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In the worlds of pharma, biotech, medical devices, and diagnostics where we operate, getting your messaging right isn’t just about creativity—it’s about precision. Messaging can’t just sound good to your internal team; it must resonate with your target audience in ways that lead to clarity, motivation, and ultimately, behavior change.
That’s why at ThinkGen, we partner closely on a daily basis with commercial brand teams and their agency counterparts to rigorously evaluate messaging for both healthcare professionals (HCPs) and consumers. This article provides a practical guide to developing message stimuli that are testable—built for generating customer insight and leading to a behavioral result.
The first and most important principle: before you dive into research, make sure your messages are research-ready. One common mistake we frequently encounter is an overabundance of messages—often 50 or more—submitted without an internal triage process. That number is unmanageable in a 60-minute qualitative interview, which remains the gold standard for message testing.
Our rule of thumb for qual testing:
When internal culling proves difficult, consider preliminary focus groups with real-time polling. This allows participants to vote messages in or out of the narrative, followed by a group discussion to explore polarizing results. It’s fast, directional, and effective at narrowing the field prior to embarking on IDIs designed to drill down on a smaller, more manageable group of messages.
Too often, message testing can devolve into a conversation about whether something “sounds good.” But clarity and credibility, while necessary, are not sufficient. You must anchor evaluation to a specific behavioral objective.
Consider asking:
By grounding your research study in real-world behaviors that emanate from the strategy, you move from superficial reactions to actionable feedback.
Here’s a valuable step brand teams and their agency partners: at the same time as messages are submitted for testing, include specific probing guidance for the moderator. At ThinkGen, we always ask for such guidance.
Probes can help the moderator reveal the key uncertainties around a specific message:
Message-specific probes allow researchers to unpack nuance, test interpretations, and capture feedback that leads to sharper, more resonant messaging. They’re especially helpful for regulatory-sensitive phrases or terminology that has multiple connotations.
A "double-barrel" message combines two or more ideas in a single statement—for example: "This treatment offers fast symptom relief and long-term disease control." It’s impossible to know which element drove a respondent's reaction. Was it speed? Longevity? Both? Neither?
To the extent possible, each main message should express one idea only. This ensures insights are attributable and actionable.
Equally problematic is redundancy. Multiple messages that say the same thing in slightly different ways can bias respondents and dilute the insight. Identify the strongest version of the message and test that among the set of main messages. Set the others aside for potential follow-up testing of alternative.
Messages should never be tested as a random grab-bag. Organize them into themes like:
For each theme, we structure a typical interview to:
This organization leads to richer, more focused feedback and helps identify which communication angles resonate most clearly.
At the end of the interview, typically we ask the respondent to review all of the messages they have deemed most compelling and to construct a short, logical narrative that would impact their behavior - as defined by the brand strategy (e.g., prescribe in a specific type of patient, request that their HCP consider or even prescribe it for them).
A growing trend in marketing science is heuristicization—crafting messages that serve to activate cognitive shortcuts. Messages that leverage heuristics have been shown to distill complex ideas into digestible, instantly understood statements that influence behavior quickly.
Think of:
Incorporating heuristic principles can significantly improve message recall and motivation. As you develop messages, consider: what’s the shortest path from concept to conviction? How can this message be remembered and repeated?
Message testing provides a perfect environment to evaluate which heuristics work best—and why. I will be writing a separate article on the topic of the strengths of and challenges associated with message heuristicization.
As noted above, once you’ve established which ideas work, you can explore alternative phrasings. But don’t confuse these two steps. Testing dozens of nuanced variations alongside each other risks overloading your respondents and muddying the feedback.
Instead:
This approach keeps your qualitative interviews lean, structured, and actionable.
If you're developing messages for qualitative testing, follow these principles:
At its best, message testing isn’t just a research step or process—it’s a strategic advantage. When messaging inputs are thoughtfully crafted and grounded in clear, compelling ideas, they unlock deeper insights and enable stronger decision-making.
At ThinkGen, we regard message testing as a collaborative process that elevates creative and strategic thinking. With the right approach, it becomes more than just an evaluation—it becomes a catalyst for clarity, alignment, and customer impact.
Together, we can ensure that your brand’s story doesn’t just get told—it gets heard, remembered, and acted upon.
