Name and packaging testing with qualitative research
A qualitative name and packaging study shows what people read at first glance, what they associate, what promise they think the pack makes and why they lean towards one option over another. It does not tell you which one will sell more on the shelf; it tells you what your audience understands and what confuses them, before you print.
What does this study answer?
- What people read first on the pack and what goes unnoticed.
- What each person associates with the name: images, categories, other brands, words that sound alike.
- Whether the name is understood, pronounced and remembered after seeing it once.
- What the pack promises about quality, origin and who the product is for, and whether that promise matches what the brand means to say.
- Whether the product is recognized and stands out next to the competition, as it would on a shelf or in a display.
- What each option has that the others lack, and what is lost by choosing one.
A name and a pack are decided once and seen for years. The conversation lets you hear how they are read by someone who was not in the meetings where they were created and has nobody next to them to explain.
How do you compare options without forcing a vote?
Asking a group which one they like best produces a winner but explains nothing, and the result depends on who spoke first. It is more useful for each person to describe each option separately: what they think it is, who it is for, where they would look for it and what would make them wary of it. Preference comes up at the end, as one more reason, not as a show of hands.
With the nominal group technique, each person writes down their first reading before hearing the others. That first written impression is the closest thing to what happens in front of a shelf, where the pack gets a few seconds and nobody explains it.
Blind or with the brand in view?
Showing the name or the pack without the brand tells you what it communicates on its own. Revealing the brand afterwards shows how much the reading changes once people bring in what they already know or believe about it. Both readings are useful, and the gap between them is a finding in itself. If you do both, start blind, because what has been revealed cannot be unseen.
When there are several options, a practical tip: rotate the order in which they are shown across groups. The first option people see tends to become the reference for the rest, and rotating the order keeps that effect from being mistaken for a real preference.
What does it not answer?
It does not tell you what share of sales each option will get at the point of sale, or what part of the market prefers one over another. With small groups, counting votes has no statistical value. Measuring preference takes a survey or a test with a larger sample, which can use what the qualitative study found to decide what to measure. Nor does it check whether a name is available for registration: that is a separate legal step.
How does WAV design it?
We start from the decision, not from a questionnaire. In the first conversation we agree on what has to be settled when the study ends, and from there we build the groups, the guide and the stimuli.
- Groups by profile. People who buy the category today, split by the profile that matters for the decision, for example the brand's customers and competitors' customers, each profile in its own group.
- 6 to 8 people per group, sessions of 90 to 120 minutes. Enough for contrast, and enough time for everyone to speak.
- Stimuli in the room. Packs printed or mocked up at real size and, when it matters, placed next to competing products as they would sit on a shelf. Names written out exactly as they would appear. More on what a stimulus is.
- In writing first. Each person notes their reaction to each option before discussing it, so you know what they thought before the group had any influence.
- A 360 room in Santiago. A 360 camera records the whole room and each participant wears their own microphone. The brand can follow the session live.
The session follows a guide in blocks, each with its goal and minutes; there is an example in the focus group discussion guide template.
What do you receive?
A report that describes each option through what the audience read in it, what they associated with it, what promise they saw and what made them wary, and says what repeated across groups and what appeared only once. Every finding comes with its literal quote, the profile of the person who said it (for example "Man, 25-34 · Competitor's customer") and the exact minute of the session. WR3, our software, separates who is speaking with 90.4% agreement with a human review, measured on 141 moments of a real session (how we measure it), and every quote is checked word for word against the transcript, which is produced on our own computers.
The deliverables come in Spanish and English: the 360 video of each session with English subtitles, the report on the web and as a PDF, a deck for the board and an action tracker with the evidence behind each action. You can browse the format in the sample report, built from a fictional study.
Frequently asked questions
How many options can I show?
A few. With more than three or four per session, the conversation turns into a rushed comparison and the last ones are seen by tired eyes. If you have more, narrow them down first or split them across groups.
Does it work with sketches, or does it need the final pack?
Sketches work, as long as they look the way they would in real life: printed, at size and with legible text. A file on a screen does not show how a pack reads from shelf distance.
Will you tell me which option won?
We will tell you what each group understood in each option and why someone would choose or reject it. A vote count in small groups is not a measurement; if you need a preference figure, a later survey is the right tool.
Why isn't asking my team enough?
Because your team already knows what the name is meant to say. Someone seeing the pack for the first time has no such explanation, and their reading is the one that counts at the shelf.
Can I watch the session?
Yes. The brand can follow the session live, and also receives the 360 video of each session to return to any minute later.