New Product Concept Testing

Conjoint analysis is a methodology for measuring user preferences about the attributes of a product or service. The respondent is asked to rank, order or score a set of profiles according to their preferences. From these scores the conjoint analysis derives utility scores for each factor.

These utility scores are then used in deciding the combination of factors that are best for the product or service. The conjoint analysis also calculates the relative importance attached by the users to each of the product attributes. Traditionally such surveys are conducted either face-to-face or by post.

Andrew Lester & Associates Limited has developed a questionnaire design that successfully obtains the same types of scoring answers by telephone. This technique was validated by Cranfield School of Management in 1995. Conducting conjoint analysis surveys over the telephone brings savings in both cost and time because of reduced set-up and data entry activities.