{"id":47951,"date":"2026-03-04T14:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cadcrowd.com\/blog\/?p=47951"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T20:45:22","slug":"how-to-choose-between-competing-concept-design-proposals-with-product-design-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cadcrowd.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-between-competing-concept-design-proposals-with-product-design-firms\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose Between Competing Concept Design Proposals with Product Design Firms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do you choose between competing concept design proposals from product design firms? Every year, there are nearly 30,000 new products introduced to the market, with a staggering 95% rate of failure. A big portion of those products is made by startups and small product design companies<\/a>, but even internationally recognized names aren\u2019t always immune from NPD (New Product Development) fiasco. Remember the Google Glass project, which received millions of dollars in investment but quickly vanished from the conversation? Perhaps the uncomfortable backlash from the New Coke during the mid-1980s is still in memory, too. Even the multinational oral hygiene powerhouse, Colgate, had to taste the bitter experience of a bust with its Kitchen Entrees line.<\/p>

Big companies could bounce back from an NPD debacle, but many of their less fortunate counterparts struggled to even afford the chance to try again. Failed products don\u2019t just vanish; they leave behind companies whose brands and reputations are indefinitely tarnished. Not only does a product failure drag down the financial report, but it also costs the company momentum and likely the rare opportunity to establish a market position.<\/p>

This is why concept testing is a crucial phase in an NPD process. At the end of the concept generation step, you probably end up with a dozen or more concept designs. Because it makes little financial sense to try to develop every single one of them all the way to the prototyping stage, you have to pick only one concept that actually warrants the resource allocations for further development. While choosing between competing concept designs isn\u2019t always an exact science, there\u2019s definitely something you can do to minimize your chances of becoming part of the harrowing statistics.<\/p>

Concept testing consists of a series of purposeful steps to help you gather the product\u2019s marketability data from end-users. In general, the data should tell what the target demographics like and dislike about the product, how it compares with competitors, why some consumers want the product while others avoid it, and whether the product presents an obvious room for improvement. As simple as it may sound, there\u2019s no guarantee that the data you gather at the end of the testing will point to any particular concept. The data still has to be scrutinized and interpreted for it to be useful.<\/p>

Given the complexities of formulating the test procedures, deciding which methodology to use, and determining which participants should take part in the testing, it\u2019s advisable to have the process done or at least assisted by NPD professionals. Cad Crowd is among the few freelancing platforms that specialize in hardware product design and engineering design services<\/a>, where you can connect and collaborate with strictly vetted, tried-and-true, seasoned industrial designers experienced in concept generation and testing. <\/p>

With client-friendly hiring options and robust IP protection services backed by more than 15 years of experience, Cad Crowd is a reliable one-stop shop used by companies big and small to outsource any and all stages of hardware product development. The platform itself can function as a project manager if you want, bridging communication and providing quality control to make sure that your concept testing process is handled only by the best-qualified talents to guarantee accurate results.<\/p>

\ud83d\ude80 Table of contents<\/strong> <\/p>

Concept testing vs. product testing<\/h2>

The primary purpose of concept testing is to evaluate the market viability of product designs while they are still in the conceptual stage. You don\u2019t have a product yet at this point, as it has not been fully developed. The evaluation is meant to validate ideas early on in the NPD process when there\u2019s still enough time to revise, improve, add, and discard most of the concepts being tested. As the evaluation concludes, you should end up with the most feasible concept, allowing you to allocate resources to further develop it. <\/p>

Concept testing must involve representatives of the target demographic (and in some cases, experts) giving their opinions on such subjects as potential for demand, perceived values, likely pain points, performance expectations, and so forth. On the other hand, product testing implies that you already have an almost-finished product that has undergone some rounds of prototyping followed by small-volume manufacturing. The product is approaching its full market launch timeline, but you want to make sure that everything works as intended before it hits store shelves. <\/p>

Since the number of units is relatively small (from the pilot production), product testing is likely done by a small number of respondents, such as certification issuing organizations, a third-party panel of experts, focus groups, and beta testers. It\u2019s worth mentioning that concept testing isn\u2019t a form of marketing campaign for your consumer product design firm<\/a>, either. You\u2019re not sending the concepts for people to invest money in the NPD project or persuade them to make a purchase once the product is ready.<\/p>

\"3d<\/figure>

RELATED: How CAD turns your idea into a prototype for CAD design companies & freelance services<\/a><\/strong><\/p>

Choosing the one right concept design<\/h2>

Say you\u2019re developing a new hardware product. The concept generation phase gives you about a dozen or so potential designs, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Based on technical feasibility, development cost, time-to-market schedule, and certification requirements, you narrow the selections down to half a dozen options. A possible issue with a patented design comes up, forcing you to remove another concept from the list. You have five remaining concepts available, and all of them seem to be promising enough. But you only have the resources to fully develop one product. So, how can you be sure that you\u2019ll pick the right one? Concept testing by survey, and here\u2019s how to do it properly.<\/p>

Define clear objectives<\/h3>

Just like the beginning of market research, always start by defining exactly what you want to learn from the testing. Avoid vague objectives such as evaluating multiple concepts or gathering feedback from potential consumers, as they canlead to poorly executed research at best and inconclusive results at worst. You want the respondents to give specific answers about the concepts, so it\u2019s only appropriate to throw around some specific questions as well. For example:<\/p>