In the Med-Tech industry, launching a product or adjusting a portfolio is never just about clinical performance, it’s about understanding value, pricing, and customer decision-making.
Our Conjoint Insights Series explored the nuanced world of customer preferences, pricing, and market realities. Now, in our latest whitepaper Turning Conjoint Insights into Commercial Reality in MedTech, we show how these insights can be transformed into actionable commercial strategies.
Part 1. Preference Shares are not Market Shares
Many Med-Tech manufacturers are surprised when conjoint preference shares don’t align with real-world market performance. But this gap is not a flaw. It’s insight.
In capital equipment categories, like imaging systems or patient monitors, hospitals are often bound by service contracts, IT integration requirements, or training investments. A product may score highly in a conjoint study for usability or functionality, yet adoption lags because of these structural barriers. In consumables, such as catheters or wound dressings, the gap may be smaller, but procurement policies and existing supplier relationships still shape market outcomes.
Conjoint analysis reveals the “pure” demand signal, stripped of commercial constraints. Understanding the divergence between preference and market share highlights untapped opportunities and guides where to focus commercial efforts, whether improving procurement access, refining messaging, or enhancing sales coverage.
Part 2. Turning Preference into Price
Conjoint studies produce part-worth utilities, quantitative measures of how each feature contributes to overall preference. By including price in the analysis, manufacturers can estimate willingness to pay and price elasticity, forming the foundation for value-based pricing.
Simulating preference across price points generates price-response curves, which identify the price that maximizes perceived value, the threshold where demand drops, and the premium potential of differentiated features. But stated preferences alone do not account for procurement frameworks, tender scoring, or installed-base effects.
At IDR Medical, we integrate conjoint data with market realities to refine predictions of price, volume, and margin. This approach ensures that value-based pricing strategies are both evidence-based and commercially achievable.
Part 3. From Insight to Impact: Forecasting Revenue and Profit
While conjoint analysis identifies price that maximizes perceived value, leaders need to know the financial impact. By combining conjoint outputs with market and cost data, such as total addressable market, adoption rates, contract terms, and margins, manufacturers can build models that forecast both revenue and profit.
For example, in a recent imaging device launch, conjoint-derived willingness-to-pay data was anchored to hospital procurement cycles and replacement rates. When combined with cost and service data, the resulting model identified the profit-maximizing price tier, demonstrating how insights can translate directly into actionable commercial strategies.
Embedding Conjoint Thinking Across the Organization
Beyond pricing, conjoint analysis fosters alignment across marketing, finance, commercial, and R&D teams. It identifies which features drive value, informs portfolio optimization, and guides innovation prioritization. By combining quantitative evidence with real-world context, organizations can make decisions that are not just informed, but strategically impactful.
At IDR Medical, we help Med-Tech companies interpret conjoint data within their specific commercial context, turning preference insights into long-term strategic assets.
Conjoint Analysis as a Strategic Foundation
Conjoint analysis remains the cornerstone of Med-Tech pricing research. When interpreted and applied thoughtfully, it enables manufacturers to move beyond assumptions, quantify customer value, and make smarter commercial decisions.
Our whitepaper, Turning Conjoint Insights into Commercial Reality in MedTech, details how to transform conjoint insights into pricing, positioning, and profitability strategies.
It’s a roadmap for turning data into impact in a complex, multi-stakeholder market.
From Preference to Profit: Your Step-by-Step Guide
Turn your conjoint insights into actionable strategies that drive pricing, adoption, and profit in MedTech. Our whitepaper walks you through three essential steps:
Learn why high preference scores don’t always translate to real-world adoption and how this insight identifies untapped opportunities.
Discover how to quantify willingness to pay and price elasticity, enabling pricing decisions that align with customer-perceived value.
See how to integrate conjoint outputs with market and financial data to model revenue, margins, and the most profitable price points.
Download the Whitepaper - Turning Conjoint Insights into Commercial Reality in MedTech
Frequently Asked Questions: Conjoint Analysis in MedTech
- What is conjoint analysis?
Conjoint analysis is a research technique that quantifies how customers make trade-offs between product features, usability, service, and price. It helps identify which attributes drive preference and how much value customers assign to each.
- How does conjoint analysis differ from market research surveys?
Unlike traditional surveys, which capture opinions in isolation, conjoint analysis presents respondents with realistic choice scenarios. This simulates actual decision-making, revealing the relative importance of features and pricing in context.
- Does a high preference share guarantee market success?
Not always. Preference shares represent the latent demand or “true” pull of a product, but real-world adoption can be constrained by procurement policies, existing contracts, or regulatory frameworks. Understanding this gap is key to commercial planning.
- How can conjoint analysis inform pricing strategy?
Conjoint outputs allow you to calculate willingness to pay for features and price elasticity. By simulating different pricing scenarios, you can design value-based pricing strategies that align price with perceived customer value.
- Can conjoint analysis predict revenue and profit?
Conjoint data alone doesn’t provide a full revenue forecast. However, when combined with market dynamics, adoption rates, cost structures, and channel margins, it can feed into financial models that project revenue and profitability.
- Who should use conjoint analysis?
Conjoint is valuable for med-tech manufacturers, pricing teams, portfolio managers, R&D leaders, and market access strategists. It supports evidence-based decision-making across product development, pricing, and commercialization.
- How does conjoint analysis handle complex, multi-stakeholder decisions?
Conjoint studies can model trade-offs made by different stakeholders, such as clinicians, procurement teams, and administrators. This provides a quantitative understanding of which features matter most to each decision-maker.
- How do I turn conjoint insights into actionable strategy?
The key is integrating conjoint results with real-world market constraints and financial models. At IDR Medical, we translate preference data into value-based pricing, revenue forecasts, and portfolio optimization strategies.
- Can conjoint analysis be applied to digital health and connected devices?
Absolutely. Conjoint is flexible and can evaluate preferences for software platforms, monitoring systems, or digital health solutions, highlighting adoption barriers such as IT integration or reimbursement issues.
- Where can I learn more about applying conjoint analysis effectively in MedTech?
Our whitepaper, Turning Conjoint Insights into Commercial Reality in MedTech, provides a comprehensive guide to turning conjoint insights into commercial impact, covering pricing, revenue forecasting, and organizational alignment.
About IDR Medical
IDR Medical is a specialist medical market research and consulting firm with deep expertise in pricing, value strategy, and commercial decision-making across global MedTech markets.
We combine:
- Rigorous conjoint methodology
- Deep understanding of MedTech procurement and reimbursement
- Commercial and financial modelling expertise
To help manufacturers move from preference insight to commercial reality. Contact us today to discuss your next market research project.
