Products can appear to be near neighbors, be meant to perform the same tasks, yet have important differences in many other areas. A cheaper product is not necessarily a worse one, nor is the most expensive one always the better option. The first step in making a comparison is determining what function the two products have, and determining which factors have relevance for that purpose. Otherwise, you may be misled by packaging design and product marketing instead of the products themselves.
Start with product identification. Make certain that you have selected two products for comparison that have a similar category, and that they are similar in terms of application. Then, you can begin documenting net content, composition, type and materials, manufacturing process, and primary specifications for both products. For packaged products, examine the entire labeling; that is, do not only read the front. Pay attention to the secondary and tertiary sides of the product, which may contain additional information such as units of measurement, storage instructions, warnings, lot numbers, and other details that can lead to a better comparison. Similar-appearing products can differ significantly in terms of contents and required storage conditions.
When making the comparison, use the same criteria. For example, if you select material, quantity, packaging, labeling, and condition as the basis for making the comparison, use these for both products. You may choose a maximum of five criteria for this basic exercise; however, the criteria must be selected before you examine the products. This means that product condition or utility might be important for evaluating another product. If you switch the selection of criteria halfway through your comparison, you run the risk of using appearance as a criterion for one product and composition for the other.
You must also match units when recording measurements. A 750-milliliter bottle of wine and a one-liter bottle are not directly comparable when it is done on the basis of overall price. The same goes for other comparisons of weight, volume, dimensions, concentration, and quantity. It is necessary to convert them to the same units to calculate the quantity that each product provides in relation to the price. This will not determine which product is the better choice, but it will prevent a comparison that could be distorted by differences in the size of the packaging.
Next, evaluate condition and integrity for each item. Examine the products for crushed corners, weak closures, torn seals, product deformation, discoloration, surface damage, and illegible markings. Be sure to record only those things that can actually be seen in a condition description. Avoid terms such as good, poor, robust, or high quality. You might instead write “There is a small dent on the front of the box, while the contents are intact.” This would be a more accurate description than concluding that one product is of lower quality based on the appearance of the packaging alone.
Test this with two common household products. Write a small product card for each product and fill out all of the information on each of them in order. Hide the price at first to avoid influencing your assessment. Compare only those elements that are listed on the card, such as the classification, usage, composition or material content, weight or volume, packaging, product labeling, storage information, and condition. After both of the cards are completely filled out, only then reveal the price. The order of steps should help you evaluate whether differences in the final price are related to any specific characteristics that you may have noted or whether the price is determined by product presentation alone.
A product comparison can be very effective without leading to a conclusion regarding which product was more superior. For example, one might have been more cost effective while the other was more conveniently packaged, or its composition was most conducive to its function. It is more productive to make an assessment based on a set of facts. The key is to determine what factors made a difference, why certain criteria are important, and which details were of greater significance, and which were not. This is what is involved in making an assessment of a product, rather than relying on its retail price to make that judgment.