Product trials are highly valuable exercises for large organisations. They can be used to test product fit and suitability, and for some areas can also form a critical aspect of complying with Health and Safety legislation. Employees feel included and respected as their opinions are taken into account when purchasing (or replacing) items. 

Lack of communication and poor data collection are the main bugbears of those running trials on an ad hoc basis. This can result in staff ordering wrong items, out of stock garments or even those that are no longer fit for purpose on the job. Ultimately, this increases frustrations and costs.

Smart Red helps to take the pressure and human error out of ordering uniforms. It is not solely there to allow people to reorder items; it’s been developed alongside large organisations to solve key problems such as this. So, let’s concentrate on the Product Trial module within Smart Red, to see how easy it is to use and how it benefits our clients. 

Identify A Pool of Wearers

Depending on the nature of the trial, you need to be able to select from a relevant pool of employees. You can do this in two main ways:

1. Where the product is only available to people in a certain role/location, you can create a sub-list of people quickly in the module.

2. Where the garment is widely used across the organisation, you can create a representative selection of employees based on relevant information including sizing and order history.

Issue And Track Garments

Once you have selected your trial wearers, you simply issue the garment(s) through the portal to the staff, together with all relevant care information. At this stage, you indicate how long the trial will last. Importantly for these employees, the garments will not be deducted from their personal allowance.

Employees receive the item(s) in the usual way they receive uniform. With this simple set up, it’s easy to track who has received items and to collect them back once the trial is over. 

Create Questionnaire 

“One size does not fit all”. A valid statement for all clothing and PPE. It also applies to the questions you need to ask in any trial to get the information you need.

Smart Red has a powerful form builder that allows you to create a list of questions, and valid answer formats, to suit your uniform trials. This convenient tool allows you to collate and analyse the most relevant information in terms of comfort, usability, appropriateness and cost effectiveness in a matter of minutes.

Record Results

When the trial is over, Smart Red automatically sends out your pre-defined questionnaire to capture feedback. Where necessary, prompts are sent to employees to complete and return it in a timely fashion.

The data collected allows you to determine if a garment is fit for purpose. You may also show staff the results of the feedback & include them in the decision. 

One of the benefits of conducting this in-house is that you aren’t under any pressure from your supplier(s) to make a change - especially if the new garment is more expensive than previous items. You can make the choice based upon qualitative data, and interpret this yourself, to ensure the decision is best for your organisation.

Fit Testing

Some clients use the Product Trial module in a modified way to capture fit-testing results. Fit testing is a legal requirement for most Health and Safety equipment and it’s recommended to carry out fit testing every 2 years.

Smart Red securely documents fit test results against each product, for each employee. It can also be configured to send out push notifications when the fit-test results are approaching expiry. This keeps employers compliant and employees safe, without the need for a paper record. 

Do You Need to Digitise Your Product Trials?

If you’d like to streamline and modernise your product trials, as well as your full uniform ordering system, then look no further than Smart Red. Contact our sales team today to start the process.

Listen For More

To hear more about the Product Trials module within Smart Red, and other features of the platform, click the YouTube link below.