A proof of concept, in the context of market research, is one of the most commonly used survey types in innovation processes. Its main purpose is to filter and prioritise ideas at an early stage, so that efforts can be concentrated on the concepts with the greatest potential. Organising a proof of concept is simple, quick and can make a big difference in achieving more efficient and successful innovations. That’s why many brands across all industries consider proof of concept an essential tool to ensure the success of their launches.
So that you too can easily implement proofs of concept, here we will provide you with all the details about them and their most common variants: monadic, sequential monadic, comparative and proto-monadic proofs of concept.
A concept is a brief description of a new product or service that is evaluated before it is launched on the market. A sound concept should include:
This description should be objective and expressed in a clear and simple way so that anyone can understand it without being an expert. It should be very synthetic, neutral and should avoid jargon and advertising language. If it makes it easier for consumers to understand, images or sketches can be included to reinforce the description.
Depending on the maturity of the category or the disruptive nature of the concept, a greater degree of information will be required for the consumer to understand what makes the product attractive and different, but in any case, the concept should not exceed a few lines of text.
Now that we know what a concept is, we can imagine what a proof of concept is.
In this research context, a proof of concept (or concept testing also widely known) is a market survey that presents one or more concepts to consumers for their evaluation. Collecting consumer feedback has three main uses for the companies that conduct them:
A proof of concept is a very common, simple, quick and cost-effective market survey. It is one of the clearest examples in which a small investment in research can avoid significant losses for companies. That is why all brands carry out proofs of concept to boost the chances of success of their innovation processes.
There are several methodologies that can be used when carrying out a proof of concept. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, which we describe below.
This is the best proof of concept to choose, if your budget allows.
In a monadic proof of concept, a single concept is presented to each participant, who evaluates it in isolation. This results in an unbiased assessment of the concept that is not conditioned by other concepts previously presented to them. As each consumer only evaluates one concept, the questionnaire can be a bit longer to collect more details to help optimise the concept. In addition, it is easy to create and easy for respondents to answer, so it is usually preferred by everyone. It has only one drawback, if you have several concepts to test: its cost. With monadic proofs of concepts, you will need as many samples as concepts, which makes the cost rise rapidly as you add concepts. So if your goal is to test several concepts, one of the following options may be more suitable.
Comparative proofs of concept are often used in the early stages of innovation processes, when many concepts need to be evaluated and the budget to do so is limited. With a comparative proof of concept, a first screening of concepts can easily be done before evaluating the finalists in more depth using monadic tests.
In this test, various concepts are shown to participants, who compare them and select their favourite or rank them in order of preference. Critics of comparative proofs of concept argue that with this technique, respondents evaluate each concept in comparison to the others, which is not the case in reality. The company will not launch every product, so if the buyer cannot compare with other possible innovations, he or she may alter his or her preferences.
If you have to evaluate a limited number of concepts and you have a tight budget, you can use a sequential monadic proof of concept.
This type of proof of convept is halfway between monadic and comparative. In it, several concepts are presented to each respondent, but independently of each other. In this way, the consumer evaluates a single concept in isolation from other options. If desired, at the end of the questionnaire, they can be asked to compare the concepts to obtain a ranking. This technique does not require as much sample as a set of monadic proofs of concepts, and is more cost efficient. However, it should be borne in mind that it also introduces a bias, since when concepts are evaluated one after the other, the assessment made of the first ones will influence the opinion of the following ones.
It should also be borne in mind that if the number of participants is large, it will not be possible to ask all participants to evaluate all concepts in depth – that would make the questionnaire too long – so that the total sample would need to be divided into segments for each group of consumers to evaluate a few of them. In practice, this makes the survey more complicated, so it is not recommended if you want to assess more than four or five concepts.
As mentioned above, a proof of concept is a very common and easy study to design. Your organisation may have done proofs of conepts before. If so, it may be a good idea to build on those questionnaires, as you will be able to compare the results with your previous surveys. If you have not done proofs of concept before, don’t worry. Here is a step-by-step guide to create your proof of concept.
You will need to create as many concepts as you want to test. Remember that when we described what a concept is, we told you that it should be written in the language of the consumer, in a very simple way. Sometimes there is a temptation to enrich them with sales language. Be adamant with your stakeholders to keep the language clear and neutral, as this will influence the quality of the results.
Choose a monadic proof of conept whenever you have only one concept to evaluate. Use the comparative if you are at an early stage and have many concepts. And sequential monadic only if you have few concepts and a tight budget.
Your respondents should be part of your target audience that you are addressing with your launch. If you are going to sample a consumer panel, you may be able to access shoppers in the category who have already been identified. If not, you will need to include the necessary filter questions to sift through members of your target audience.
At We are testers, we can help you define the questionnaire. If you prefer to design it yourself, here is a list of items that are commonly included in proof of concepts surveys:
Once you have created the questionnaire that fits your objectives, validate it and test it with a few people. When you are convinced, launch your proof of concept in the field.
After a few hours of fieldwork you will be able to access the test results and check the acceptance of your concepts. The time to find out is now!
Proof of concept is a fundamental study in the innovation process, but it is not the only one. Before launching a product on the market, many decisions have to be taken and many of them can be supported by research to increase the chances of success. These are other surveys that are often used in innovation processes:
Carrying out the most appropriate research at the right time will greatly increase the chances of a successful launch and the return you get. All of these surveys can be contracted one at a time as you go through the process, or a credit plan can be contracted, usually cheaper as more volume is contracted.
Doing your proofs of concept with We are testers is easy. We evaluate concepts of all kinds of products and services and support you as much as you need. If you want, you can create the survey yourself on our research platform, or let our team of experts take care of everything. We can also provide you with the sample through the panel of 130,000 individuals we make available to you. In some cases, you won’t even need to enter filter questions, as we have plenty of data collected to go straight to your target audience. And remember that we can programme all kinds of tests on the platform, so we can accompany you throughout your innovation process and ensure the success of the steps you take.
Contact our experts to find out all the details and start launching more successful products today.
Update date 28 April, 2025
