I was working with a premium co-living space in London that was positioned as a high-end, WeWork-style living experience. The monthly cost was quite expensive, and they weren't sure what their main value propositions should be to justify the premium pricing.

They had several different concepts they wanted to test. The first was positioning co-living as a solution to loneliness - emphasizing community and social connections. The second focused on the professional benefits - you could bring clients back to meeting rooms, take calls in nice spaces, access quality coffee and work amenities. The third was a concierge-to-the-city experience where residents could talk to lobby staff to find out what to do that night, essentially serving as a gateway to London for busy professionals.

We ran idea screening to test these three core value propositions across different customer segments. We wanted to understand which concepts resonated most strongly and with which types of potential residents.

The results revealed some fascinating insights. While all three concepts had merit, the professional amenities angle scored highest overall - people loved the idea of being able to work and meet clients in an elevated environment. But the biggest surprise came from a feature we'd almost overlooked: the fact that the space was pet-friendly.

For certain segments, particularly young professionals who were new to London, the pet-friendly aspect was actually one of the biggest draws. This hadn't been a major focus in their marketing, but the screening revealed it was a genuine differentiator that competitors weren't emphasizing.

We immediately incorporated these insights into their Google Ads campaigns. Instead of generic co-living messaging, we created targeted campaigns that emphasized the professional amenities for business-focused segments and doubled down on the pet-friendly messaging for the segments where it scored highest.

The idea screening helped them focus their marketing spend on the messages that actually drove interest, rather than guessing about what mattered most to their premium target market.

Step 1: Define Your Idea Set

Start by clearly articulating each concept you want to test. Write brief descriptions that capture the core value proposition, key features, or main benefits of each idea. Keep descriptions consistent in length and detail level. Include 5-15 ideas for comprehensive screening.

Step 2: Generate Your Target Personas

Create AI personas that represent your target market segments. Consider demographics, psychographics, lifestyle factors, and relevant behaviors. For broad market screening, generate 200-500 personas. For focused studies, 100-200 personas provide solid insights.

Step 3: Present Ideas Consistently

Share each concept with personas using standardized descriptions. Include enough detail for informed evaluation without overwhelming with unnecessary complexity. Consider using visual aids or mockups when concepts benefit from illustration.

Step 4: Measure Core Screening Metrics

Evaluate each idea on key dimensions that predict market success: overall appeal and interest level, uniqueness compared to existing alternatives, relevance to personal needs and situations, believability and feasibility, and likelihood to recommend or purchase. Ask personas to explain their reasoning to understand the drivers behind their responses.

Step 5: Use Sequential Monadic Testing

Present each persona with one idea at a time to avoid comparison bias. This approach provides unbiased feedback on individual concepts and prevents weaker ideas from appearing artificially strong when compared to very poor concepts.

Step 6: Analyze Performance Patterns

Identify concepts that score consistently high across multiple metrics. Look for ideas that combine strong appeal with high uniqueness and purchase intent. Segment results by persona characteristics to find your strongest target audiences for each concept.

Step 7: Identify Unexpected Winners

Pay attention to concepts that perform better than internal expectations or ideas that resonate strongly with specific segments. These hidden gems often represent the biggest opportunities for competitive advantage.

Step 8: Prioritize Development Resources

Use screening results to create a prioritized roadmap for concept development. Focus resources on concepts with the strongest overall performance and clearest path to market success. Consider secondary concepts for future development phases.