How long does it take to get consumer feedback on a new product?
Answer
First reactions take days. But the answer that decides whether people will buy your product again takes about two weeks of real use, because that’s when a product stops being new and has to earn its place in someone’s routine. For products people judge in a use or two, like a snack or a drink, a few days of use is often enough.
An example. A new shampoo gets warm messages in its first three days: lovely smell, great lather. By the second week, a few of the same people have quietly gone back to their old bottle, because their hair feels heavier than it used to. Nobody sends a message about that.
Day one tells you about the first impression
The first days of use mostly measure the pack, the scent on opening and the novelty.
That’s useful, but the decision you care about comes later. A lot of what ends a reorder only shows up later: a residue that builds up, a pump that stops working halfway down the bottle, a scent that fades. Those take time, and they’re the subject of Why don’t the defects that matter show up on the first use?
Two weeks is when a product stops being new
By the second week, the product isn’t new any more, and it isn’t a habit yet.
That’s the window where people decide whether it stays. Habits take far longer than two weeks to settle: for simple daily health habits, one well-known study found a median of 66 days, anywhere from 18 to 254 (Lally and others, 2010). So two weeks in, nothing is settled, and that’s exactly why it’s the moment to ask. The longer version is in Why do products fail at the second purchase?
When a few days is enough
Some products are judged in a use or two, and for those the first verdict is most of the answer.
A snack, a drink or a ready-to-cook mix gets judged on taste and convenience the first time it’s tried. Waiting two weeks adds little. For products used every day, like skincare, hair care, cooking oils or a dishwash liquid, the first use says much less, because the verdict forms with repeated use.
What to do while you wait
Don’t let the first week’s numbers make your next decision for you.
- Hold your scale-up spend until you’ve seen whether first buyers come back.
- Call five customers who bought in the first week, two or three weeks later, and ask whether it’s still the one they reach for.
- Write down what you’ll decide when the answer comes in: the price, the pack, whether to scale. It keeps the wait useful.
What this means for your brand
Give feedback the time the product needs. For an everyday product, that’s about two weeks of real use, so plan your launch dates around it. Foydy’s read is two weeks of use at home, with a shorter read for products judged in a use or two.
Sources
- Lally and others, European Journal of Social Psychology (2010) (opens in a new tab), how habits form in the real world.