We are constantly developing to meet our clients' needs and to keep our approach up-to-date. Our internal development team are creating new features and refining existing ones full-time, and are always on hand to create tailor-made solutions should you have a specific requirement.

Following the success of the quantification tool, Hyperthetical were commissioned by Kallo Foods to run another survey, this time for a less frequently purchased product. We were able to simplify the quantification tool for this purpose by gathering less detailed data on current usage, perceived new product usage and resulting change in current usage, and cross-referencing the results to report the same level of detail.

Our newest feature within surveys was developed as part of a second phase survey for Kallo Foods. The client had a requirement for a detailed estimation of the quantity of displacement the new product would cause among their own and their competitors' existing products. By collecting volume data from respondents in relation to specific products at various occasions throughout the day, we were able to give a detailed report on potential steal from competitors and potential cannibalisation of their own user-base, as well as the likely volume of each of their new proposed products they could expect to sell and when they would be consumed.

We have recently completed an in-home user test project involving fabric dyes of various colours and formats. This required careful monitoring to ensure the results of each respondent could be matched to the sample they received and was expertly managed by our distribution team.

For our latest project, an in-home test of a low fat snack, it became desirable to compare the results of different groups within the sample dependent on their brand and product eating habits, as well as their answers in relation to certain concepts. In Hyperthetical we are able to define 'filters', to identify the results of a group fitting precise criteria based on any answers throughout the survey. This is useful in comparing, for example, the results of current brand loyalists to those of a rival brand's loyalists.

Following our successful pilot with one of the country's leading frozen food manufacturers, we have fine-tuned their standard survey together and this month we are testing 33 concepts for them. Any number of concepts can be tested in a single Hyperthetical concept screener. We calculate the maximum number of concepts that can be evaluated by any one respondent in a reasonable survey length, and increase the total required panel size accordingly. The concepts are rotated and randomly selected, ensuring that they are evenly distributed and ordered across the panel.

Over the next few months we have a number of in-home product testing projects. We generally use a 2-survey approach for this, first running a screener as normal and collecting the addresses of willing participants then sending out samples of the product and following up with a survey about the sample once they've had a chance to use it. Hyperthetical can manage this whole process at a very reasonable price. We are able to match the results from both surveys by a unique respondent ID so we don't need to re-ask for any background data, keeping the follow-up survey shorter and therefore costs lower.

Our latest endeavour is a survey taking place in France for an internationally renowned toy manufacturer. The nature of the research is fairly straight-forward, utilising our standard model. The slight twist of this project is that the opinions of both parent and child are required. Of course these are no problem to collect, and the nature of our data structure in a relational database means we can quickly and easily cross-reference the results of both and report back on the strongest concepts in a well-reasoned and understandable way.

After the success of the previous project, we were once again commissioned by a leading soft drink manufacturer to determine the optimum size and price for a new share size bottle of a popular drink. In this instance the focus was more on price and for this we introduced our pricing module, which uses a series of questions and an evenly-spaced range of prices to pin-point the optimum price point, between those that were above the perceived value of the product and that were low enough to reflect badly on the quality of the product. This is called the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter.

Often it is necessary to identify which aspects of a product have the biggest effect on its likelihood of success. Hyperthetical have just run such a survey for a leading soft drink manufacturer. On consideration of launching a new, slightly larger, bottle of a hugely popular drink the client wanted to find the relative importance of liquid volume to the consumer in relation to other factors, such as price. A very successful method for cases like this is conjoint analysis, whereby combinations of variable factors are repeatedly presented as choices to the respondent, changing each time, eventually revealing an optimum combination as well as a tendency to place more importance on certain factors than others. Using this method, combined with some of our more standard tools, we were able to provide a likely uptake of the new product from current users and, more importantly, users of rival products, and also determine which suggested special offer would be the most successful.

We have recently been putting our multi-lingual capabilities into practice. A top international office supplies manufacturer are using Hyperthetical to establish the best options for various aspects, primarily the name, of a new online printing service. The research is taking place in the UK, France and Germany in their respective languages and our setup ensures that the answers from all 3 countries can be automatically translated into, and reported in, any of the 3 languages and cross-referenced against each other simply and easily.

A leading soft drink manufacturer has approached us to assess the impact of incorporating one of their brands into another existing range. They have a particular target demographic in mind and Hyperthetical will help them to determine whether the re-brand will make the product more appealing to this group. We are able to collect a huge amount of background data on respondents and cross-reference this with their other results to create a rich picture of appeal across the population.

We are currently running a pilot for a major frozen food company with a view to regularly testing around 30 concepts each month. One of the great cost-saving features of Hyperthetical is the ability to "do it yourself", setting up questionnaires and concepts using our simple wizards. In this case, we have implemented a standard questionnaire for the monthly screeners, and the client will upload their own concepts to be researched using it. This is a particularly efficient and cost-effective way of getting public opinion on ideas from early in the innovation process that could not be tested using traditional, and more expensive, research methods.

One of the most costly aspects of running surveys is paying for a panel of respondents giving truthful and thoughtful answers. Keeping costs low is often a priority, and a great way of doing this is to use and existing database of people you already have who may be willing to participate without compensation. We used this approach with a leading manufacturer who had their own mailing list. It resulted in a good response rate, a high quality of respondent, since they were already known to be interested in the product, and saved the client a lot of money!

The same technology that enables the variable survey paths can be used to ask questions of whole ranges of products, while asking others of a number of products or concepts within the range. Utilising this power allowed us to run a concept screener on some potential Spotless stain removal ranges and products, as well as comparing their likely success with existing competitor ranges and products.

One very popular development we've made is the ability to direct respondents down certain routes of questions, depending on answers they have given earlier in the questionnaire. This was used to great effect recently for a leading international printer manufacturer. Respondents were asked to review one of four Flash trailers and landing pages, depending on their preference for sections of the displayed website.

This month we're concentrating on the flexibility of our surveys. A leading rice cake manufacturer has tasked us with researching flavours and pack designs for a new range of premium products. The way our surveys are set up lets us divide these different aspects in appropriate stages, easily switching between them and changing the order as necessary before going live. This particular project also involves recruiting in-home testers to trial taste the flavours. Hyperthetical are able to run this whole process, from recruiting through to dispatch to testers and of course, our speciality, following up with a survey and report of the participants' reactions.

Hyperthetical have just completed a project for a new client, a variety of license-branded nut-based snacks. Using our most standard survey template for concept testing, we were able to set up, run and report the survey extremely quickly - in just a few days - and still provide conclusive results from rich data thanks to the efficiency and ingenuity of our relational database. Sometimes the simplest approach is the best one!

Our latest project is to find the optimum combination of audio and visuals for a national tv ad campaign planned by a top UK relationship website. This is giving us a chance to show off our ability to incorporate video functionality into our surveys.

Spotless are currently using Hyperthetical to test the potential for a body wipe specifically designed for use with sports and outdoor activities.

Dylon are launching Colour Renovator for faded clothes this month following a successful concept test through Hyperthetical in late summer 2009

Spotless the pan-European household products manufacturer are launching Descaler T-Bags this month. The cleaner and simple way to remove limescale from kettles was evaluated using Hyperthetical's Screen tool in August 2009.

We have just completed concept testing on a range of drinks for a leading global chocolate manufacturer. The active ingredient is scientifically proven to boost oxygen flow to hair, nails and skin, and Hyperthetical's Screen tool has yielding some interesting results.

Effective from 24th November 2009 Hyperthetical will officially launch its service in France.

Hyperthetical has just completed a major pan-European survey for one on Europe's most prominent office stationer marketers.

October sees the launch of the first of several launches by Spotless Group of concepts evaluated earlier this year using Hyperthetical's Proto innovation concept screening process.

Hyperthetical has just been commissioned to run a screener by a major UK soft drink manufacturer to compare the consumer appeal of six potential new brand names. Hyperthetical wont just compare the names for appeal and relative likeliood of trial, but also rate them on the basis of their conceptual communcation of key values.

This month marks the launch by Mars Consumer Drinks of the Galaxy Probiotic shots line following a successful screener test in late 2008

We've just completed presentation of an innovative business to business study for one of the world's leading manufacturers of mailing labels that combines our on-line data gathering tools with a conjoint trade-off methodology. The output has allowed the client to see the true value added by their brand, pricing and product attributes and enabled them to start making some very clear strategic decisons.

We were delighted to see that Mars Drinks are advertising their range of Milk Drinks this month. Mars used Hyperthetical to screen a number of these products when they were just concepts, so it's good to see them being supported in the marketplace.

We're really excited to have worked out a way to combine quick, cost-effective on-line concept screening with the ability to place product in-home and conduct re-call post-use interviews. It's a bit more expensive than standard online screening, but a lot less than the conventional microtest!

Would there be any interest in a version of the Hyperthetical survey that allows innovators to pose just one, or maybe a couple of simple yes / no questions to a random panel of 300 - 500 respondents? The service would be free, or at least very, very low cost. Anyone think this might be useful?

Hyperthetical is delighted to have been appointed by one of the UK's leading soft drinks marketers to help them explore the impact of a change to their marketing mix on brand preference and therefore purchase amongst teens and young adults.

Hyperthetical has just completed its first Proto Innovation Screener for one of Europe's leading manufacturers of laundry aids and other household products. The test had been in discussion for some while, but once approval to proceed the sample of ABC1 main grocery shoppers was delivered within 48 hours.

Hyperthetical have just completed a new product concept test for one of the UK's leading milk drink marketers. The test compared the excitement, uniqueness, trial and frequency scores of six new product concepts and helped the client spot the most promising option. From kick off to results the test took less than a week!

We have just completed a major positioning concept test for a major German manufacturer of premium biscuits. The test compared four alternative evolutions of the existing brand positioning in a monadic research structure with a highly targeted sample of paid respondents. The test helped our client not only identify the most compelling positioning option, but identify which words and pictures were driving the appeal, and how each concept impacted on the brand's underlying values.

Hyperthetical has just completed a packaging concept test for one of the UK's leading sugar brands. The test compated a potential new pack design, with the existing pack and the leading competitor. Because the client had really limited budget, we recruited respondents from their own email newsletter circulation list. Not only were we able to give them a conclusve evidence that their new pack was a step in the right direction, we were able to do if for a budget of just £1,100!

We have been in discussions with one of the UK's leading financial institutions about ways of integrating Hyperthetical's new product concept screening module onto the end of their highly innovative, digital employee suggestion capture process.

Managing a paper based employee suggestions scheme rapidly becomes a nightmare for most companies. the more successful the scheme, the more paper it generates and the more manpower it demands to keep it running smoothly. Unsurprisingly, mos fall out of favour fairly quickly. Inspired by a brief from one of the world's leading gum manufacturers, we have been exploring ways of turning our Hyperthetical concept screener into a powerful multi-operator concept capture; routing and assessment tool. If you would like to find out how the technology can be applied to help you turn your paper based suggestion scheme into a digital employee idea market with automated internal and consumer evaluation ... you should get in touch.

When budgets are tight, but you still need to know which of your new product concepts are winners, there are still options you can consider. We have conducted a couple of surveys for clients using consumers recruited from their own websites. whilst the results may not be as "pure" as those gained using paid respondents, they are certainly a lot better than nothing. We used this techninque for a well know global confectionery company recently and not only saved them thousands of pounds on recruitment fees, but gave them the ability to test new concepts amongst some of their most loyal consumers

Our new look is now published across Hyperthetical. The website, dashboard and survey have all had an update and we think they look great!

Take a look at the website here, where you can also find screenshots of the new dashboard and survey. Don’t forget to check out the demos.

Positive Percentages are Hyperthetical’s alternative rating view. While the default view is still the average across all ratings, Positive Percentages show you the percentage of ratings that can be realistically expected to result in trial or purchase.

From our 6 point scale, we calculate the Positive Percentages using all those who rated the concept 6 (very positive), and half of those who rated it 5 (positive).

We've been working hard on improving the look, and the ease-of-use, of our reports system and it's paid off! Our re-design has been launched with added functionailty and features, making it quicker and easier to navigate and understand the real-time reports from your screeners.

Amongst other new features, our system now includes:

• Pie charts - clearly displaying very useful percentage results
• Follow-through of individual open-ended answers - now you can see who said what.