Considerations When Conducting Plant-Based Product Research
Consumers are increasingly interested in plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products. The reasons vary such as reducing fat intake or for other perceived health benefits, for a concern with the environmental impact of animal agriculture, or for a variety of other personal reasons.
While the easy assumption is that vegans and vegetarians are the primary market for plant-based products, the reality is that most plant-based product consumers are actually “flexitarians” – people who are looking to reduce but not eliminate their meat and dairy consumption and who are open to trying plant-based alternatives. Let’s look at the considerations that plant-based producers should keep in mind when embarking on a research effort.
Proper representations
One of the key considerations for consumer testing of plant-based products is to ensure that the target audience is accurately represented. As the market grows, so too does the audience willing to consider these products. If your goal is a broad appeal, this means focusing on flexitarians rather than strictly vegetarians or vegans, as these groups may already be committed to plant-based diets and may not be as receptive to trying new products.
To effectively target flexitarians, it’s important to understand their motivations and concerns. These may include:
- A desire to reduce their environmental impact.
- A focus on improved health.
- Supporting animal welfare.
- A mix of some or all of the above.
Defining “Good”
Plant-based products are becoming a crowded category. With that competition comes the challenge of winning audience share among increasingly name-brand products. Ensuring the products themselves are appealing and satisfying to consumers becomes critical for repeat purchase consideration and establishing preference. Where does this effort start? It begins with conducting extensive taste testing and gathering feedback on texture, flavor, and overall satisfaction.
Proper testing involves a process of defining which characteristics to measure, how and why. Is the goal of a -alternative to mimic as closely as possible the meat-like experience? If so, attributes such as texture, flavor, and overall mouthfeel become paramount. For plant-based meat products such as ground beef, the focus on cookability may become equally important as the sensory considerations. Note that vegans and vegetarians may not be looking for a meat-like experience, which they have avoided — another reason to carefully define the consumer target for the product in question.
In addition to optimizing key attributes, it can also be helpful to use a competitive benchmark or normative score to assess the overall performance of a plant-based product. This can help to provide a frame of reference and allow companies to see how their products stack up against others in the market. An animal protein-based benchmark (dairy milk, beef, etc.) can also be helpful in establishing the gap, if any, in the product experience between the plant-based alternative and its animal protein-based version.
Proper Research Design
There’s a saying, “don’t try to boil the ocean.” In research, that means focusing on a controllable number of objectives to ensure your data is useful and actionable. Combining too many objectives into one piece of research typically doesn’t serve any of the objectives well. For example, often our clients want to compare several prototypes and in-market plant-based products (possibly a direct competitor), as well compare prototype performance against an animal-protein based benchmark. Our recommended practice is to split those two pieces of research, first conducting the research to select the best plant-based prototype and to gauge performance against other in-market plant-based products, followed separately by a comparison between the best performing prototype and an animal protein benchmark.
When it comes to selecting your research partner, experience in the category matters. Consider some of the things our experience conducting research in the category has taught us:
- For plant-based meats prepared at home, you need to understand the cues the person cooking uses to judge done-ness. Over or undercooking can seriously impact the experience.
- Cooking instructions need to be easily understood, and because consumers often don’t follow printed instructions, it is best if the preparation mimics that of the meat products which the consumer is accustomed to preparing.
- For plant-based cheese, the melting performance is important for hot preparation.
- For plant-based milks, there is no preparation, but their performance needs to be gauged in their use context. Are they consumed by themselves, or added to a beverage, or to breakfast cereal?
The Takeaway
Plant-based producers should keep in mind these three principles for insightful and actionable research in the category:
- Focus on proper representation of your target audience.
- Define what you’re measuring (taste, texture, cooking experience, etc.).
- Ensure proper research design.
These factors will guide your development efforts in achieving appealing and satisfying products that can win market share in an increasingly crowded market.