Incorporating Consumer Feedback Into Package Description and Presentation

This paper presents a new approach to identify the important aspects of packaging. The approach uses experimentally designed concepts dealing with packages, their uses, and their benefits. The concepts comprise "elements," which are short words, pictures, and video clips (short videos lasting 3 to 5 s), combined by an experimental design and presented to the consumer on a computer screen. The consumer rates each combination on acceptance and expected performance. The computer acquires the ratings just after presenting the concept stimulus. The resulting database, comprising concept elements and consumer responses, is analyzed by dummy variable regression analysis to reveal which specific elements drive each consumer-rated attribute, respectively. The results of the analysis yield a model that allows the developer to "optimize" the package concept in order to maximize acceptance and/or to communicate different end benefits while so doing. The paper illustrates the method by an experiment with "baby wipes" (premoistened towelettes).