Pre-testing
Campaign messages and communication products must be culturally relevant and motivational to change attitudes, shape social norms and build confidence to support behavioural change. The creative concept, messages, graphics and other communication products should be pre-tested with members of the primary audience before the campaign is finalised and implemented. Pre-testing messaging and materials can help ensure that the finalised campaign will effectively deliver on the campaign goals.
Pre-testing is usually either conducted by the creative agency with support from the programme team or by an external research organisation. Following pre-testing, the creative agency will integrate the learnings and feedback into the campaign materials. If needed, a second technical review with the programme team, CAC and CMT can be scheduled once the materials are finalised.
This pre-testing report was developed after pre-testing campaign materials in Tanzania.
The pre-testing process brings together people who represent members of the primary audience to test their reactions to the campaign messages, visuals and other materials. It aims to help the creative agency and your team understand how participants perceive the draft messages and products based on the level emotional engagement or appeal, persuasive power and motivation, credibility, and the likelihood of creating a lasting impression. It will also gauge how well the participants understand the messages and materials, and gather suggestions for improvement.
The pre-testing process can be time consuming, which may depend upon the number of items being tested, number of participant groups, methods used in testing, and extent of revisions needed. It is a good idea to plan on at least one or two months to complete the pre-testing process.
The pre-testing process steps are outlined briefly below, though the pre-testing process for your campaign may differ based on your goals, creative agency’s suggestions, location and other factors.
- Determine the pre-testing goals and objectives: Before pre-testing can begin, your team and the creative agency or research organisation will outline the testing goals and objectives for each item, for e.g., campaign message, communication product that will be tested.
Firstly, the item to be tested, for e.g., radio drama, television commercial, poster, and the test audience, for e.g., mothers of infants and young children aged under two from a rural community, should be detailed.
Then, learning goals and objectives of the pre-test should be written. The objectives may consider factors like participant understanding of materials, emotional appeal, persuasive power, visual appeal and more. - Choose pre-testing methods: Based on the goals and objectives outlined in the first step, the creative agency will make recommendations about the best methods to gather information during the pre-testing process. Often pre-testing relies on individual interviews or focus group discussions. However, surveys, community-based sampling, for e.g., door-to-door testing, or other methods may also be considered depending upon the learning and testing goals. The creative agency or research organisation will be able to guide how pre-testing is planned, which methods are most appropriate for the materials to be tested and the sample size needed to ensure the findings are reliable and generalisable.
- Develop pre-testing guides and questions: The creative agency or research organisation will also develop any tools, question guides or other resources used in the pre-testing sessions. Depending upon the methods used, they will determine which roles are needed to carry out pre-testing, for e.g., facilitators, note takers, surveyors, and recruit individuals to fill those roles much like in the focus group discussions conducted during the audience analysis.
- Plan to pre-testing sessions: The creative agency or research organisation will plan the pre-test sessions by identifying and inviting participants and choosing a suitable location and a time for pre-testing to occur. Not all pre-testing will occur as face-to-face communications. Some pre-testing methods may include internet or text-based surveys, phone calls or community-based observation. They will also determine how to plan for the pre-testing methods to be used for your campaign materials.
- Analyse the data from pre-testing sessions: After pre-testing has been completed, the data must be analysed to identify key learnings. The insights gathered will be used to revise and improve the campaign messages and materials before implementation. The creative agency or research organisation will summarise the learnings from pre-testing so that the campaign materials can be edited and revised.
- Finalise the campaign messages and materials before implementation: In the weeks following pre-testing, the creative agency will integrate feedback from the pre-testing sessions into the campaign materials. Work with the creative agency, CAC and CMT to ensure that the materials reflect the learnings from pre-testing and meet the core campaign objectives.