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Ipsos ProductQuest Adds Neuroscience Feature
Ipsos' product testing wing ProductQuest has integrated the neuroscience technique known as Implicit Reaction Time (IRT) into its evaluations, to help clients probe consumers' non-conscious perceptions of their products.
The firm says traditional approaches can overlook attributes which hold the key to meaningful product improvements. IRT measures how strongly consumers feel about a product, versus a benchmark or competitive product, by 'succinctly capturing how much time it takes a respondent to associate multiple attributes with the product'.
The division bills itself as 'the world's largest product testing advisor', testing more than 7,000 products each year. According to President of Global Product Testing Virginia Weil, one of the greatest challenges for clients is identifying exactly where improvements to a product should be made. She comments: 'With IRT we bring product testing to a whole new level by uncovering thoughts and feelings about products that consumers are not even aware they have'.
The ability to embed IRT into product testing projects is the result of a partnership between Ipsos and neuroscience firm NEUROHM.
Elissa Moses, EVP, Neuro and Behavioral Science at Ipsos, says the tendency of respondents to pay lip service to leading brands means their answers 'may not reflect their innermost feelings', adding: 'This is why leading brands are sometimes rated highly on most attributes when perceptions may, in fact, be beginning to tarnish. IRT can identify when consumers are only being polite, or, better yet, spotlight when a specific attribute is potentially far more important than otherwise recognized'.
The group's home page is at www.ipsos.com .
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