Conventional market research asks people to predict their own behavior. The problem is that people aren't very good at it — not because they're being dishonest, but because the conditions of being asked are nothing like the conditions of actually deciding. That gap between stated intent and real behavior is where strategies fall apart.
Heat testing closes that gap.
Instead of asking, it puts brand strategies in front of real audiences in the real world and measures how they react. What comes back is a validated strategy — grounded in real behavior, not stated intent.
Spark No. 9 developed heat testing, published it in Harvard Business Review in 2022, and has applied it across B2B, consumer, and enterprise launches ever since.
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