The Packaging Design Agency:
Avoid beauty contests when it comes to package design.

The reasons why follow. Time to avoid old-paradigm thinking.

The brand influence is not separated from the product package design.

Focus group participants will usually pick the dominant brand when comparing package designs. Brands have to be isolated from the process in order to fully detect the value of a new or improved packaging design.

Focus groups are seeing even the best packaging design in isolation.

Packaged products usually appear side-by-side with the competition in a retail environment. Focus groups viewing a product in a room or on a web page are operating out of context, since they spend time discussing a new or improved package design divorced from the competitive environment they will be purchased in.

The Wharton School and Perception Research have discovered that shoppers never see a third of the brands displayed on store shelves. Being seen quickly translates highly with purchase. A bold and exciting design will not have the same impact if there is no contrast to all the other package designs on the shelf. The best packaging design research has to take the selling environment in to consideration.

Learn more about advanced focus group research >

Focus groups tend to be about "beauty contests" and "opinion" gathering.
A packaging study should be designed to see how it effects consumers attitudes and behavior, as opposed to finding out what they "like" and "don't like". Having a focus group discuss and comment on the "proposed" versus the "current" designs only invites comparisons and opinions.

Direct questions about pricing are also misleading. Consumer behavior in a retail environment is often very different from what participants in a focus group say their behaviour, or preferences will be. Advanced research shows that price increases may not even be noticed by consumers when there is a perceived value improvement and/or benefit.

Focus group researchers often use the advertising model to determine a product package design's effectiveness.
In package design, the most relevant norm is competition and comparison - not the "recall" and "number of impressions" metrics that relate to advertising. Shelf presence is dictated by contrast to similar products. Approximately 70%* of purchase decisions are made in-store at the point-of-sale, and research has to take the specific store environment into consideration.

Garbage in - garbage out
Research should be conducted in a way that ensures the outcomes measured are relevant to increased sales or market share. This may require a more vigilant and dedicated effort to ensure research time is not spent on outdated methodologies when researching the best package design.

*Wharton School, Perception Research

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