How will LION run my product trial?
There’s a lot to consider when you are running a product trial. We know that product trials can seem like a lot more time, effort, and resources that you don’t have. With over 30 years of experience delivering solutions and right-fit products to clients, LION has honed our framework for product trial success. The best part? We will run it for you!
We want to ensure you have a clear decision on whether a product is right for you. Our mission is to make sure that you have the best-fit product. We are specialists in what we sell and can help you find items that suit you and your company’s requirements. By the end of the trial, you will know whether the product is a good fit or a bad fit for you.
We don’t do free product trials, and won’t just send out a plethora of products and sizes for you to hand out and try. All of our product trials are paid for; if you choose to go with LION and purchase a full order of your trial products, we will fully reimburse you for the products you have trialled or award credit to use on your account.
LION’s Product Trial Process/Framework for Success
LION uses a tried and tested framework to conduct product trials. The trial will last 3 weeks, leaving 1 week to collate data, and responses and find a clear conclusion.
What determines success? We believe that a successful trial is a trial with a clear outcome, regardless of that outcome. The purpose of a product trial is to establish whether or not a product is a good or bad fit for your workers, so the key to success is a clear result on whether it works for your team.
Our framework consists of key stages that ensure you get a clear result:
Research
- Meet with key decision-makers to confirm:
- What products do you want?
- What do you want the products to do?
- What does “good” look like?
- What have you tried in the past that has/hasn’t worked?
Review
- Internal technical product review at LION to specify correct product
Confirm
- Confirmation of proposed products for trial
- Confirmation of proposed products for trial shown to your team on a story board for your review
Trial
- Product trial starts with 5% of workforce
Review Again
- Collate feedback and present findings
How will LION start my product trial?
Our first step is to work with you to determine the products you want to trial. Products get confirmed at the proposal stage. From there, we will put together storyboards of the products so your teams can see products ahead of the trial.
Once products are agreed upon, it is up to you to decide which workers you want to trial them. This step is important, as you need to make sure you have a good representation of the overall staff who would have to wear or use the kit while ensuring the participants in the trial will offer useful feedback.
We recommend you look at choosing your participants with the following in mind:
- The number of participants should be at least 5% of your workforce or 5 people (whichever is more), to ensure you get a good representation.
- If your organisation has different teams and sites, your trial should incorporate staff across all teams and sites that will be affected by the change in PPE, workwear or safety equipment.
- Participants should know the level of commitment and feedback expected of them before they sign up to do the trial.
Once you have your 5% selected, it is important to communicate clearly what the next steps are for them.
Can LION communicate directly with participants?
Some clients find that direct communication from supplier to end-user is a more effective way of getting honest and thorough feedback on a product than the employer to the worker. Others have found that staff are unwilling to engage with a supplier and ignore emails/messages that are not from inside their organisation.
Trials are about the products and their performance, and if you feel it would be better to have LION communicate with your staff directly, let us know in the planning stages of the trial so that we can prepare.
You know how your staff like to communicate best, so this is entirely your choice.
How will LION run my product trial?
When your team of participants and your branded trial kits are ready to go, LION will deliver either:
- To one agreed location (like a site or hub)
- To several locations (several sites or hubs)
- To each participant’s chosen address
We deliver items next-day once branded.
Along with the trial products, your participants will receive a hard copy of the bespoke trial feedback form we’ve created based on your key concerns and priorities. How your data is gathered and collated depends on your goals and what you want to achieve.
When the kit and the trial forms go out, we set a start date for the trial so that everyone begins on the same date. That way, directors, managers, and operatives are held accountable for ensuring the trial starts on time and progresses correctly.
How will LION finish my trial?
Together we will agree on how to gather the results. Depending on your team of participants, you may have opted for electronic forms or physical paper ones. Once we have them back, we will trend the data.
Then we will organise a conclusion meeting with all key decision-makers to discuss the results. Ahead of this meeting, we will send you the results to discuss them as a team first. Come to the conclusion meeting with any collective questions you have and they will be answered openly and honestly as a group.
The purpose of the conclusion meeting is to discuss your options for moving forward and find clear next steps.
What if my workers do not like the garments they’ve trialled?
That’s ok, don’t panic! This is still a sign that your trial has been successful: better to know at the trial stage than after a universal rollout. The process here is simple:
- LION review all feedback and assessed the product choice to see if there are any alternative products on the market that better suit your particular environment based on the feedback from your employees,
- We then rerun the trial process based on the same format to ensure you and your workers are really comfortable that the products you are going to buy from us work for them and your company.
What happens after my trial?
Once the trial has been completed and you are ready to move forward, we will book a proposal meeting and confirm the prices and details for the products we propose.
Check out our article on everything you need to know before a proposal meeting with us if you want more details about what that entails.
If you wish to go ahead and start a product trial, get in touch with our Business Development Support now.
