Food and drink launches fail on details that are easy to test: a flavour name nobody understands, a pack that disappears on the shelf, a price just above the category norm.
How often do you drink energy drinks?
What do you drink when you need energy?
I know... hum... an energy drink.
Which one, and is it the taste, the price or the effect that makes you pick it?
Illustrative example with sample data, not a client study.
Food and beverage market research tests those details with the consumers who buy the category, before production, so the launch starts from what the shopper sees.
SmartInterview measures appeal and purchase intent for each option and asks consumers why, including the occasions when they would buy it.
Shelf decisions take seconds. A pack, a claim or a flavour description has to work at first glance, and only shoppers can tell you whether it does.
Typical situations in this sector, and how we would set up the study for each.
Start from the category, not the product
Your subscribers and buyers, triers or not
General questions first, then a branch for people who know the product and a concept test for the others
Have you tried the new sparkling tea?
Run this study on your own customers
50 free respondents · no credit card · GDPR and CCPA compliant
Appeal, uniqueness and purchase intent for flavours, recipes or pack designs, shown one at a time or side by side.
When and where the product would be consumed, and which brands it would replace in the basket.
Whether the pack and claims are understood, believed and noticed, with the words shoppers use.
Name the decision: which flavour, which pack, which claim, which price or which market.
Describe the decision in one sentence. SmartInterview drafts the questionnaire, scores its quality and flags leading or double-barrelled questions before anyone answers.
Reach category buyers through your community or a panel partner. For taste, run a home-use test where consumers try the product and then answer.
Structured questions give the numbers. When an answer is vague, the AI asks a follow-up, by voice or text, in the respondent's language.
Open answers are coded into themes with counts and sentiment, and every theme links back to the verbatims behind it. Compare segments side by side.
Export the findings, the themes and the quotes to the team that has to decide, as a report or a spreadsheet.
YouGov collected consumer opinions about regional products in Switzerland, where respondents answer in different languages and dialects.
Survey with AI follow-up questions on open answers.
Consumers in two Swiss language regions.
YouGov used SmartInterview for its regional product study.
Ask overall liking, then sweetness, texture and aftertaste on a short scale, and finish with what they would change. SmartInterview follows up on answers like 'too strong' to find out which attribute they mean.
Send the product to screened consumers, give them a few days to use it normally, then send the survey link. Asking after real use gives more reliable answers than a one-sip test.
Cover occasions, current brands, purchase channel, price paid and what would make them try something new. SmartInterview generates a first draft from your goal that you then adapt to your drink.
Describe several flavour ideas, measure appeal and purchase intent, and ask what each one makes people imagine. Coded verbatims show which flavours sound appetising and which sound artificial.
Separate committed buyers from occasional flexitarians, then ask what triggers a purchase and what stops a repeat. Taste, price and ingredient lists often come up, but let respondents say it in their own words.
Use a QR code on the table or the receipt so guests answer right after the meal. Short voice answers capture what they liked or missed while the experience is fresh.
Use a five-point purchase intent scale on the full concept including price, then ask why. The reasons tell you whether a weak score comes from the product, the price or the format.
Origin, regional products and price sensitivity vary between language regions. Run one questionnaire in French, German and Italian and compare the regions side by side.
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It is consumer research that guides decisions on recipes, flavours, packaging, claims, pricing and positioning for food and drink products.
One flavour, one pack, one claim. Ask the shoppers who buy the category.
