Empirical economic, market and social research
For the successful execution of our market research projects in various industries, we rely on the entire spectrum of empirical and instrumental evaluation and analysis methods, regardless of the market phase of your product’s life cycle.
Future Experience Groups
Is it so far only a thought of an innovation or an idea that your company deals with? Is a possible market entry still far in the future? In Future Experience Groups (FEG) we develop market and environment scenarios together with you and evaluate the product needs of your potential customers in a qualitative and experience-oriented setting.
Smoke-Testing
Are you still unsure whether a product or service concept should actually be implemented? In a smoke test we confront the addressed market participants with a “solution on the drawing board”. Since neither prototypes nor serial products are available, we develop professional communication documents and product-related storytelling approaches. With these we test the market acceptance of your innovations in a real case setting.
Usability analyses and user experience studies
Have subfunctions of your new product development been implemented? Does a prototype exist? Can service concepts be experienced from the very beginning? We conceive and realize individual study designs to examine your product with regard to perception, experience, user friendliness and usability. In addition to user observations, qualitative interviews and quantitative measurement metrics, we also use apparative methods such as eye tracking and electroencephalography (EEG).
Standard surveys and market analyses
Do you lack information on the size and structure of your target markets? Would you like to measure the satisfaction of your customers?
Our team conducts all types of stakeholder surveys as well as competitive and market analyses. We use all state-of-the-art methods of secondary data research and primary surveys. We offer you comprehensive know-how in the field of global, multilingual surveys. Hybrid approaches from online and paper-pencil surveys complement the ISM portfolio.
Seminars and Trainings
Marketing and sales training
For the development of industrial marketing and sales trainings for our customers, we analyse the individual marketing and sales instruments in workshops. The key to our training philosophy is the modular integration of state-of-the-art instruments, reference benchmarks of other companies and the actual “Customer Way of Marketing / Sales”. The training participants actively work on individually developed short cases. Our concept is unique in the industrial marketing training landscape.
In addition to the development of trainings and the further training of in-house trainers for our customers, on request we also conduct the trainings ourselves – worldwide. Our didactics breaks away from the dogmas of academic university teaching and is adapted precisely to the requirements of our industrial professional audience.
Business simulations and business wargames
In order to derive market strategies, it is essential to understand the potential action and reaction patterns of market participants. We process your existing information material on market sizes, competitors and customers in a targeted manner and create and implement individual simulation concepts. With differently designed “gamification” approaches, your company’s teams assume the roles of the stakeholders involved (companies, competitors, customers) and make operational and strategic decisions in the simulation rounds, e.g. on prices and product development. This makes the possible effects of market decisions tangible.
Methodical trainings and consultations
Our team of trainers is recruited from consultants with a wide range of scientific backgrounds and many years of expertise in methods of empirical economic and social research. We impart methodological knowledge in a way that is easy to understand and precisely tailored to your needs. Whether for the efficient data presentation of your industrial market research results or in the context of a concentrated training of a statistical analysis procedure for your academic thesis – we are happy to support you!
Strategy consulting
For us, strategy consulting always starts where knowledge from industrial market research projects needs to be implemented. We understand consulting as an integrative service:
Thus we accompany the market entry of a customer after completion of the potential analysis for his new product. We develop sales and logistics processes based on a structured sales channel analysis or design communication strategies following targeted advertising impact analyses.
In the context of upstream market research projects and our respective technical expertise, we advise in the following contexts:
- B2B marketing
- Pricing
- Services Marketing
- Consumer Goods Marketing
- Sales management and sales processes
- Service Operations and Logistics Processes