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Shuster’s sensory evaluation and consumer testing department offers a unique combination of market knowledge, scientific expertise, and technical skill. Our experts can determine whether or not a product meets quality and performance specifications that will drive purchase decisions and build brand loyalty.
Our comprehensive sensory services include:
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Focus Groups - Shuster uses focus groups to help clients identify viable ideas for new products and line extensions; determine desired sensory attributes; and test prototypes, advertising imagery/language, and packaging concepts. |
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Trained and Expert Panels - Shuster’s judges are screened and trained according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) guidelines for sensory panel members. Judges can identify specific and subtle deficiencies in a product’s sensory profile and detect even the smallest sensory variances in samples from different batch runs or plants. Services include descriptive analysis and difference tests. |
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Technical Panels - Judges have specific product category experience and provide sensory assessments
to optimize existing products. |
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Consumer Use Studies - Shuster designs and implements a wide range of studies to gather consumer feedback and determine product acceptability. Studies include: central location tests; preference studies; comparative studies; home use tests; and efficacy studies. We maintain an extensive consumer database and recruit target market consumers for all studies. |
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Claims Validation - By designing and conducting the experiments that will validate marketing, advertising, and packaging claims, Shuster can protect companies against lost sales, product recalls, media overhauls, and litigation. |
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Sensory Quality Programs - Shuster can develop a sensory evaluation panel on-site at a company’s facilities and train panelists in techniques for monitoring sensory quality. |
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Market Research - Shuster provides highly sophisticated sensory research that enables market research professionals to evaluate the sensory characteristics, consumer acceptance, and marketability
of a product. |
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Strategic Category Appraisal Research
This is market-level sensory analysis to quantify market
status and provide in-depth category, product, and brand intelligence for better brand management. |
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