THROUGH CONSUMERS’ EYES: THE PURCHASE SIMULATOR
Customers today are becoming increasingly erratic and much less predictable. Many companies want to define and anticipate their Customer Journey – exploring how people weigh up and evaluate the criteria that are important in the purchase of a new product.
How can we better identify what consumers want? The answer is simple – develop and apply tools that can better allow consumers to COMPARE and PRIORITIZE their choices, pushing them to make real trade-offs – just like the ones we do in real life.
ADK Insights Purchase Simulator allows brands to understand consumers’ thought processes during their purchase journeys by determining the choices they make as if they are actually in a store to buy something.
What makes our approach stand out from other shopping simulations is that we use an adaptive approach to match consumers’ preferences, hence it is called Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint (ACBC).
What makes it more advanced? It allows a larger number of attributes to be evaluated compared to a standard shopping simulation. More importantly, for the target group that we are looking at, their shopping simulation will only include products that would be of interest to them.
We also apply an alternative specific design (ASD) approach, in which an attribute will only be shown if some specific attributes are selected. For instance, in an automotive car study, we ask the respondents to choose between a gasoline-fuelled car (ICE) and an electric car (EV). If EV is selected, attribute options for battery range will be shown, but if ICE is selected, it won’t be shown. This makes our shopping simulation even more real.
How does it work?
- Build Your Own Features
Prior to entering the simulation exercise, respondents will view the “Build Your Own” product on screen. In this step, the respondents are able to select or de-select their preferred attributes – while the system learns about the respondents’ preferences and later adjusts the simulation exercise.
- Finding the Key Buying Factors
Respondents are shown some products (typically 3-4 products) with different attributes that matter to particular respondents – for example brands, price, product specification, colours, etc.). Then respondents are asked to choose their preferred product among the selections. This process is repeated several times to gather the Key Buying Factors.
- Plotting the Sensitivity Chart
The sensitivity chart indicates the importance of each attribute. It is also possible to check the cut-off price, in which the respondents would not even consider buying the products anymore (too cheap or too expensive).
- Creating multiple attribute scenarios
View how multiple attribute scenarios influence the purchase. Suitable for finding attractive product features and eliminating attributes that do not influence sales significantly.
- Projecting the market share
At the end of the conjoint exercise, it is possible to measure indicative market share based on selected attributes. This stage is useful before developing and launching a new product on the market.
If you’d like to find out more about our experience in conducting shopping simulation projects and what it could mean for your business, please contact Nimrod.
Your contact:
Nimrod Moyal
26 years market intelligence experience. Specializes in bespoke solutions design, with focus on qualitative approaches, product clinics, and in-depth & creative result-oriented output.