We have published several Free Covid-19 Tracking Reports to help you understand how consumers are responding to the crisis, and what to expect in the future. To provide you with the best research leadership possible, we have also analyzed historical results in prior crises, re-fielded tests, analyzed our studies in the field, talked to sample providers, and monitored competitive/industry learning. The bottom line is that research continues to deliver insights reliably in this environment:

We have not had significant difficulties recruiting respondents to participate.
Historically, mean Purchase Probability, Uniqueness, and Value for our entire concept database did not vary more than 0.1 points in most cases over the 12-month periods before, during, and after the Credit Crisis – and competitors report the same learning.
We’ve re-tested 13 ideas across a number of categories and price points, for both leading and challenger brands (thanks to Precision Sample for providing some of the sample for this).

Below are more details on the results and recommendations for future studies.

We continue to provide custom online surveys, FastTrack™ evaluations, low-cost ACUPULSE™ omnibus studies, and Live Online™ qual+quant solutions to help you navigate and come out even stronger during the rebound in the months ahead. Please contact us if you have questions or if there’s anything else we can do to help.

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DATA QUALITY RE-TEST RESULTS AND TEST RECOMMENDATIONS

On 10 of the 13 concepts, there were no significant differences in Purchase Probability, Uniqueness, or Value (or General Interest for 3 unpriced concepts) versus the original tests.
Three of the 13 changed, for (mostly) clear reasons:
- One health concept generates higher Purchase Probability and higher Value now, likely because it included a bacteria cleaning benefit – we believe this increase is a real/sustaining change.
- One food concept generates the same Purchase Probability but significantly lower Value now … reflecting the heightened attention on a premium idea that didn’t really justify its premium.
- One personal care concept related to shaving had significantly lower Purchase Probability and the same Value, perhaps because people are shaving less.
This is consistent with 2 competitors who’ve re-tested in the U.S. and abroad and found nearly identical results.

12 personal care ideas tested in rapid succession on Impulse/Gut Reaction identified/ranked the top 5 ideas and bottom 2 ideas in the same order, and only one of the “middle” ideas tested significantly differently on this measure, perhaps because it had an on-the-go benefit after gym/sports which is a sore point right now.
Mean agreement levels were statistically equal for 13 of 14 insight statements, and the 14th was only off 0.3 points on a 0-to-10 scale.

All this notwithstanding, we have seen some movement in sub-segments as well as on diagnostic measures, indicating there may be some changes in isolated cases in how consumers react, understandably, but not to the level of changing overall recommendations.

All in all, we believe consumers have a clear cognitive capacity to project their feelings and conceptualize the future that lets them rate an idea or attitude in general instead of limiting themselves to the moment.

Going-forward, we’ll go the extra mile to help you get the learning you need:

CONTINUED CARE: We will continue to monitor results closely and re-test examples as needed. We predict results may elevate for anything involving promises of infection control, sanitization, or saving money, which would be real/sustainable advantages in the foreseeable future.
PREMIUMS: We encourage you to make sure any premium pricing in concepts is fully justified by perceived efficacy advantage that sustains good value, as consumer scrutiny on value has increased.
NEW STUDIES DURING CRISIS: We are happy to include/re-test a previously-tested idea for comparison – at a substantially reduced cost. While we expect similar results, to the extent they vary higher/lower, we can use this to help you understand any impact current conditions may be having on newly-tested concepts. Re-tests are also recommended when you are interested in closely comparing results to previously tested ideas among specific segments or on detailed diagnostics.
STUDIES AFTER THE CRISIS: For extra confidence, we would be happy to re-test an idea that was tested during the crisis for the first-time once it has passed, at a substantially reduced cost, to confirm the learnings hold true.