Product Trials on Campuses: How to Run Them and What to Learn

A product trial on campus puts a new or relaunched product in front of students and asks them what they think, at a scale large enough to trust the answer. Run well, it does two jobs at once: it recruits first buyers and it gives you a read on taste, awareness and purchase intent from the people you want to win. The trials that pay back are planned as research from the start, with the questions agreed before a single sample goes out.

Key points

• Decide what you need to learn (awareness, taste, price, purchase intent) before you choose the trial format.

• Distribution through halls and the Welcome Bag gives scale and a defined audience; events give conversation but smaller samples.

• Survey students within days of trial, while the product is fresh in their minds, and keep the questionnaire short.

• Judge results against a benchmark. Across Dig In’s brand surveys, the median taste score was 8.8 out of 10 in 2025 (18 surveys).

What a campus product trial is for

Brands use student trials for launches, relaunches, new flavours and line extensions, and to test a challenger product against a category leader. First-year students are a useful test audience for two reasons. They are choosing many everyday brands for themselves for the first time, so their answers reflect the product in front of them more than years of habit. And they are the buyers many brands need to recruit in the next five years.

A trial also tells you things a focus group cannot. Students use the product in their own kitchen or bathroom, on their own schedule, alongside whatever else they bought that week. Their feedback reflects real use rather than a tasting table.

Choosing the trial format

The right format depends on how many responses you need and what you want to learn.

The Welcome Bag at the start of term

The university Welcome Bag reaches first-year students in their halls on or around arrival day. It suits trials that need volume and a clean audience: every recipient is a new student, and the product arrives when they are stocking their room. It works well for measuring awareness and purchase intent across a large sample.

Live Activations during the year

Live Activations let you choose cities, halls and timing. That makes them useful for structured tests: one variant in one region and a second variant elsewhere, or a study snack timed for exam season. They also suit a second wave after a September trial, to check whether a change to the recipe, pack or message has moved the score.

Events and pop-ups

Freshers fairs and campus events give you face-to-face conversation, which is good for qualitative feedback and for products that need a demonstration. The numbers are smaller and the audience is whoever walks past, so treat event feedback as colour rather than as your main result.

Refreshers in January

January Refreshers reaches students at the start of second term. It is a sensible point to re-test a product students first met in September, or to trial a product that suits the new year, such as healthier options or budget meals.

Designing the feedback

Most weak trials fail at the survey, not the sample. A few rules help.

• Ask soon. Survey within days of trial. After a few weeks students mix up what they tried and where it came from.

• Keep it short. Five to eight questions finished in a couple of minutes will get far more completions than a long questionnaire.

• Ask about use first. Check the student actually tried the product before asking what they thought of it.

• Use consistent scales. A 0 to 10 taste or performance score and a five-point likelihood to buy make results comparable across waves and brands.

• Include one open question. What students say in their own words often explains the scores.

A core question set covers: did you try it; how would you rate it; had you heard of it before; how likely are you to buy it; would you recommend it; where would you expect to buy it. Our page on how we measure campaigns sets out the approach Dig In uses across its survey programme, which has collected over a million survey responses since 2016.

What a large trial can show: Coca-Cola, 2026

Coca-Cola’s 2026 programme with Dig In collected 8,225 survey responses across seven surveys between January and September. Two findings show why a trial is worth running as research:

• 89.9% of students surveyed were likely to buy Original and Zero (n=3,019), the strongest result across the five products tested.

• 51.0% said they prefer zero or reduced sugar drinks (n=3,393), a finding that speaks to range and messaging, not only to one product.

Results that differ across products and variants are the useful part. They tell a brand where to put the next wave of distribution and which variant to lead with. The full story is in the Coca-Cola 2026 case study.

Turning trial results into decisions

1. Range. Back the variant with the highest intent and recommendation scores, and look hard at any that fall well below the benchmark.

2. Pack and price. If students like the product but say they would not pay for it, look at pack size and price point for student budgets.

3. Message. Use the words students used in open answers. They are often better copy than the brief.

4. Distribution. Compare scores by city and university to decide where to follow up.

5. Re-test. Run a second wave after any change, using the same questions, so you can see whether it worked.

For the behavioural reasons trial changes what people buy, read the science of product sampling.

Questions brands ask

How do I test a new product with university students?

Distribute the product to a defined group of students, through the Welcome Bag or Live Activations for scale, then survey them within days on use, rating, awareness and purchase intent. Compare the results with a benchmark and with your other variants.

How many responses do I need from a student product trial?

Enough to compare the groups you care about. If you want to split results by variant, city or gender, plan for several hundred responses in each group rather than a few hundred overall.

What should I ask students after a product trial?

Ask whether they tried it, how they rate it, whether they had heard of it before, how likely they are to buy it and whether they would recommend it. Add one open question so students can explain their scores.

Working with Dig In

Dig In runs product trials through its Welcome Bag, Live Activations and Refreshers, with student surveys built in, and reports results against its benchmark of brand surveys. To plan a trial for a launch or a new variant, get in touch.