Meet the new Innovation System for consumer-in-the-loop innovation

Competitive advantage for brands today is increasingly tied to how quickly and accurately they can innovate, respond to and anticipate consumer needs. 

When it comes to product innovation, this is especially important. McKinsey reports that nearly one-third of CEOs in the CPG industry believe innovation is the number one lever for growth. Nielsen supports this, saying brands that focus on innovation are 1.8x more likely to grow overall sales. 

Despite the immense importance of innovation to winning new customers and market share, 75% of new product innovations in the CPG industry fail (McKinsey).

The reason is simple: the majority of innovation is disconnected from what consumers want. That’s because traditional research methods don’t support the continuous product iteration required to keep consumers involved at every stage, in order to create winning ideas. Research becomes a reference point – something teams refer to at various stages of development – but it isn’t central to the creative process. 

Insight teams are facing unprecedented market demands and outdated processes often hinder their ability to adapt in a fast-paced business environment. 

At Zappi, we want to change this dynamic. We know that, when used correctly, market research is a source of competitive advantage for brands. We need to change the view of market research from a reference point for validation to a system where teams can create, test, analyze and optimize their product ideas. 

That’s why, today, I’m excited to announce that Zappi is releasing its new Innovation System. 

Zappi's Innovation System transforms traditional, rigid research workflows into an agile, continuous, and connected insights platform: one where insights teams can iterate faster, make data-driven decisions and continuously optimize products and concepts based on real-time consumer feedback.

Why is this so valuable?

1. More Continuous: Research from Bain & Company shows that agile innovation processes lead to success rates 4-6x higher than less efficient models. Our innovation suite enables more agile processes through best-in-class idea, concept, pack, price and range testing that not only validates but also serves to iteratively improve and optimize elements based on real consumer feedback. Eliminating the bottlenecks of traditional research models, teams can adapt to nonlinear market demands seamlessly.

2. More Connected: Zappi’s platform stores and leverages 100% of past research, helping brands build a learning loop that maximizes the value of their consumer insights over time. With an aligned framework and comparable metrics, teams unlock a more connected view of consumer perceptions. This connection allows brands to make informed decisions, iterate more effectively, and anticipate consumer trends before they happen.

3. Acceleration Powered by AI: We’ve embedded AI across our best-in-class innovation testing system to accelerate development cycles. From weeks or even months of development through traditional methods, Zappi enables brands to create, test, analyze and optimize new product concepts in as few as four hours. 

Zappi’s solutions ensure that brands can thrive in a demanding environment, driving business growth and consumer-centric innovation.

Why the need now for something new?

Technology is widely adopted in the industry. According to a recent survey by Zappi and our partners at the American Marketing Association of over 700 marketing and insights professionals, 78% say technology is used frequently in consumer insights. But technology alone isn’t the answer to meeting market demands.

When asked what are their biggest blockers to effectively leveraging consumer insights, 33% say their data is fragmented, 28% say time constraints inhibit them from analyzing data fully and 25% struggle to translate consumer insights to strategy. These challenges aren’t solved by buying more technology, since 40% of marketing and insights pros note budget constraints as their biggest challenge. Instead we believe we can help brands solve these problems by connecting the data through a single, iterative system. 

Zappi has always been a leader in providing software solutions that connect brands to consumers. Global brands have seen huge success leveraging our innovation system for connected, iterative consumer research. In fact, we compared the annualized growth rates of Zappi innovation customers relative to the average rate of growth in their respective industries over the past 5 years. We found that Zappi innovation customers grew twice as fast over the same fixed period as the average of their categories.

We’ve taken our best-in-class innovation system and applied AI to important phases of the product development journey. This modern innovation system enables brands to embrace truly consumer-centric product innovation. Customers can create, test, analyze and optimize products directly on the platform, shortening the development cycle from months to just hours, with consumer insights central to the process. 

Create

We’re excited to announce Zappi’s AI Concept Creation Agents to empower brands to ideate smarter and faster. Facilitated through Zappi’s AI Concept Lab workshops, this powerful brainstorming tool helps brands pair their historical concept testing data with powerful generative AI technology to turn ideas into reality in just minutes. But this isn’t just about saving time – it’s about giving teams access to tools that create product ideas rooted in what consumers really care about. 

Test

Innovation doesn’t stop at the idea. Our system allows you to put your concepts through rigorous testing at any stage. Whether you’re vetting early-stage ideas or fine-tuning near-launch products, Zappi’s suite of tools—including Screen It, product element optimization tools, Activate It and Activate It Early—lets you test concepts against real consumer feedback. In today’s market, the ability to iterate quickly and pivot based on direct insights is what separates winning products from failed launches. With Zappi, teams can confidently adjust in real-time, creating a clearer path to success.

Analyze

Time is money, and in today’s fast-paced business landscape, waiting for insights shouldn’t slow you down. Our AI Quick Reports instantly analyze results, providing you with clear, actionable and shareable reports instantly. This data-driven approach helps insights teams pressed for time and resources move from data to insight in minutes, so they can spend more time bringing the voice of consumers to important business decisions. 

Optimize

The innovation process doesn’t end with testing—it’s about continual refinement. Zappi’s AI Concept Optimizer allows teams to fine-tune concepts in moments based on consumer feedback. We’ve seen up to 65% of key concept metrics improve with AI Optimizer, with 20% showing significant gains. This iterative optimization not only maximizes your product’s chances of success but ensures your brand stays aligned with consumer preferences, delivering products that resonate and perform.

We’ve seen up to 65% of key concept metrics improve with AI Optimizer, with 20% showing significant gains.

Zappi’s connected innovation system transforms product development into a seamless, data-driven process. By integrating AI with continuous consumer feedback, brands can create, test, analyze, and optimize ideas in less than four hours, ensuring every decision is aligned with consumer needs. This system accelerates time to market, enhances product success rates, and empowers insights teams to drive truly consumer-centric innovation.