Inadequacies of Direct Consumer Feedback and Market Research Methods

Key Insight

Traditional market research methods, like the 'sip test' or CLT (central location test), often provide misleading results. In a sip test, consumers taste only a small amount of several products, leading to a bias towards sweeter options. Pepsi, being sweeter and having a citrusy 'flavor burst,' consistently outperformed Coke in sip tests. However, Carol Dollard, a new-product development expert, noted that this sweetness can become 'overpowering or cloying' when a full bottle or can is consumed. Home-use tests, where consumers experience the product naturally over weeks, often yield opposite results, as they reflect actual consumption behavior rather than artificial, quick judgments.

Another critical flaw is 'sensation transference,' a concept developed by marketer Louis Cheskin, where consumers unconsciously transfer impressions about a product's packaging to the product itself. In the late 1940s, Cheskin transformed unpopular white margarine into a successful product by coloring it yellow to resemble butter, branding it 'Imperial Margarine' with an impressive crown, and wrapping it in foil, which was then associated with high quality. Blind taste tests demonstrated a strong preference for the foil-wrapped yellow 'Imperial Margarine' over identical white margarine, indicating the packaging significantly influenced perceived taste, despite no change in the food itself.

Sensation transference also explained why Christian Brothers brandy lost market share to E&J despite similar taste in blind tests. When bottles were visible, E&J gained preference because its ornate, squat, smoked-glass bottle with foil wrapping conveyed higher quality than Christian Brothers' plain, wine-like bottle. Serving Christian Brothers brandy from an E&J bottle led to a significant preference for Christian Brothers, proving the packaging was the problem, not the product or branding. Similarly, adding 15% more yellow to 7-Up packaging made people report a stronger lime/lemon flavor, and packaging peaches in glass jars or ice cream in round containers made consumers perceive them as tasting better and willing to pay 5 to 10 cents more, even for identical products. These examples highlight that consumers don't consume products 'blind' and their judgments are influenced by visual and emotional cues often ignored by direct taste tests.