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Turn competitive product testing into your unfair advantage

Advanced analytics and streamlined protocols help R&D teams make data-driven decisions faster, reducing the 90%+ failure rate that plagues new product launches.

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TURN COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE INTO PRODUCT ADVANTAGE

Get the comprehensive competitive insights you need without sacrificing speed or scientific rigor
Research Dark

Compare your products against competitors using standardized protocols that eliminate testing bias and deliver reliable, actionable insights.

Reviews Dark

Access real-time competitive intelligence through our advanced analytics platform, giving you the market visibility needed to outmaneuver competitors.

Quantitative Dark

Transform complex competitive data into clear strategic recommendations that align R&D efforts with proven market opportunities.

WHY R&D TEAMS CHOOSE HIGHLIGHT FOR COMPETITIVE PRODUCT TESTING

We turn complex competitor analysis into clear product decisions that protect your brand and boost sales

Rapid competitive insight

Compare your products against competitors using real consumer feedback in just 2-3 weeks instead of months. Our standardized testing protocols evaluate taste, texture, packaging, and overall preference across your target demographics. You'll know exactly where you stand in the market before committing to expensive launches, helping you avoid the 75% of product recalls that stem from inadequate pre-launch testing.
Rapid competitive insight
Consumer preference analytics

Consumer preference analytics

Access detailed breakdowns of why consumers choose your competitors over your products, complete with demographic and behavioral insights. Our analysis reveals specific attributes that drive purchase decisions—from flavor profiles to packaging appeal—giving you concrete direction for product improvements. These insights help you create products that resonate with your target market instead of joining the 90%+ of new products that fail to meet sales expectations.

 

Accelerated development cycles

Compress typical 6-month testing timelines into 4-6 weeks without sacrificing data quality or consumer sample size. Our efficient recruitment and testing processes mean you get market-ready insights faster, helping you meet tight launch deadlines while maintaining the thoroughness your stakeholders expect. Faster insights mean more time for iteration and refinement before launch.
Accelerated development cycles
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How Simply Gum used competitive testing to win on shelf

  • Conducted 4 consumer research tests in 2025, enabling Simply Gum to confidently expand beyond gum into mints, gummies, chocolates, and more.
  • Achieved 90% completion rates with an average of 8 days from data collection to analytics, providing fast, reliable sensory and competitive insights.
  • Sensory and positioning research uncovered critical product and packaging insights—like repositioning gummies as fruit snacks and messaging real peppermint oil on mints—that directly shaped SKU strategy.
  • Highlight’s consumer intelligence surfaced a powerful marketing direction for gum relaunch, showing that preference flips to Simply Gum when consumers learn there’s no plastic in the product.

READ THE CASE STUDY

Getting started is simple
Design your test

Design your test

Define your objectives, create your survey, and set parameters for your ideal testers.

We ship your products

We ship your products

We handle recruitment and distribution to get your products into the right homes.

See your data instantly

See your data instantly

Gather feedback through our platform and transform data into actionable insights.

Make decisions with reliable data
Insights Light

Rapid competitive analysis

Compare your formulations against top competitors in weeks, not months, using standardized testing protocols that deliver actionable insights. Speed up your development cycles while maintaining the thoroughness your stakeholders demand.

Quantitative Light

Consumer preference mapping

Discover exactly how your target audience ranks your product against alternatives through blind comparison studies. Understand the specific attributes that drive purchase decisions in your category.

Product Intellligence Light

Formula optimization testing

Identify which product variations perform best against competitors across key performance metrics. Refine your formulations based on head-to-head consumer feedback before committing to production.

Research Light

Market positioning validation

Confirm your product's competitive advantages and weaknesses through direct consumer testing against category leaders. Build marketing claims and positioning strategies on solid evidence rather than assumptions.

See Highlight in action

Watch how leading CPG brands are leveraging Highlight's platform to transform their product testing process, capture authentic consumer insights, and bring winning products to market faster.
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Is your product testing keeping you ahead of the competition?

Get reliable consumer feedback that reveals how your products really stack up against competitors, so you can make confident R&D decisions without the guesswork.

 

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Common competitive testing questions
What's the fastest way to conduct competitive product testing without compromising data quality? Highlight delivers competitive usability testing insights in roughly 3 weeks from participant recruitment to final analysis for physical product testing, significantly faster than traditional methods that can take months. Our platform enables you to compare your product against competitors using real consumers in their natural environments, providing authentic performance comparisons. The 90%+ completion rates we achieve ensure comprehensive data collection, while our rigorous community screening process eliminates the unreliable responses that plague other testing platforms. You can access super niche audiences—as specific as 3% incidence rate populations—to test with your exact target demographic rather than settling for broad consumer groups. This combination of speed and precision helps you make confident R&D decisions quickly, reducing time-to-market while maintaining the data integrity essential for successful product launches.
How do I design effective testing protocols that account for diverse consumer preferences and behaviors? Highlight's comprehensive testing suite includes sensory evaluation, prototype testing, and longitudinal studies that capture the full spectrum of consumer interactions with your product. Our platform allows you to segment testing across different demographic and psychographic groups, ensuring you understand how various consumer segments perceive and use your product differently. With access to audiences as niche as 3% incidence rates, you can test specific consumer behaviors and preferences that matter most to your target market. The high-quality data from our selective community (48% acceptance rate) means you're building protocols based on genuine consumer insights rather than rushed or inattentive responses. Our testing services span multiple touchpoints—from initial concept testing through package testing and post-launch sentiment analysis—creating a complete picture of consumer preferences throughout the product lifecycle.
How can I identify the most promising product features to prioritize in development? Highlight's feature prioritization surveys and prototype testing help you understand which product attributes drive the greatest consumer value and purchase intent. Our co-creation and customer co-creation services allow consumers to collaborate directly in the development process, providing insights on which features matter most in real-world usage. The high completion rates (90%+) and quality responses from our selective community ensure you're making feature decisions based on comprehensive consumer input. You can test specific feature combinations through functional testing and concept testing to understand how different attributes work together to create consumer appeal. Our rapid insights delivery—averaging 3 weeks from recruitment to results—means you can iterate on features quickly without extending development timelines or missing market opportunities.
What's the most effective approach for testing products with highly specific target audiences? Highlight excels at reaching super niche audiences, including populations with incidence rates as low as 3%, which traditional research methods often struggle to access effectively. Our selective community screening process and 48% acceptance rate ensure you're testing with genuinely qualified participants who match your specific demographic and psychographic criteria. The platform's specialized testing services—from vegan product testing to cannabis product consumer testing—are designed to address unique category requirements and consumer behaviors. Our high data quality standards mean that even with small, specialized audiences, you receive reliable insights that accurately represent your target market's preferences and behaviors. With 90%+ completion rates, you can be confident that your niche audience testing provides comprehensive feedback despite the specialized participant requirements.
How can I conduct thorough competitive analysis without extending product development timelines? Highlight's competitive usability testing services deliver comprehensive competitor analysis in roughly 3 weeks, compared to traditional methods that can take months to complete. Our platform allows simultaneous testing of your product against multiple competitors using real consumers in authentic usage environments. The 90%+ completion rates ensure you receive complete competitive insights from all participants, while our rigorous data quality standards mean you're comparing against reliable consumer feedback. Our testing covers multiple competitive dimensions—from functional performance and sensory appeal to packaging impact and messaging effectiveness. The rapid turnaround time means you can incorporate competitive insights into development decisions without delaying launch schedules or missing market windows.

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