Simalto Plus is a proprietary research technique that simulates purchase decision making for consumers or business customers. It is a tradeoff methodology that utilizes a unique data collection approach combined with expert system analytic technology to model customer preferences for products, brands and services.
This expert system has made the complexities and benefits of multilevel tradeoff analysis both visible and comprehensible to senior managers aiming to use research to provide practical answers, not just data. The view of the customer, provided by Simalto Plus, leads to new perspectives on customer decision making, as well as the ability to determine the optimal products, price points, and service packages that will better satisfy individual customer segments or take business from competition.
Simalto Plus Applications
We have used Simalto Plus for evaluation of the following types of marketing issues:
- Establishing the optimal product design and pricing strategy to maximize revenue.
- Determining variations of product designs and prices to maximize revenue in different segments of the market.
- Designing optimal bundles of services to satisfy different customer segments.
- Measuring and quantifying the current level of customer satisfaction relative to competition and the customer ideal, and determining which actions are most critical in improving satisfaction measures and concurrently driving sales growth.
- Optimizing customer retention and satisfaction via brand-image development and enhancement.
- Market segmentation modeling for all aspects of marketing and channels strategy.
How does Simalto Plus work?
The Simalto Plus methodology combines a structured data-collection procedure with a unique expert-system model. The questionnaires and model are customized to the specific issues of each individual project. The model uses the various pieces of information collected to model customer requirements and values to predict the impact on customer preference of alternative combinations of product/price specification, service levels or perceived image performance levels.The Simalto Plus approach is a transparent and logical process that allows customers to behave much as they do in the real world when making decisions on products, services and suppliers, in that:
The Simalto Plus expert system is based on the Neural Net principle of rule-based decision theory or pattern matching, using data generated in the data collection process to recognize different patterns and set the rules for predictive analysis of the whole data set. Simalto Plus does not suffer from the drawbacks and limitations of conventional analytical techniques in that multiple product and service features are considered together and in relative proportion rather than individually, thus providing a more real simulation of customer buying preferences and behavior than many conventional techniques.
- All decision factors (product, service or image attributes) are considered together and in relative proportion in a data collection procedure that follows a logical, clear and incremental path taking respondents forward in steps that make sense.
- Price is used as a constraint on customer choices throughout the process. This allows natural limitations of cost/affordability/feasibility to determine the tradeoffs that are made, and thereby generate models of requirements that reflect what customers are willing and able to pay for, not what they would like to have in an ideal world.
- Analysis of data treats each surveyed customer as an individual and does not separate each item of data into meaningless and bland averages – predictions of customer preferences and behavior model how each individual would behave based on the whole profile of their responses.
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