We’ve found that, three out of four times in a design process, the first concepts created aren’t winners. With the right approach, the second round of designs can—and most often does—completely flip the script and result in greater effectiveness. And a vast majority of the time, it isn’t a “back to the drawing board” situation—it is generally just a few tweaks that are needed to take your design to the next level.
Important note: Failing to ”get a win” in Round 1 is not a reflection on the talent of your agency or internal design team. Consumer response is challenging to predict without any initial feedback on designs. Designalytics works with many award-winning agencies—all of whom understand the value of iterative testing. It’s a mistake to reason that a great agency or internal design team would’ve “nailed it” the first time.
After a negative result in design screening or testing, we’ve found some important diagnostic questions to ask:
Initially, consumers need something noticeably different to react to; otherwise, the designs may seem too similar for it to matter which one is picked. The best insights usually come from broad creative exploration.
Of course, there’s a caveat: It’s also true that small tweaks can make a big difference—and in some cases, an evolutionary change is all that’s needed. In other words, a meaningful change doesn’t have to look dramatic. In some cases, exploring a few different variables at once (e.g., alternate claim or claim wording, tweaks to the hierarchy of communication, slightly updated flavor imagery, etc.) can help a brand zero in on changes that resonate with consumers most.
In a word: Don’t. Familiarity bias is undoubtedly a factor to consider—absent a compelling reason to choose an unfamiliar design, consumers will generally go with what they know. We’ve seen again and again, though, that consumers will embrace a change (even a significant change from an established brand) if it’s rooted in what they care about without losing the brand’s essence.
Saying important things better is basically a cheat code to better design performance, with an 88% correlation to directional in-market outcomes. So if you’ve removed or downplayed a claim that consumers look for when purchasing your product, it could have a detrimental effect on your design’s impact.
If important information is missing or hard to find on a package, consumers may react negatively. Yet, if your design is chock-full of claims, consumers can get overwhelmed. This is why early testing is so important—as is improving the navigability of key information on your packaging.
Consumers regularly cite difficulty reading a package as a reason they didn’t prefer it over the current design. Whether the font is too small, uses low-contrast colors, or is otherwise unclear, it can leave consumers frustrated. (Even small improvements to the legibility of key information can have a meaningful impact on consumer testing results.)
The only sure things in life are death, taxes… and consumers loving sensory imagery 😄. If you’re a food or beverage brand—or even a personal/home care brand, in some cases—prioritize conveying flavor or scent. If such imagery isn’t on your design, add it; if it’s smaller or occluded by other elements, consider giving it a boost in size, prominence, and realism (provided photorealism fits with your brand).