Think about the format of your concept before you try to design it to avoid the issue of creating stimuli that aren't compatible with the research platform you'll be using.    

Also think about how your stimulus looks in the specific way you're presenting them online, and make sure images or text are large enough to show important details. That way everyone will have clear expectations of how the participant will see the stimulus.  

Creating concepts for agile iteration can sometimes slow agile timelines. Make sure the team agrees on everyone who needs to approve concepts or other stimulus you will be using in your research upfront. That way, you can accurately plan your research timeline to include your internal review process.    

Don’t just talk about products. Making participants physically do something that helps them remember the context of how they would interact with your solution opens up parts of the memory that would otherwise stay dormant. Some people have a hard time talking about things in the abstract. Give research participants a physical task to do to spark their imagination and encourage more detailed feedback.

For example, Digsite offers behavioral testing on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.  Compare concepts, headlines, claims and more by seeing how many people click as well as how many provide their email for more info.  Then bring them into a Digsite community to drill deeper into the why’s.

When doing research, it’s tempting for the team to collect all of the questions they have and try to put it into the research study. Instead, start with a smaller scope of a few questions that will have the biggest impact on your direction. Those answers often change the team’s direction and inform a new set of questions you hadn’t anticipated. This approach also tends to speed up development, as the smaller scope study can be completed more quickly and affordably. 

The earlier in the process you resolve shortcomings, the faster you’ll be able to bring a well-received product to market.  And, planning smaller scope in your initial test will give you the budget to iterate as you learn.

When you do validation research before qualitative exploration, it can lead to frustration and confusion among your team. If ideas don’t perform up to expectations, validation tests often don’t have diagnostics to tell you why and more importantly, what to do about it.

Save your team time and money by using qualitative iterations with 10-25 consumers to ensure your target consumer understands and value your solution for your bulls-eye occasion or use case, before validating your research with a broader sample.