Cross-Market Concept Testing

Test the same concept across multiple markets in a single task and surface what travels and what doesn't.

What works in one market often doesn't translate to another. Cultural context, category maturity, and local competitive dynamics all shape how people receive a new idea.

iMario lets you test the same concept across multiple markets simultaneously — without the cost or coordination of running parallel research in each region.

When to Use This

You're expanding into a new geography and want to validate product-market fit before investing
You have a concept that works in your home market and need to understand how it lands elsewhere
You want to compare reactions across cultures, languages, or demographics in a single task

Step 1: Build Your Audiences

Use Audience Mode to create one audience per market. Keep the persona type consistent — vary only the geography and cultural context.

For example:

Audience A: "Five urban professionals in São Paulo, aged 28–40, early adopters of fintech products, comfortable with digital payments but skeptical of foreign brands."

Audience B: "Five urban professionals in Jakarta, aged 28–40, early adopters of fintech products, price-sensitive, with high mobile usage and strong preference for locally trusted brands."

Create as many audiences as markets you want to test.

Step 2: Configure Your Audience Node

Use a multi-flow task — one flow per market. In each flow, assign the corresponding audience. Keep everything else — content, questions, report configuration — identical across flows so differences in response are attributable to the audience, not the setup.

Step 3: Set Up Your Flow

Use a Discussion Guide in the Content Node, or paste in your concept description, landing page copy, or product narrative.

Ask the same questions across all flows:

"What's your first reaction to this?"
"Does this feel relevant to your life or context? Why or why not?"
"What would make you trust or distrust this?"
"Is there anything about this that feels unfamiliar or doesn't quite fit?"

The last question is especially important for cross-market testing — it surfaces cultural friction that generic testing misses.

Step 4: Configure Your Report

In the Output Node, click Report #1 to open the configuration panel.

Report Length: Standard Report — cross-market findings have enough complexity across segments that a brief will flatten the nuance you need.

Report Tone: Consulting — findings should be framed as decisions: which market to prioritize, what to localize, and what travels as-is.

Insight Depth: Full Chain — Findings + Insights + Recommendations. Cross-market testing isn't just about documenting differences. It's about knowing what to do about them.

Evidence Style: Representative — surfaces the most revealing responses from each market without overwhelming the report.

Dimensions of Analysis: Turn on Demographic Breakdown and Sentiment Analysis. If you're comparing across geographies, Demographic Breakdown is where market-level differences will surface most clearly.

Methodology Section: Toggle on — cross-market research is often presented to leadership or used to inform expansion decisions. Documenting the methodology builds credibility.

Format: PDF for stakeholder presentations, PPT if findings are going into a board deck or market entry brief.

What to Look For in Your Results

Cross-market testing should tell you:

Where the concept travels — which elements resonate universally vs. which need localization
What needs to change — messaging, positioning, pricing model, or feature emphasis
Which market to prioritize — if resources are limited, results can help you sequence your expansion

Focus on contradictions across flows: a strong positive in one market and a neutral or negative in another is your most actionable finding. Then read Responses for the language and framing each market uses — how a market describes a problem tells you how to position your solution in it.