Packaging is a critical driver of consumer choice, especially during first-time purchases. Yet, launching packaging based on one round of testing can leave opportunities – and risks – on the table. That’s why many successful brands now embrace multi-round testing, a phased approach to packaging development that builds and improves with each wave of consumer feedback.

What is Multi-Round Pack Testing?

Multi-round testing is a research strategy where packaging concepts are evaluated over a series of test cycles. At each stage, consumer feedback is collected, analyzed, and used to make iterative improvements. The goal? To refine the design, messaging, or size before final launch – with each test bringing your team closer to packaging that resonates with target consumers.

Key Benefits of Testing in Waves

This approach has several strategic advantages:

• Continuous Improvement: Each round incorporates learnings from the previous one, leading to stronger outcomes over time.
• Reduced Risk: By collecting feedback early and often, you minimize the risk of launching with unclear messaging or consumer confusion.
• Flexibility: Design or messaging pivots can be tested quickly without starting from scratch.
• Increased Alignment: Multi-round testing brings brand, design, and insights teams together around a shared set of evolving learnings.

When to Use Multi-Round Packaging Research

This method is especially useful when:

- You're launching in a new category or customer base
- Multiple designs are in play and need prioritization
- You want to validate incremental changes to a legacy package
- Your team is working within tight timelines or has limited budget for full-service agency research

Instead of one large study, think of smaller, focused waves that layer insights more efficiently. It’s a smarter way to minimize bias, build confidence, and ultimately deliver packaging that performs on shelf and online.

Real-World Application (Fictional Example)

Imagine a beverage startup testing a new can design for a flavored sparkling water line. Round one focuses on visual appeal and shelf visibility. Feedback suggests the font is hard to read and the flavor indicator isn't clear. In round two, those elements are improved, and new insights now highlight confusion about whether the product contains sugar. A quick update to highlight "zero sugar" leads to a final round test that shows significantly higher purchase intent.

That’s the power of testing in waves – making small, strategic shifts that add up to big impact.

The rise of DIY research tools has transformed how consumer insights teams approach packaging research. Platforms like Toluna make it faster, easier, and more cost-effective to run multi-round testing for packaging development. With its built-in panel access, customizable survey templates, and quick turnaround times, Toluna removes many of the barriers traditionally associated with pack testing.

What Toluna Brings to Pack Testing

The Toluna platform offers a range of capabilities that help streamline your packaging study process. Here’s how:

• Speed to Insights: Launch surveys, gather data, and view dashboards in just days – not weeks.
• Easy Iteration: Adjust test concepts between waves without starting over completely.
• Global Reach: Access diverse respondents and test region-specific preferences, if needed.
• Agile Workflows: Teams can handle set-up, targeting, and reporting in one centralized tool.

These features make DIY consumer insights more accessible across teams, especially for brands looking to operate independently of outside agencies. However, proper execution – especially in multi-round testing – still requires thoughtful planning and research expertise.

Balancing Agility with Research Rigor

While Toluna’s tools are intuitive, knowing how to use them effectively is critical. Common challenges include:

- Writing unbiased, clear survey questions
- Structuring repeated waves to ensure comparability
- Interpreting results across different design paths

This is where On Demand Talent can make a big difference. SIVO’s On Demand Talent professionals bring deep packaging research experience and an understanding of how to harness DIY platforms – like Toluna – without missing a beat. They provide market research support along the way, helping your team build capabilities while still moving fast.

When to Bring in Expert Insight Support

Even with a solid platform in hand, you might need extra horsepower to keep projects on track. On Demand Talent can help when:

- Your team is understaffed or facing bandwidth constraints
- Strategic design decisions need quick validation
- You want to ensure cross-wave consistency and data quality
- You're navigating AI-enabled features and need analytical rigor

With the right support, your team doesn’t just get results – you get them right.

Must-Have Diagnostics for Each Wave of Testing

Running a multi-round packaging study using DIY tools like the Toluna platform allows brands to rapidly test, learn, and iterate. But to truly understand how a new design is performing, diagnostics must be included in every wave – and they need to be consistent. These key diagnostics serve as the feedback loop that ties consumer preferences to actionable insights.

Diagnostics are survey elements or measurement tools used to evaluate how well each packaging design aligns with consumer expectations. They help explain why performance shifts from one variation to the next. Without them, you're left guessing what’s driving consumer choices.

Core Diagnostics to Include

While your diagnostics may evolve slightly depending on your objectives – for example, comparing structure versus graphics – there are a few essentials that should be measured across every testing wave:

• Visual Appeal: How attractive and attention-grabbing is the pack?
• Brand Fit: Does the packaging clearly reflect your brand identity?
• Purchase Intent: Would consumers buy this product based on the packaging alone?
• Shelf Impact: Does the design stand out among competitors?
• Message Clarity: Are claims and benefits easy to understand at a glance?

Depending on your category, you may also want to explore sustainability perceptions, perceived premium-ness, or clarity of serving size. Over time, these diagnostics can highlight which subtle tweaks – color shifts, graphic positioning, storytelling – actually move the needle on consumer appeal.

Going Beyond the Score

Numbers tell part of the story, but layered diagnostics help teams understand motivation. Open-ends gathered from targeted follow-up questions can reveal why consumers felt a product was confusing or appealing. Text analysis and verbatim review help translate data into actionable feedback.

Using a tool like Toluna for pack testing makes it easy to keep feedback loops efficient while maintaining structure across iterations. That said, even agile DIY research needs expert eyes to ensure diagnostics are focused and well-written. Setting them up right from wave one means less confusion later when you're comparing learning across waves.

By standardizing diagnostics from the start and using them consistently through each round, brands gain clarity on what’s working, not working, and most importantly – why. This strategic approach helps teams make informed decisions without relying on gut feel alone.

The Role of Consistency Across Rounds – and How Experts Help

In any multi-round packaging research effort, maintaining consistency across testing waves is non-negotiable. Without it, comparing results becomes unreliable, and the value of iterative consumer feedback – the core advantage of pack evolution studies – is lost.

Consistency applies across three dimensions: methodology, metrics, and setup. Let’s walk through why each matters and how skilled support can safeguard your research integrity:

1. Methodology Consistency

Using the same approach – such as monadic vs sequential testing – allows respondents to evaluate different packaging designs in a controlled environment. Changes to method mid-way (e.g., switching audiences or question formats) can cast doubt on observed trends.

DIY research tools like Toluna make it easy to replicate setups quickly. But with so many automated options, it’s also easy to unintentionally shift a question’s wording or layout between waves. Experienced researchers know where to look for these small but impactful variances.

2. Metrics and KPIs

Your diagnostics and key performance indicators (KPIs) – those you identified in the previous section – need to remain fixed for apples-to-apples comparisons. If you adjust the definitions or scoring in Wave 2, the data is no longer comparable to Wave 1.

Experts help ensure your KPIs are clearly defined upfront and preserved through each round of packaging research. This keeps your insights focused and reduces the risk of rework down the line.

3. Study Flow and Audience

Consistency in visual presentation, stimuli rotation, and respondent targeting matters more than you might think. During agile pack testing, you may want to increase sample size or explore a new segment – and that’s okay – as long as differences are clearly tracked and balanced with core audiences kept intact.

Experienced insight support professionals with a deep understanding of the Toluna platform can identify and flag inconsistencies before they affect your results. They also document learnings and setup choices in a way that ensures research continuity, especially when different team members are involved over time.

Bottom line? Even the best DIY research tools need expert oversight to ensure consistency across evolving studies. With expert support, your iterative package evolution journey stays focused, efficient, and valuable from the first test to the final rollout.

When to Bring in On Demand Talent for Pack Research Projects

As more teams rely on agile DIY research tools like Toluna to explore packaging changes, another trend is emerging alongside it – the increasing use of On Demand Talent to fill resource or capability gaps. When timelines are tight, budgets are lean, and internal teams are stretched, bringing in seasoned professionals on a flexible basis is often the smartest move.

So when is the right time to call in On Demand Talent?

Here are a few common scenarios:

• You need help setting up your first multi-round pack test: Not sure where to start? On Demand Talent can build out a complete agile packaging research plan, from diagnostics to deployment.
• Speed is critical, but you still want quality: ODT professionals move fast – and because they’re experienced, they don’t sacrifice rigor for speed. You get reliable results, without long hiring cycles or training time.
• Your team lacks hands-on Toluna experience: Tools like Toluna are powerful, but they come with their own learning curves. On Demand Talent can guide your internal team on usage best practices, surfacing deeper insights and building internal capability at the same time.
• Waves of testing are starting to feel unmanageable: Iterative testing means managing shifting variables while preserving consistency. Professionals from SIVO’s On Demand Talent network know how to keep your pack testing project grounded in strategy.
• You want a second set of expert eyes: Whether reviewing stimuli, interpreting early feedback, or helping refine future waves, sometimes a fresh, seasoned perspective is what helps a study deliver its full value.

Unlike freelancers or general marketing consultants, SIVO’s On Demand Talent are consumer insights experts ready to jump in and drive results. They’re not only technically proficient with DIY consumer insights platforms, but also bring strategic thinking that aligns research with business goals. You're not just filling a gap – you're adding capability to your team.

This flexible support option is especially helpful during capacity spikes or testing sprints, and it also helps upskill internal teams in the process. In short, On Demand Talent allows brands to keep pace with fast-moving deliverables while keeping research grounded, actionable, and high-quality.