identification stage.
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Result: On which aspect differ the methods primarily?

In their degree of actionability to develop ''out of the box'' ideas

Which 4 stages of NPD (figure) are identified in the paper by Van Kleef et al. (2005)?

  1. Opportunity identification
  2. Development
  3. Optimization
  4. Launch

What are the 5 advantages of performing consumer research in the opportunity identification stage of the NPD process?

  • Consumer research helps to raise the odds of success in market
  • Important to understand how consumers perceive products, how their needs are shaped and influenced and how they make product choices based on them
  • Helps to avoid working on a new product that has a low probability of success in first instance
  • Guards against potential winning product concepts being overlooked
  • Inexpensive compared to risk of product failure

Result: Can the methods be considered as direct substitutes or not? And why?

  • The mothods are not direct substitutes.
  • Appropriateness depends on purpose for which they are implemented and the innovation strategy which is pursued

Which 10 methods and techniques are evaluated?

  1. Empathic design
  2. Category appraisal
  3. Conjoint analysis
  4. Focus group
  5. Free elicitation
  6. Information acceleration (IA)
  7. Kelly repertory grid
  8. Laddering
  9. Lead user technique
  10. Zaltman metaphor technique (ZMET)

What is the difference between need-driven methods en product-driven methods?

  • Need-driven methods: Participants are asked to reveal their internal needs, without being exposed to (pictures of) products
  • Product-driven methods: Consumers are confronted with products as cues to start the identification of needs and wants

The authors developed a matrix with the dimensions ''newness of product of considered'' and ''actionability''. These are the recommended consumer research methods for opportunity identification. All the 10 methods are included. Explain the matrix.

  • The methods on the left side are particularly appropriate for incremental new products.
    • Consumers can generally give reliable judgements about new products that are relatively similar to familiar products
  • Right side involved methods more appropriate for radically new products and thinking outside the box.
    • More difficult to evaluate, because consumers have no experience with the product, can lead to reduced validity.

Which two things should consumer research provide in the opportunity identification phase?

  1. Understanding what drives consumers’ decision making processes as foundation for the generation and screening of new product ideas
  2. Concrete input for technical development stage

What is the aim of consumer research methods in the early phases of the NPD process?

The aim is to make the voice of the consumer heard up front to facilitate the design of consumer relevant new products.

Up front homework is key success factor, yet often overlooked or underdeveloped.

Result: Which methods are recommended for actionability for marketing and for incremental new products (matrix)?

  • Focus group
  • Free elicitation
  • Kelly repertory grd
  • Laddering

Result: Which methods are recommended for actionability for marketing and for radical new products (matrix)?

  • Empathic design
  • Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET)

Result: Which methods are recommended for actionability for technical product development and for incremental new products (matrix)?

  • Category appraisal
  • Conjoint analysis

Result: Which methods are recommended for actionability for technical product development and for radical new products (matrix)?

  • Information acceleration
  • Lead user technique

Result: Can the methods be considered as direct substitutes or not? And why?

  • The mothods are not direct substitutes.
  • Appropriateness depends on purpose for which they are implemented and the innovation strategy which is pursued

Result: Which methods are recommended for actionability for marketing and for incremental new products (matrix)?

  • Focus group
  • Free elicitation
  • Kelly repertory grd
  • Laddering

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