Shelf and visual display tests are a form of consumer research used to evaluate how products are seen, understood, and chosen in a simulated retail setting. These tests replicate the experience of viewing a shelf or display – whether physical or digital – and help brands answer key questions about product visibility, placement, and design.

At their core, these tests allow researchers to assess which elements draw attention and influence decision-making. By placing product images within a shelf layout or branded display, researchers can gather direct feedback from respondents on what they noticed first, what felt confusing, and which product they would likely purchase. This kind of visual merchandising survey setup is common in consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and FMCG industries, but is also used in beauty, food service, healthcare, and more.

Why Shelf Testing Matters

In crowded marketplaces, how your product appears on the shelf can be just as important as the product itself. Poor visual clarity or weak placement can lead to lost sales – especially when consumer decisions are made in seconds.

Shelf and visual display tests offer a cost-effective way to evaluate:

• How packaging stands out in a lineup of competitor brands
• Whether consumers understand the product at a glance
• The impact of positioning (eye-level vs. lower shelf)
• The effectiveness of visual elements like logos, colors, or claims

Types of Insights You Can Uncover

Depending on your goals, these tests can focus on a variety of research angles such as:

• Product placement test: Which location on the shelf garners the most attention or likelihood to buy?
• Package design testing: Does a new label or logo influence perception?
• Concept screening: How do alternate shelf layouts affect consumer response?

Traditionally, these assessments would take place in-store or in physical research labs. But thanks to digital shelf simulation tools and online research testing through platforms like Qualtrics, brands can conduct these tests remotely and gain rapid, scalable feedback aligned with real-world shopping conditions.

Ultimately, shelf testing helps teams invest resources more wisely by ensuring products, packaging, and messaging perform when it matters most – at the point of purchase.

Qualtrics is one of the most powerful market research tools available for creating digital shelf simulations and visual display tests. For insights teams running image-based surveys or testing packaging design using survey tools, knowing how to leverage Qualtrics' features correctly can mean the difference between surface-level data and actionable, shopper-centric insights.

Using Images Strategically in Shelf Tests

The first step in building a realistic shelf or product placement test is selecting high-quality images. These typically include:

• Product pack shots in high resolution, with consistent lighting and perspective
• Shelf layout images showing a lineup of products – either mocked up graphic images or photos from physical shelves
• Display signage or promotional visuals if relevant to the test

In Qualtrics, you can embed these visuals directly using the Graphic question type or customize advanced formats with HTML blocks. When done well, this creates a digital experience that closely mimics a real retail setting – allowing for more accurate behavioral insights.

Key Qualtrics Features to Support Shelf Testing

To simulate product displays with Qualtrics effectively, there are a few essential tools and question types to know:

• Heatmap or Hot Spot Questions: Let users click directly on areas of an image to indicate what caught their attention or stood out. Ideal for measuring visual clarity and salience.
• Rank Order Questions: Ask respondents to rank products from most to least appealing, often after viewing a digital shelf simulation.
• Embedded Data and Display Logic: Dynamically serve different versions of a visual layout to different audiences to compare variations, such as packaging concepts A/B or placement along different shelf positions.
• Piped Text and Custom JavaScript: Enable advanced customizations like interactive shelf designs or hover effects, when needed.

Best Practices for Clean Visual Testing

While DIY platforms like Qualtrics make technical setup more accessible, effectively designing a shelf test still requires expertise:

• Keep visuals uncluttered to reflect typical shopper visibility
• Pre-test layout images to ensure load speed and readability across devices
• Use consistent scales and metrics across screeners, visuals, and follow-up questions
• Avoid leading language or too much context in question phrasing – let the image speak for itself where appropriate

If your team doesn’t have in-house experience designing visual merchandising tests or configuring complex surveys, this is where bringing in On Demand Talent can make a meaningful impact. These seasoned research professionals understand both the platform specifics and the human behaviors you’re trying to capture – helping deliver more strategic, reliable results.

In today’s fast-moving environment, image-based shelf simulations in Qualtrics offer a powerful way to run timely, budget-friendly consumer research. But success goes beyond tool access – it depends on the clarity of execution and depth of interpretation. By pairing smart design with market research know-how, your team can create tests that truly inform product and display decisions.

How to Ensure Visual Clarity in Your Shelf Test Surveys

When designing shelf testing or visual display tests in Qualtrics, one of the most overlooked – yet critical – components is visual clarity. If respondents cannot clearly see packaging details, product labels, or shelf arrangements, the results can easily become skewed or unreliable. That’s why image quality and layout design must be top priorities in any digital shelf simulation or image-based survey.

Start with High-Resolution Images

Low-quality visuals can instantly undermine a product placement test or visual merchandising survey. Always use high-resolution, professionally lit images for each item being tested. This ensures that product logos, fonts, and packaging details are readable even on smaller device screens.

When simulating realistic shelf scenarios, include ample spacing between items and avoid background clutter. Re-creating a crowded or poorly-lit shelf doesn't provide useful noise – it only makes it harder to isolate perception and preference signals from your respondents.

Optimize for Screen Size and Responsiveness

Keep in mind that many respondents complete Qualtrics surveys on mobile devices. If your product mockups don't scale well, important visual elements may become distorted or unreadable. Use Qualtrics display logic and screen optimization features to preview how your digital shelf test appears across various devices. Test image displays on a few screen types before launching the study.

Limit Visual Distractions

Ensure that the visual focus remains where you need it. Avoid unnecessary animation, excess text, or overly colorful backgrounds. The cleaner the visual environment, the easier it is to measure core research objectives – like attention, preference, recall, and purchase intent.

Provide Context When Necessary

Depending on the objective of your image-based shelf simulation, some studies may benefit from context clues such as aisle signage, in-store lighting effects, or price tags. Used thoughtfully, these elements help simulate a lifelike consumer environment without overwhelming the visual space.

Include Attention Checks

Another helpful tactic is to incorporate visual attention checks within your shelf testing survey. For example, ask participants to identify the color of a highlighted SKU or the number of rows on a shelf. These checks help validate that users are seeing and processing the images properly.

Strong execution in image setup directly impacts the quality of your consumer research insights. In the end, visual clarity isn't just about aesthetics – it’s about making sure your shelf test delivers results you can trust and act on.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Designing Shelf Tests

Even with powerful market research tools like Qualtrics, running an effective shelf test takes more than uploading images and asking questions. Avoiding a handful of common pitfalls can mean the difference between meaningful results and wasted time.

1. Skipping the Pilot Test

One of the most frequent oversights in setting up a product placement test or digital shelf simulation is launching without a pilot. A small pre-test allows you to uncover issues with image clarity, logic flow, and timing before committing to full-scale fielding. Even a short pilot with a sample of 10–20 respondents can surface hidden issues that would otherwise impact data quality.

2. Overcrowding the Shelf

While it’s tempting to simulate a deep, real-life shelf, cramming too many items into one image can overload the respondent’s visual field. Crowding reduces the ability to differentiate between SKUs and minimizes the real impact of packaging or design changes.

3. Using Inconsistent Lighting or Angles

A visually inconsistent shelf display makes it hard for users to compare products fairly. For example, if one product is shown brightly lit and front-facing while others are dimly lit or angled, responses may be biased before the participant even considers the actual content. Standardize your image setups to ensure consistency.

4. Failing to Define the Research Objective

This is one of the biggest mistakes across all online research testing, not just shelf tests. Are you testing packaging design? Product likability? Brand recall? Purchase intent? Trying to answer too many questions in one simulation dilutes the value of your findings. Begin with a sharp objective – your design should serve your goal, not the other way around.

5. Ignoring Device Diversity

If your survey isn’t optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop users, your results will be fragmented. Poor image formatting across devices can skew the respondent's experience and potentially compromise the validity of your test. Always test image-based shelf simulations in Qualtrics across multiple devices.

6. Not Collecting Open-End Feedback

Though shelf testing is often visual and quantitative, qualitative insights matter. Without open-end responses, you risk missing the “why” behind a choice. Including even a single open field can uncover rich insights around visual merchandising preferences or packaging effectiveness.

Steering clear of these issues will help you generate cleaner data and clearer insights, keeping your visual display test aligned with your business objectives and research goals.

When to Bring in Experts: The Value of On Demand Talent for Visual Research

Designing visually-driven research – like image-based shelf simulations or testing packaging design using survey tools – demands a rare combination of skills. On one hand, you need technical proficiency with platforms like Qualtrics. On the other, you need a deep understanding of shopper psychology, visual merchandising, and sound research design.

That’s precisely where On Demand Talent professionals from SIVO can add tremendous value.

Why DIY Isn't Always Enough

While DIY research platforms empower internal teams to run faster studies, rushing into a digital shelf test without the right background can lead to misleading results. For example, even the most sophisticated tools can’t warn you if your benchmark shelf setup is introducing bias, or if your KPI measurement lacks statistical rigor.

This is especially relevant as more companies adopt agile practices and aim to test concepts quickly with smaller budgets. Leaning on experienced research talent – even on a fractional basis – means you gain efficiency without sacrificing quality.

What On Demand Talent Brings to the Table

Our On Demand Talent network includes experienced consumer research professionals who have run dozens (sometimes hundreds) of shelf testing and visual display test projects across industries – from CPG to retail to healthcare. They're ready to step in and:

• Guide how to position products and images to avoid bias
• Ensure your test objectives are clearly aligned to outcomes
• Optimize your Qualtrics surveys for mobile and desktop
• Strengthen your reporting and visualization of results
• Coach your team to build long-term internal capabilities

Unlike freelance consultants or gig platforms, SIVO’s On Demand Talent model gives you access to high-caliber experts who are vetted for strategic thinking, project experience, and communication skills. They embed seamlessly with your existing team – no long onboarding, no months-long hiring process.

Whether you’re experimenting with your first digital shelf test or scaling an ongoing image-based survey program, tapping into expert resources can maximize ROI from your market research budget while ensuring your results reflect the voice of the consumer – clearly and reliably.