Success in pest management comes from a combination of the correct products and the correct techniques. Success dealing with bed bugs is no different. With the knowledge that many of the bed bug populations are resistant to pyrethroid products — and slow to react to others — materials choice is critical.
 
In choosing a product, you should consider several factors: classification, formulation and label considerations.

Classification refers to the active ingredient and describes a group of chemicals all built on similar chemistry. All the pyrethroids, for instance, have a similar mode of action, but they vary in subtle ways. The differences among the pyrethroids are so subtle that it rarely makes much difference which one you choose from a practical standpoint. Some pyrethroids are more active than others, but rarely is there such a difference that you would see a failure for having chosen the wrong pyrethroid. Pyrethroids have active ingredients whose common names end in "thrin" (as in deltamethrin or cypermethrin) or sometimes "ate" (as in fenvalerate). Since the late 1990s, pyrethroids have become the dominant class of pesticides in our market. Now we face a pest that is often unaffected by the pyrethroids. Great.
 
The good news is that not all bed bug populations are resistant to pyrethroids. Also, even the resistant populations seem to succumb if the material directly contacts them. Most companies doing bed bug work use a lot of pyrethroid materials and achieve success most of the time.
 
If the bed bugs are resistant to pyrethroids, you should either know this going in or ensure that pyrethroids are not your main line of defense. How can you know if your bed bug population is resistant without having to send them to a researcher somewhere? You could try this procedure, which has been suggested from a number of sources:

At least a day before the treatment, collect some bed bugs and hold them overnight in a jar on a cloth or paper towel that has been treated (and dried) with your pyrethroid of choice. If all of the bed bugs are dead in the morning, you may fire when ready. If half the bed bugs are dead, be sure to incorporate other non-pyrethroid materials into your program. If the bed bugs are all alive, you should rethink your strategy — leaving pyrethroids out of the mix altogether.

This is not real science and will not lead to dramatic headlines that rock the pest management world, but it may help you avoid a follow-up treatment or two…or three.
 
The next big classification of materials are the neonicotinoids including thiomethoxam, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, acetamiprid and all the little "prids." We do not seem to have a clear picture yet of how the neonicotinoids are working on bed bugs; in studies, the current labeled neonicotinoid products kill bed bugs, albeit slowly.

Here’s a huge point: Just because a material kills other insects well does not mean it will be equally effective against bed bugs. Equally as important, just because a material can kill bed bugs does not mean you can use it; it must be properly labeled for use where and how you intend to use it.
 
The best policy is to always read the label, use more than one method, and avoid relying on a single classification of materials to do all the work.