Prioritize the features that matter

Case Study – Designing an Innovative Home Coffee Machine with MaxDiff

Case Study – Designing an Innovative Home Coffee Machine with MaxDiff

The challenge

A startup is developing a new innovative home coffee machine. The team has imagined numerous potential features — from precise brewing controls and smart connectivity to sustainability and convenience — but not all can be integrated into the first version. They need to identify which innovations are most attractive to consumers to focus their R&D investment on features that will truly drive purchase intent.

The solution

A MaxDiff study tested 12 product features among coffee enthusiasts and everyday consumers. For each set, respondents chose the most appealing and least important feature. The results reveal a clear innovation roadmap, separating must-have features from nice-to-have extras for the first product release.

Study impact: By prioritizing the top-ranked features in the first version, the startup reduced development costs by 30% while achieving a 92% purchase intent score in subsequent concept testing.
ℹ️ About the real study behind this case

This case study was derived from a real study conducted by MaxDiffPro. It has been anonymized for confidentiality: the tested options and results shown here do not correspond exactly to reality. The actual study had the following characteristics:

🌍
Country
Swiss flag
☕
Items tested
18
👥
Respondents
~380
⏱️
Timeline
6–7 days

The timeline depends on the complexity of the study and the target audience.

Feature Attractiveness Ranking

Bubble Chart – Feature Perception Map

ⓘ Understanding this chart This chart shows how coffee machine features relate to each other in consumers' minds. Bubble size represents overall preference. Items close together are perceived as similar and may substitute each other. Items further apart tend to be complementary.
Convenience Personalization Core brewing Smart features
Bubbles combine preference strength (size) and strategic positioning (x/y) to identify features that are both popular and complementary in the coffee machine design.

Product Mix Report – Recommended Feature Portfolio

ⓘ How to read this chart This chart identifies the optimal combination of features. The first item is the most preferred individually. Each additional feature is selected because it adds the highest incremental preference when combined with the previous ones. Bars show the incremental contribution of each feature, while the line represents the cumulative preference generated by the mix.
Recommended first version: Removable water tank, automatic cleaning, precise intensity control, and integrated milk frother form the strongest feature combination covering the widest range of consumer expectations.

Business impact

By building the first version around data-driven priorities, the startup focused R&D resources on the features that truly drive purchase intent, achieving faster time-to-market and stronger market reception.

R&D cost reduction
-30%
Purchase intent
92%
Time to market
-4 mo.

Run a Similar Study for Your Product

MaxDiff helps teams identify which messages, features, or ideas truly resonate with customers.

Typical study: 15–25 items tested · 150–300 respondents · Results in 3–5 days

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