What We Do

You have a lot of ideas. Now let us put them to the test.

Sometimes, our clients will have more than one new product idea, service introduction or line extension that they’d like to introduce into the marketplace. So for the best chance of success, we recommend reducing the number of ideas to the few that have the most potential.

We then test for consumer acceptance. This can be achieved with your concept supplied in written form (e.g. drawings or photos) or with actual mock-ups. And depending upon the format that is supplied, we can conduct the test via the Internet, telephone, by mail, or even in person.

At Farrand Research, we conduct research on products from consumer packaged goods to fast food, and everything in between.

Depending on the complexity of the product involved, the test can be conducted in a central location where respondents are recruited to come at a specified time to consumer or engage with products. Or we may conduct it in shopping malls or other designated locations in a private interviewing booth. Tests can also take place at home or in the office.

Sometimes, products are complicated to prepare or, in some cases, may require a competitive product to be tested alongside it. For these complex scenarios, we arrange to hold the testing in larger facilities that have adequate space, equipment, and an area to interview up to 25 or more people at a time.

The project team closely supervises all interviewing personnel and procedures to ensure the study is executed as designed.  Field research facilities are available in nearly every major market.

At times, it is necessary to have consumers test products in the actual environment that the products would be used.  This is especially true when the process is a big part of the overall evaluation such as the ease of preparing a food item or certain product. We may target groups of respondents to ask them to take a product home to try for a specified period – following up for their opinions after giving them enough time to try the product.

We’ve conducted home-use-tests on diverse products such as food, health and beauty aids, computer software and office products. In these studies, product samples are recommended to be as close to the final planned retail version as possible for the most accurate feedback. Depending on the product to be used, consumers of the appropriate demographic (e.g. gender, age, etc.) are given the product and are subsequently asked for their evaluation.

Now that you’ve checked out the competition,  you’d like to know how your customers feel. Let us help you find out with our Usage and Attitude Studies. They can cover a wide range of industries including consumer packaged goods, health and beauty aids, food, fast food, office products, hotel, industrial, healthcare, and high-tech products.

By working closely together, we can determine which competitors and competitive products or services should be studied, as well as all issues pertinent to the category at hand. Our goal is to take the consumer’s perspective and use it to fully understand your position in the marketplace. 

Category usage information is obtained from the consumer as well as usage of your specific brand/service and competitive brands/services. Consumer attitudes about the category and about specific brands or services can then be compared at points in time, and over time, to further help you.

Farrand Research has conducted customer satisfaction studies in a variety of industries including: healthcare, high-tech, hotel, restaurant, industrial, convention facilities, and government services. We have experience in measuring satisfaction with products as well as services and have measured both customer and employee perceptions to better target efforts at improving satisfaction. The survey methods used in this research vary by job and circumstance. In-person, Internet, mail and telephone interviews have all been used where appropriate to obtain a representative sample.

Your message is out there, but how well is it being received? That’s where our advertising tracking and brand image studies come in. Designed and crafted in-house from our diverse experience set and conducted by our team, these studies are used to determine a product or service’s brand and ad awareness compared to that of your competitors.

Over time, they also measure the effectiveness of your ad campaign. We can conduct brand image tracking alone or in conjunction with ad tracking so that you can tell how consumers differentiate your product from others on the market – in heavy-up test market cases and in markets with no advertising.

At Farrand Research, no job is too big or too small; and that principle applies to cities, states, and public organizations as well. Besides product testing, we’ve also conducted community and statewide surveys and opinion polls on a wide variety of topics ranging from peoples’ attitudes toward recycling to awareness and usage of specific state agencies.

Notable public sector clients include the State of California, the City of Los Angeles, California State University, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the City of Long Beach, the Port of Long Beach, Long Beach City College, the Aquarium of the Pacific, as well as various hospitals.

When it comes to packaging, beauty is in the eye of many, many beholders.

The overall design of your products’ packaging is important in getting it noticed on the shelf, and in turn, conveying your company image. So at Farrand Research, we conduct both qualitative and quantitative testing on different packaging and packaging elements.

This will determine which layout and look will be most successful with your consumers. Our package design studies also determine which package type, size, shape, weight, etc. is preferred or whether packaging changes may be made to reduce product costs while still maintaining consumer acceptance.

Sometimes a thorough product evaluation is necessary (e.g. products whose packaging characteristics may change with varying amounts of product left in the package), so we’ll give respondents test packaging to take home to use over a specified period.

They would then be contacted again for their evaluation of the package(s) after a specified usage period. Other packaging issues may be evaluated in a central location, either by mall intercepts or by pre-recruiting qualified respondents to come to a central location.

Even peanuts don’t actually have to be sold for, well, peanuts.

More than just a “value” question, our pricing studies are tailored to your product. In the case of retail products, we often show respondents a competitive array of products on a shelf with pricing before obtaining their purchase interest through our testing. Each test price may be shown to a separate group of respondents with purchase interest compared between pricing groups.

A conjoint trade-off analysis can also be performed to determine the optimum pricing for a product. In this method, each respondent indicates his or her purchase interest for the test product and competition at varying prices and with different product configurations.

It’s amazing how honest people can be – when you’re not in the room.

All types of advertising can be tested using our advertising diagnostic tests – including TV, radio, print and online – covering topics like consumer understanding, message take-away and potential effect on your brand’s image.

We ask questions like:

• What do you believe the main message is?
• Is there anything confusing or hard to believe?
• How would you rate this brand?

Brand imagery can be obtained both before and after viewing an ad. We may also test several ads in one study (either among the same or different respondents) so that we can determine which of your ads has the greatest potential to convey your intended message or brand image.