Case Study: New Product Development Study Reveals Diagnostic Tool in Heavy Duty Truck Industry is Highly Valued

Results

  • Respondents indicated they would be willing to pay in excess of $1,000 more than our client’s initial price point.
  • Using this data our client began to test sales with a local supplier and after several successful weeks on the market, their product was launched nationally.

Outcome

The study indicated:

  • The novel diagnostic tool was highly valued by potential customers.
  • Its ability to assess engine/transmission error codes across a number of engine platforms without the expense of purchasing new modules appealed to almost all respondents.
  • Initial assumptions were that the product could be sold over the Internet. However, results from the research showed respondents would gather information about similar products using the web, but would only purchase it after seeing it firsthand. Respondents indicated the device would sell well on the “tool truck”.
  • Given the tool’s functionality, customers were willing to pay in excess of $1,500 for the device – several would pay in excess of $2,500.

Business Challenge

A worldwide supplier to the Heavy Duty Truck industry developed a hand held diagnostic tool that could be used to assess engine and transmission performance.

The new tool offered benefits that no other diagnostic tool currently offered. Understanding the value of the tool’s functionality relative to competing products was critical to the success of the project.

 

Research Objective

To understand:

  • Perceived value of a hand-held, engine diagnostic tool
  • Assess purchase likelihood at various price points
  • Understand the purchase process with respect to preferred sales channel

 

Methodology

The methodology included a small number of in-depth, qualitative interviews to understand the primary issues related to the project.

Information from the in-depth interviews was used to design a quantitative telephone questionnaire.

AMG Research completed 100 telephone interviews with maintenance management and technicians at US Heavy Duty Truck Fleets and Service Centers.

 

Why AMG Research was Chosen

AMG Research was selected to conduct the research based on our extensive experience in new product development research, our experience in the Heavy-Duty Truck industry, and our well-defined process for this type of research.