Consumer Durable Products: Appliance Control Panel Over-engineered

 A "top 5" washer/dryer marketer had re-designed it's display control panel to be more "high tech."  The client was sure the new panel design was what consumers wanted but decided at the last minute to conduct some pre-manufacturing research just to make sure.

A JTF moderator conducted a wave of in-person - IDIs where new designs were compared side-by-side to other major brands.  It soon became obvious that competitive models were all greatly preferred.  Consumers consistently stated they didn't like the new "high-tech" appearance and found other brands intuitive to operate.

The findings caused our client to immediately halt plans for production and go back to the design table. This research had immediate client savings of $7-10 million by not moving forward with an unacceptable product line.