Lesson 10 Overview

Lesson 10 Overview

Summary

One of the most common pitfalls of new concept introductions is a hidden overreliance on basic stated preference measures.  For reasons unbeknownst to me, stated preference and "willingness to pay" surveys have become what appears to be a default choice in new concept efforts.

Part of the overreliance may be due to the fact that stated preference surveys are incredibly straightforward to deploy for a basic user.  You design a little experiment, perhaps you create a little intercept survey in a public place, read a brief and show a prototype, and then ask 'if you would buy,' and likely, 'how much would you expect to pay.'  Then the basic user compiles results in a few bar charts, and shows management that '70% of people surveyed (n=102) said that they would buy the concept.'

There is a foundational issue, and it only degrades from there: most people, if willing to participate in a survey, will significantly skew to the high (positive) side.  In cases where the moderator is physically attractive, the skew can be even more severe.

The reality is that even with the best of intentions and soundest research design, raw verbatim responses of intent tend to be a poor indicator of actual purchase behavior.

This Lesson is designed to point out the shortcomings of stated preference methodologies, how to design to understand consumer preference, and ways to capture purchase preference and intent in your concept development.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• articulate the strengths and limitations of the stated preference methodologies;
• discern where stated preference methodologies are most valuable;
• evaluate concept development scenarios for best fit with the various stated preference methodologies;
• describe the types of insight each methodology can reveal.

Lesson Roadmap

Questions?

If you have any questions, please send them to my axj153@psu.edu Faculty email. I will check daily to respond. If your question is one that is relevant to the entire class, I may respond to the entire class rather than individually.