Shark Vacuum IHUT
Developing products with Shark Home User Trials
With the world veering towards the modern-day cordless stick vacuums and robots, it’s always nice to challenge the norm and reinvent a classic. In May 2022, Shark did just that, re-contacting us to run a nationwide, 8-week, in-home user test for a new cylinder vacuum. With the hope the USP would be developed into future models.
Sourcing respondents who understand what they want to buy sounds easy, right? On the surface yes, but living in a society surrounded by models, brands, designs, terminology, and technology it’s not always as simple as asking the direct question.
Engaging Recruitment Screeners
To help Shark reach the right customers we needed to drill down into current habits, lifestyles, product ownership and purchasing behaviour. This is where our engaging recruitment screeners come into play. Zest developed questioning to gain a good understating around these areas, using written questions with photographic aids to allow for greater clarity,
Eye for detail
Matching client spec on paper doesn't always translate into the perfect tester, so we spoke to each consumer in a more conversational manner to re-confirm the really key spec, but also to give us that 'gut feel' for who would be highly engaged and provide interesting and useful feedback.
It was key to include testers with specific models of vacuum cleaner for comparison. Identifying what model you own can be quite confusing with various codes and numbers detailed on products. So, going one step further the refined pool of testers were asked to send in photos of their existing vacuum, including those codes, so we could guarantee we had the right models. It is this level of detail that ensured we had the right people testing the trial products.
Logistical Nightmare Dream
As with any HUT, logistics was key. With units arriving form overseas there is always some uncertainty with products arriving as documented on courier tracking. This meant we needed to be ready to receive the products and re-pack with collateral at the drop of a hat to maintain timelines.
Products arrived and were swiftly re-packaged, arriving with testers with time to spare ready for the trial to begin. Of course testers and clients alike were kept updated throughout this time to ensure full alignment across the board.
Proofs in the Testing
Zest has run over 100 home user trials across the Shark & Ninja brands, a result of the trust built through delivering high quality product trials and remaining flexible to the challenges posed to our clients.
If you have a product which would benefit from feedback direct from your consumers, then why not get in touch to see how Zest can help?