Getting More Out of Sensory Research

I’ve worked on dozens of studies that involve food and beverage product testing among consumers, which include evaluations of the sensorial experience with the product, including taste, texture, smell, etc. The goals of these studies are usually to optimize the product based on consumer feedback and understand what ingredients to add more or less of. Sometimes consumers will react to a concept statement and give feedback on packaging, but usually these studies are centered around the sensorial experience.

But even though these studies are about the product, so much more often gets revealed, from findings on what messaging resonate with the consumers to broader insights on the target consumers and their overall needs and wants. For example, many studies I’ve worked on focus on moms as consumers and are centered around their children’s likes and dislikes of products as well as the moms’ own views (which often are related to ingredients and on-the-go potential). But so much more gets revealed about what moms are thinking and feeling and wanting—not only in products, but in their journey through parenthood. We glean these rich insights about moms, but often have nowhere to put them in studies that are supposed to be focused on the product and sensorial optimization. In some projects, a whole deck could be devoted to insights about the customer populations, but they often get reduced to a voiceover, or maybe a contextual slide in the beginning. Sometimes clients (especially those who are actively involved in the qual research and observe the focus groups or interviews) will notice these rich insights and remark on them, but unless they have someone on the brand or marketing side involved with the study, the findings get lost, stored only in the moderator’s brain.

I do think sensorial studies should build room for these kinds of insights to emerge, live, and be heard. Working with the client to bring in brand or marketing folks will benefit their entire team, ensuring that insights at all levels are heard across the organization. I also think sensory research can be pitched as not just about the product, but about the people. Clients need to understand their customers before they can design and optimize a product to fit their needs and desires.