| How do customers perceive my products’ performance versus its key rivals? |
| Which
specification changes maximise loyalty/ minimise customer
dissatisfaction? |
| Which
improvements, and how much of them maximise Return On Investment? |
| What
is the product/price demand elasticity
curve? |
| Are
there ‘clusters’ of customers with different benefit
needs, and
how can I identify them? |
| Are
the customer benefits we have invested in being noticed
(Benchmarking and Tracking)? |
| What
is my Brand Equity, and how do I optimise investment in increasing
Consideration and Success once my brand is on the ‘short list’
(Brand Engineering)? |
| How
might a new competitive offering impact the market? |
| Which
features/ options should be emphasised to maximise promotional
effort? |
| Is
my current product range appropriate to market priorities? |
SIMULTANEOUS
MULTI
ATTRIBUTE
LEVEL
TRADE
OFF
| SIMALTO recognises value is the major impact on customer choice for significant products and services |
| Different benefits on a product cost different amounts to provide and are usually priced accordingly |
| Customers choose products whose prices are close to their values of them – i.e. the price of those combinations of benefits which match customers’ values of them |
| On service “products” different enhancements cost the supplier different investments. He wants to ensure these enhancements, while not always directly passed on as price increases to the customer, are valued by customers, as shown by their loyalty, etc., and in turn reflected in his ROI |
| SIMALTO
accurately and reliably measures and analyses these complex price/
value trade offs |
RFT SIMALTO is a method of asking questions and analysing their answers in a refreshingly back-to-basics manner. Respondents understand what they are being asked and give clear unambiguous answers, that clients can easily assimilate into their decision-making process. The analysis follows simple logical rules with minimum reliance on complex mathematical assumptions. The “black box” is really only a pale shade of grey.
Possibly
the single most important advantage SIMALTO has is that it accurately
reflects the trade offs customers make between costed
options. On a product different benefits usually incur
different prices. The resulting demand for these benefits is
heavily influenced by these prices and the customers’ values for them.
To ignore feature option benefit price and customers’ reaction to it,
and their flexibility about that price, is to be cavalier at the least
with shareholders’ interests. And customers’ value for an
option depends on what other options are combined with it at the total
product level, and the products’ total price. SIMALTO gathers these
customer option values in the total product (application) scenario.
When
products under investigation are services, then customers do not always
perceive they pay for enhanced benefits. But the service supplier
incurs different costs for providing different levels of quality
benefit. The supplier needs reassurance that if he provides
enhanced, more expensive service, he will be rewarded for it (more loyal
customers, etc.) Will one or two relatively cheap enhancements
have as much or more impact than a single more expensive enhancement?
Also, how much investment in total, across several attributes, is needed
to ensure a positive change in activity intention (e.g. using more,
buying more) on the part of the customer? (Which specific
attribute changes and how much activity change are the obvious next
questions that SIMALTO answers.)
A similar logic can be applied to brand image and equity. Customers perceive different brands offer different values to them, which may not reflect the prices from these competing brands. SIMALTO can be applied to this problem with ‘soft’ attributes, and deduce which image perception changes on which attributes, will most enhance a brand’s value relative to its rivals. When combined with price changes the SIMALTO simulation predicts brand value preference share change, all other things being equal. This brand value can also be combined with product specification/ price changes.
