The real‐time response survey in new product research: it’s about time

The real‐time response survey can be viewed as a dialectic elaboration of the focus group and the sample survey, incorporating some of the advantages of each and producing a program of research quickly. An evaluation of the methodology shows its predictive utility from: real‐time response purchase intentions to self‐reported actual purchases of common commodities seven days later (r = 0.97); real‐time response purchase intentions to self‐reported actual purchases of new products six months later (r = 0.94); and an index of three real‐time response ratings of a product (purchase intention, price, and extent to which product is new and different) by residents of Cincinnati to national sales data for the following year (r = 0.45). Considers some advantages and disadvantages of the methodology. It can be quite useful in new product development.