Choosing the right name for a new product is a critical task for any company, as it can significantly impact its success in the market. To ensure they make an informed decision in today’s competitive landscape, companies employ various strategies to test potential product names before making a final choice.
Finding the best option for naming a new product requires a systematic approach and thoughtful evaluation of many different factors. Below, 19 Forbes Agency Council members explore effective ways to test names for a new product, looking at the key aspects companies should consider to determine which name will resonate best with their target audience, align with their brand identity and, most importantly, sell.
1. Start Internally Before Testing Things Externally
Your team has the insider knowledge and closeness to the brand that will help you put your best foot forward. The more your team is galvanized behind a new product or name, the stronger the efforts will be to build it and market it. Once you have that, gather qualitative and quantitative feedback from the target audience. – Tom Elstner, Zoogency GmbH
2. Use Search Engine Intent Modeling
Search engine intent modeling is a great way to get insight into how people are talking about a product or category. What are the terms they are including in their searches? Running A/B tests in SEM responses is also a great way to test new ideas and names in an in-market, but low-risk execution. – Mark Skroch, BCV Social
3. Ensure The Name Fits Your Portfolio
We believe that choosing a name is a brand decision, not a consumer decision. A decision is informed by many factors, including fit within the current portfolio, trademark-ability, future expansiveness and more. Too often, we see companies rely on testing that is measuring likability or other factors that are not indicators of success in the market. If insight is needed, measure what the name communicates. – Jo McKinney, Burns Group
4. Keep The Goal Of The Product In Mind
Product naming is part art, part science. Consumer research is expensive and often results in the validation of literal, functional names. The best names are ones that match the goal of the product. Ask, “If this product name could achieve just one thing, what would it be?” If it’s a breakthrough product, it needs a breakthrough name. Gather feedback based on your naming objectives, not random opinions. – Phillip Davis, Tungsten Branding
5. Use Quantitative Surveys
We conduct quantitative online surveys with the target stakeholders to see which name performs the best. We first test to see if the names exude the key criteria for a strong name: memorable, likable and meaningful. Then, we assess whether it supports the brand strategy, specifically its attributes. Confirming the viability of the names regarding trademark, online usage and linguistics must happen first! – Jill Collins, Audacity Health
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6. Make Sure It’s Simple, Memorable And Protectable
Great names need to do three things for the product, service or organization they represent: 1. Deliver the mechanics—names should be easy to say, understand and remember; 2. convey the right attributes—names should express the brand, positioning, tone and/or value proposition; 3. be protectable—names should be protectable both informally in search and via formal trademark. – Justin Wartell, Monigle
7. Conduct Market Research
To find the best name for a new product, conduct market research with surveys, focus groups and A/B testing. Surveys gather initial feedback, while focus groups provide deeper insights. Consider brand alignment, memorability, uniqueness and simplicity when evaluating names. Evaluate their performance in market research, testing and feedback from the target audience. – Fadi Agour, RPM
8. Get Opinions From Existing Clients And Staff
Survey current clients or team members to see what resonates most with them. Create a poll asking participants to rate the names based on factors like likability, brand fit, uniqueness and clarity. This allows the clients or team members to provide feedback so that the company can analyze the responses and identify trends, common themes and preferences. – Lori Werner, Medical Marketing Whiz
9. Lean Into Your Loyal Customer Base
When testing for new product names, lean into your loyal customer base. Conduct a survey or social media contest and challenge your audience to share their thoughts and ideas based on their own experience with your brand. Additionally, go back to your brand mission to ensure that the new product is a continuation of the voice, image and persona that the company has established. – Durée Ross, Durée & Company, Inc.
10. Consider Clickthrough Rates
To do this with data, place the brand names you’re deciding upon as ads on Google. A client we worked with in health tech has a treatment for people with metabolic syndrome—a term that is searched for more than 165,000 times per month. We tested the multiple brand names with different versions of Google Ads for the term “metabolic syndrome,” and then chose the brand name based on the highest CTR. – Kale Panoho, K&J Growth
11. Ask Your Community And Top Buyers
If you have built a community through social media, reach out for direct feedback. Alternatively, you can reach out to your top 5% of buyers through zero-party surveys to get their input. Not only will you be getting direct feedback from your most bought-in customers, but you will also make them feel involved and empowered and give them a reason to talk about your brand. – Justin Buckley, ATTN Agency
12. Test The Name Using Carousel Ads
This is tactical, but set up a single-pane carousel ad on Facebook where each pane is a different name option paired to the same creative. Have the ad go to SurveyMonkey or a similar service that asks relevant questions about the different branding options. For about $100 to $500, you will have great data on which name performs the best by CTR and useful qualitative data from the survey. – Nate Lorenzen, Dysrupt
13. Use The ‘Cocktail Party’ Method
Bounce names off your friends and colleagues and see what they think. If it’s too difficult for them to remember at a cocktail party, you might want to try something else. The same holds true for website domain names. – T. Maxwell, eMaximize
14. Get The Opinion Of A Focus Group
Surveying an online focus group with the name options and conventions is the most effective way to see which brand name would resonate best with the consumer. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising
15. Ensure It Connects Expectations And Experience
This comes down to three key questions: Does the name set the right expectations? Does it connect to the experience? Does it build the brand? In testing, first look at the name and the product separately; then, put the two together. Focus on what the name triggers in the mind and how people experience the product. The best name is the one that connects the two to create unique brand equity. – Yael Alaton, Pearlfisher
16. Poll Your Audience Via Instagram Stories
Use the poll function on Instagram Stories. You have direct access to your consumers, and fans love to be a part of the process—so involve them. Give them several A/Bs and ask them to vote on their favorites. You’ll have a free test sample, and as a bonus, you’ll gain some added brand affiliation with followers who will feel involved when their product name is chosen. – Kelly Samuel, Snack Toronto
17. Think Beyond The Name
I would argue one should spend more time on the positioning, logo and tone than the actual name. It’s doubtful that panels or focus groups would have rallied around some of the most iconic names in the market today—think about Yahoo, Google and even Apple for a technology company. Now, a product versus a company name is unique because of the URL needs. That’s critical to know at the onset. Then, a legal review should follow. – Dean Trevelino, Trevelino/Keller
18. Get Leadership Buy-In
Naming is so subjective. It’s best if the leadership team can get behind the new identity and be excited about it. Certainly, test the naming options with existing customers and make sure the trademark and domain are available, but leadership buy-in is the No. 1 factor in determining success. If leadership is lukewarm on a name, it’s doomed. – Christine Slocumb, Clarity Quest Marketing
19. Get Input From The Correct Target Market
Focus groups, field analysis and feelings are the name of the game. Focus groups are an expense that results in big sales. When you are testing your product name, ensure that you are doing so within the correct target market. Also, check out the pronunciation and syllable structure of competitors’ products. Most of all, be sure that you love it! Never ignore your business intuition with naming. – Monique Tatum, BPM-PR Firm (Beautiful Planning Marketing & PR)
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