Recently, Testpoint conducted an interesting market research study in Milan and Rome to evaluate the popularity of a new fruit puree. The study's unique feature was the participants: very young children between the ages of 6 and 18 months. Parents were asked to observe and rate their child's taste.
A home usage test
How do you know if your child likes baby food or a puree you're offering for the first time? Obviously, you observe them while you're giving it to them: babies' expressions are very clear and tell you immediately whether they like the new food or not. What does the baby do? Do they signal for more, or do they make a disgusted face and spit the food everywhere?
And it's precisely with this logic in mind that Testpoint conducted a test on fruit purees in Milan and Rome.
We'll tell you how it was done.
The first step was to recruit 200 families with children between the ages of 6 and 18 months, 100 in Milan and 100 in Rome. The babies were required to regularly consume fruit purees.
Testpoint interviewers then delivered three jars of baby food to the participating families' homes: the test product and two competitor products of the same flavor. The samples were obviously anonymous, in unlabeled packages identified only by code.
The instructions enclosed with the samples and duly explained by the interviewer indicated the order in which the baby food should be administered. It worked like this: the first baby food was to be used for three consecutive days; then the process was repeated in the same way for the second and third products.
After each three-day trial, participating families were asked to complete a short online questionnaire: by connecting to a link on their cell phone, tablet, or computer, using the credentials provided, they answered a few simple questions about the product, specifically about their child's appreciation of it. At the end, they were asked to rank their preference among the products.
