Anytime we talk to consumers my goal is to understand whats at the root of their comments. So I don’t stress if their comments have a negative connotation, as long as their perception is what we were aiming for.
i.e. We showed some new product to our extreme users in a trade show environment. They called them cold, and corporate, not fun enough. Everyone got scared. I pointed out, that our goal was to create the perception of clean precision and quality, and establish our brand as a premium category leader.
So although on the surface, surrounded by bells and whistles and flashing lights, they said they didn’t like the look, at the core they were perceiving the products exactly the way we wanted them too.