Test the version each market will see, before you launch there

Why new markets get tested too late

A product that sells at home can stall abroad for reasons nobody at head office would guess: a price that reads as cheap, a claim that sounds exaggerated, an ad whose joke does not translate. Finding out usually means a local agency per country, a moderator per language and weeks of waiting for translated transcripts, so most teams skip it and learn from the launch instead.

Running the same test in every market from one project, with the same ratings asked the same way, shows you what each market thinks and where the markets differ, while there is still time to change the ad or the price.

How to test a product or ad in a new market

1. Create a process per market A process is one track of a study, with its own language and country pairs, guide and recruitment link. Give Mexico, Brazil and Germany one each, and keep one for your home market as the baseline.

2. Add the local version to each guide Upload each market’s ad, pack shot, product page or price list to an Image question and follow it with a Rating or choice question. Write each guide in its market’s language: the AI moderator reads it word for word and asks its own follow-ups in the language of the conversation.

3. Recruit people in the market Invite your own customers there, or give each market’s link to a local panel provider. Signup pages, emails and the meeting room appear in the respondent’s language, and consent forms are signed in the language they signed up in.

4. Watch from head office, then compare Observers turn on live transcription and read every line translated into their own interface language. Afterwards, the Responses page charts each rating beside the reasons people gave, and Ask AI searches every transcript in the project, whatever language it is in.

Example guide for testing an ad in a new market

1. How do you choose a brand in this category today, and where do you first hear about new ones? (Open ended)
2. Here is an ad you might see online. What is it telling you, and who do you think it is for? (Image)
3. From 1 to 5, how likely would you be to find out more after seeing this ad? The AI then asks what would change the score. (Rating or choice)
4. Here is the product page with its price. Is there anything on it that feels unclear, out of place or too expensive? (Image)
5. Which brands would you compare this with, and what would make you pick it over them? (With follow-ups)

Tips for better results

• Localise the material, not just the questions. Show the price in the local currency and the ad in the language it would run in, or you end up testing your translation instead of your product.
• Run one pilot interview per market before you open recruitment. A native speaker catches the claim that was translated literally and reads oddly.
• Countries that share a language can share a process and a guide, but check the wording: a shopper in Mexico and one in Spain call a few things differently.
• Every market costs the same. Interviews use minutes from your plan, and live transcription and translation add nothing on top.

Frequently asked questions

Learn more

• Multi-language & multi-market research
• Discussion guides
• Transcripts