Should test my products blinded or not?
It depends on what you're looking for in your research. Ultimately the decision is whether brand-bias will be helpful or not in your results. Brand-bias is the impact that a brand name can have on how testers rate a product overall. They may love your brand, which can inflate responses to all sorts of questions in a slightly more positive way. Conversely, if they don't care for a brand, it may bring sentiment down.
Blinded studies remove any sort of brand-bias, giving you a cleaner read of how the product is received at a baseline level. However, including the brand can give you more of a real feel for how a product might perform on shelf.
If you want more support in making this decision, please reach out! Highlight experts are happy to help determine the best path forward for whatever it is you're looking to accomplish.
What should I do if...
...I want to test a mix of blinded / not blinded products?
In the Products step, select "A mix of blinded / not blinded" from the drop down that appears once you've added a product. This will add options to each product card where you can specifically set it to blinded or not blinded.
...I want Highlight to blind my products for me?
- In the Products step, set the drop down to "All products blinded"
- In the Handling step under Presentation, select "Blinded" for all products
...I'm going to blind my products ahead of time?
- In the Products step, set the drop down to "All products blinded"
- In the Handling step under Presentation, select "As Is" for all products
...my products aren't coming in branded packaging, but I don't want the test to be blinded?
- In the Products step, set the drop down to "All products not-blinded"
- In the Handling step under Presentation, select whichever option is right for your needs. Note that "blinded" is unable to be selected since you set this specification in the Products step.