Sometimes when you go home at night, or perhaps to a cocktail party, or perhaps you are on a phone call with your Mom or Dad, the question comes up, “What do you do?” Well, if you work in the sensory software industry that can be a bit hard to explain. Here are some ways that we explain sensory software in layman’s terms.

What is Sensory?

First, let’s talk about consumer products. This could be your favorite cookie such as an Oreo or a Girl Scout Thin Mint. Imagine the tastes, texture, and aroma. Imagine how that cookie feels on your tongue, how it tastes – almost like a sparkle – when those granulated sugars, carbs, and flavorings hit your taste buds! That’s one type of sensory experience. Or imagine your favorite shampoo. Perhaps it’s a Pantene, Neutrogena, or TRESemme, or perhaps its Garnier, which is famous for its “fruity” shampoos. Imagine how it lathers up, imagine how it smells when it hits your hair in the shower, and imagine how it smells after your hair dries. That’s another type of sensory experience.

Using Sensory to Improve Success

Next, imagine your the manufacturer of one of these products – be that a cookie or a shampoo. It’s pretty complicated to get all the ingredients – whether natural or man-made – on a regular basis, and get them together in the right combinations, in the right processes and in the right moments to produce a consistent product. If you’re Nabisco producing Oreos or your TRESemme producing Keratin Smooth, you want a consistent, high quality product. Now, imagine that you want (or need) to change something – an ingredient, or a process. Perhaps marketing has told you that consumer trends now favor this, or that. An example would be when trans fats got on the “naughty list”.  Consumers demanded that they be removed from consumer foods.  You – as the manufacturer – want to do some sensory research to find out how consumers are going to respond to a change to your product, before you commit to a massive change. That’s where sensory software comes in.

Sensory Software Makes Sense of Sensory Data

Sensory software helps with all phases of the process from “recruiting” consumer volunteers to sensory testing to sensory evaluation to sensory analysis. Our leading sensory software, RedJade, makes this process systematic, and organized so that a manufacturer can crunch the “big data” necessary via the sensory software to make informed decisions about changes to existing products or about the aspects of a new product. Manufacturers and market research organizations use sensory software to collect data, to analyze data, and to draw conclusions. A well-constructed sensory analysis software like RedJade makes this process relatively easy and systematic.