Consumer Durable Products: Appliance Control Panel Over-engineered

Presented by Just The Facts Research, Inc.

Challenge

A "top 5" washer/dryer marketer had re-designed it's display control panel to be more "high tech." The client was sure the new panel design was what consumers wanted but decided at the last minute to conduct some pre-manufacturing research just to make sure.

Proprietary solution

A JTF moderator conducted a wave of in-person - IDIs where new designs were compared side-by-side to other major brands. It soon became obvious that competitive models were all greatly preferred. Consumers consistently stated they didn't like the new "high-tech" appearance and found other brands intuitive to operate.

Result

The findings caused our client to immediately halt plans for production and go back to the design table. This research had immediate client savings of $7-10 million by not moving forward with an unacceptable product line.

About this project

Business issue:

Brand / product / service launch

Market research specialties

Consumer Durables Product Optimization One-on-One / In-depth Interviews (IDIs) Product Testing Product Usability Testing

Presented by:

Just The Facts Research, Inc.

Full Service

Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research

30 yrs of client results: focus groups-IDI, surveys, market-competitive, Win-Loss, Social media, mystery shop. Using online & traditional methods.

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