Concept Testing in UX: What Is It and When to Use It

You’ve got an idea for a new product or feature but you’re not sure if you’re users will like it. This incredibly common scenario is easily remedied with concept testing. 

This crucial step of your user research is often heralded as the compass guiding a project to success. But what exactly does it consist of and when should you use it? 

In this blog post, we’ll demystify concept testing, shedding light on its essence, significance, and the right moments in the design process to leverage it. 

What is concept testing?

Concept testing in the context of user experience is a type of research that helps you validate the functionality, usability, and appeal of a design concept. 

It relies on gathering feedback from users to measure their reactions to a particular concept, providing valuable insights into whether it meets user needs and expectations.

It's important to note that concept testing in UX is about more than just the aesthetics or appearance of a design. It’s a broad term and can be used in a variety of different contexts and stages of the design process, including evaluating its functionality, relevance, and value from the users' perspective. 

There are many tools and metrics you can use in concept testing. UX surveys, such as the one below which measures satisfaction with a new feature, offer a quick and easy way to collect insights to inform your design:

When to use concept testing

The beauty of concept testing lies in its versatility. 

You can deploy it at any stage of the product development process, but it is especially useful in the early stages of design to identify promising ideas and eliminate potential issues before they become costly problems down the line.

Concept testing is also beneficial when you're introducing a new product or feature and want to confirm its value proposition. 

It can also provide benefits when you're redesigning an existing product or feature to better meet user needs or expectations, or when you're expanding into a new market segment. 

Surveys can be particularly useful to gather information on the usefulness and usability of product features:

The benefits of concept testing

Concept testing in UX is about taking a concept—be it a new product, feature, or even a complete overhaul—and validating it with your users before investing significant time, effort, and resources into development. The benefits of integrating this vital step into your design process are manifold.

Understanding users' needs and expectations

The core essence of UX design revolves around the user—their needs, expectations, and experiences. Concept testing, with its focus on user feedback, plays a critical role in ensuring your design aligns with your users' needs and expectations by asking carefully crafted and targeted questions. This early validation reduces the risk of developing a product or feature that fails to resonate with users.

Risk mitigation

Perhaps one of the most significant advantages of concept testing is its capacity for risk mitigation. 

Essentially, concept testing provides an opportunity to 'fail early and cheaply,' allowing teams to iterate and improve before substantial investment.

Encouraging innovation

Concept testing fosters a culture of experimentation and innovation, opening up space for your design team to propose daring and creative concepts knowing they have a platform to test these ideas before committing to development. This freedom often leads to more innovative and out-of-the-box designs that can set your product apart in a crowded marketplace.

Streamlining decision-making

In a team environment, decision-making can often be a challenging process, particularly when various stakeholders have conflicting opinions. 

Concept testing streamlines decision-making by grounding it in concrete user feedback. It minimizes the influence of personal biases and subjective opinions, facilitating objective, data-driven decisions that align with user needs and preferences.

Validating business viability

Concept testing can play a critical role in determining the business viability of a product or feature. By collecting early user feedback, you can gauge potential market acceptance and understand whether the concept aligns with your business goals and vision. 

Concept testing methods

Different concept testing methods can be used depending on your specific needs and where you are in the user research process. 

Monadic testing

Monadic testing is a method where each participant is shown only one concept and asked to provide feedback on it. This method provides in-depth insights into a single concept, making it ideal for refining existing concepts.

Sequential monadic testing

In sequential monadic testing, each participant is shown multiple concepts one after the other and asked to provide feedback on each. This method allows for a more comprehensive comparison of different concepts and is useful when you have multiple ideas to explore.

Comparative testing

In comparative testing, participants are shown two or more concepts side by side and asked to compare them. This method is beneficial when you're trying to decide between two very different design concepts, and you want to understand which one resonates better with users.

Protomonadic testing

Protomonadic testing is a blend of monadic and comparative testing which offers the benefits of both methods and provides a comprehensive understanding of the concept.

In this method, participants are shown one concept (as in monadic testing), followed by a side-by-side comparison with another concept (as in comparative testing).

What is the difference between concept testing and usability testing?

While both concept testing and usability testing are integral parts of UX design, they serve different purposes.

Concept testing is often used in the early stages of the design process to evaluate the appeal and relevance of a design concept. It helps validate whether the concept aligns with user needs and expectations by focusing on the idea itself and its potential value to the user.

On the other hand, usability testing is typically employed later in the design process, after a prototype has been developed. It assesses how easy and intuitive it is for users to interact with the product. The primary focus here is on the functionality and usability of the design.

In simple terms, concept testing asks, "Are we building the right product?" while usability testing asks, "Are we building the product right?"

Best practices for concept testing

To leverage the full potential of concept testing, follow the best practices. 

Clearly define your objectives

Before you begin concept testing, it's essential to have a clear understanding of what you hope to achieve. Are you looking to identify which design concept is most appealing to users? Or perhaps you're trying to determine whether users understand the functionality of a proposed feature? By clearly defining your objectives, you can ensure that your concept testing process is focused and that the feedback you collect is relevant and actionable.

Identify your target audience

Your target audience should represent the users who would be using your product or feature. Make sure to recruit a diverse mix of participants that represent different user personas to get comprehensive feedback.

Use the right concept testing method

There are several concept testing methods you can use, each with its own strengths and applications. Monadic testing, sequential monadic testing, comparative testing, and protomonadic testing are common techniques we described in this blog post. 

Each of the methods can be applied using different tools. Remember to inject some diversity into your testing process as even the most enjoyable tools, including surveys, can lead to fatigue if overdone. 

Keep it simple and clear

When presenting a design concept for testing, clarity is key. Ensure that participants understand the concept you're testing. 

Use clear, simple language, and consider providing visuals or prototypes to help users grasp your idea. 

Remember, you're testing the concept, not the users' ability to understand complex descriptions or navigate confusing presentations.

Assessing the clarity of your copy could in fact be a separate endeavor that you can carry out with this handy survey template:

Create an open environment for feedback

When conducting concept testing, try to foster an environment where users feel comfortable providing honest feedback. Ensure they understand that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' responses and that their feedback is valuable in enhancing the design, regardless of what they say. This will break barriers and encourage them to share their honest thoughts and experiences.

Analyze and act on the feedback

Collecting user insights is just the first step; the real value comes from analyzing this feedback and acting on it. Look for trends, patterns, and recurring issues in the feedback. Then, use these insights to refine your design, address potential problems, and enhance features that users find valuable.

Iterate and re-test

Concept testing isn't a one-and-done process. It's an iterative practice that may need to be repeated several times as your design evolves. 

After refining your concept based on user feedback, you should conduct another round of testing to validate the changes and ensure that the updated concept aligns with user needs and expectations.

Use surveys to support your concept testing

Surveys are an invaluable tool in concept testing as they can enable you to gather a large amount of quantitative and qualitative data from your users quickly and cost-effectively. 

With Survicate, you can segment your audience based on various criteria, such as demographics or user behavior. This allows you to gather targeted feedback from specific user groups, providing more granular insights for your concept testing.

However, Survicate doesn't just help you collect user feedback; it also provides analytics tools to help you analyze your survey data. What’s more, you can easily integrate it with various other tools like CRM, email marketing, or project management platforms. Simply sign up for free for a 10-day free trial and take your concept testing to a whole new level!