Presentation Abstract

Presentation Number: 025-02
Presentation Title: Using analytical sensory tools to enhance consumer understanding
Presentation Time: Sunday, Jul 18, 2010, 11:00 AM -11:25 AM
Location: Room S401ab
Author Information: Alyssa Galantz, Product Dynamics, a Div of RQA, Orland Park, IL
Presentation Description/Abstract: In an increasingly competitive market, with faster development timelines, researchers are in need of time-efficient, cost-effective and reliable development guidance from product testing. Various affective testing approaches with consumers are widely used to provide development guidance, however there are limitations with solely relying on consumer feedback. Consumers can have difficulty articulating their needs and are influenced by many factors when making product judgments, which can lead to misleading direction. Product developers are often left to guesswork, or continuous trial and error, trying to decode consumer feedback. This results in a significant amount of wasted time and resources. How can researchers get the most information out of their testing? How can consumer language be translated into specific product development direction?
Descriptive Analysis testing is a key analytical sensory tool in product development and, when used in conjunction with consumer testing, the method can provide a thorough understanding of both consumer and product. Trained descriptive panelists are able to identify, describe, and quantify unfamiliar product attributes that consumers are often not able to, providing a deeper understanding of consumer response. This session will focus on how descriptive analysis can be used to understand consumer response more deeply and translate that language into direction that is understandable by product development. Various objectives will be considered with primary focus on product innovation and consumer segmentation, touching on its use in the new territory of emotion-based testing.
Biography: Alissa Galatz is a Senior Sensory Scientist at Product Dynamics, a division of RQA, Inc., where she works with clients to better understand their products and consumers through the application of consumer research and analytical sensory methods. With 7 years of applied sensory experience in diverse product categories, she has developed an expertise of balancing project objectives with the research rigor and budget limitations to deliver actionable results. Alissa has a B.S. in Dietetics from Western Michigan University and M.S. in Food Science from Kansas State University.Product Dynamics, a division of RQA, Inc., has over twenty years of experience in the market research industry. Product Dynamics partners with Fortune 500 consumer goods companies to assist them with product development, sensory testing, and consumer acceptance testing, ranging from food and beverage products to personal care items.


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