Switzerland (Head Quarters)

IDR Medical Switzerland
Austrasse 95, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
T: +41 (0) 61 535 1109

UK

IDR Medical UK
Unit 104 Eagle Tower, Eagle Tower
Montpellier Drive, Cheltenham, GL50 1TA
T: +44 (0) 1242 696 790

USA

IDR Medical North America
225 Franklin Street, 26th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110, USA
T: +1 (0) 617.275.4465

MaxDiff analysis (Best-Worst Scaling) in medical device market research is a structured quantitative methodology used to identify and rank the relative importance of product features, messages, and value drivers by forcing trade-offs between options.

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At IDR Medical, our MaxDiff market research is designed to reflect real-world prioritisation. We simulate how healthcare stakeholders evaluate competing factors by asking them to choose what matters most and least across sets of options — enabling us to quantify importance, remove bias, and clearly identify the key drivers of decision-making.

By forcing trade-offs between attributes such as clinical performance, workflow impact, service, brand, and economic value, we generate robust evidence to support commercial decision-making and strategic focus.

This research approach is widely used across MedTech to inform value proposition development, messaging strategy, feature prioritisation, and go-to-market decisions.

Why MaxDiff Analysis Matters in MedTech

In MedTech, stakeholders often say that many things are important — clinical outcomes, usability, workflow fit, evidence, support, cost, training, and patient benefit. The challenge is understanding which of these factors matter most when choices have to be made.

MaxDiff analysis matters because it forces respondents to prioritise. Rather than allowing every attribute or message to be rated highly, it reveals the factors that genuinely stand out and influence decision-making. This makes it especially valuable in medical device market research, where companies need to focus development, positioning, and investment decisions around the strongest drivers of adoption.

MaxDiff analysis helps by quantifying:

 

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Which product features, benefits, or unmet needs matter most.

Understanding which attributes truly influence decision-making — and which have limited impact.

How priorities differ across healthcare stakeholder groups

Identifying differences between clinicians, procurement teams, payers, patients, and other decision-makers.

Which messages and value propositions are most compelling

Defining the strongest claims, proof points, and communication themes to support adoption and commercial success.

This clarity supports evidence-based decision-making across product development, value proposition design, messaging strategy, and commercial planning.

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Reach out to our expert team who are on hand to help with any questions.

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MaxDiff Approaches We Use

The choice of MaxDiff approach depends on the complexity of the decision, the number of attributes to be prioritised, and the level of discrimination required.

MaxDiff analysis is typically conducted through a structured quantitative web survey, where respondents repeatedly select the most and least important items from carefully designed sets of options. This approach enables robust data collection at scale while maintaining respondent engagement and consistency.

At IDR Medical, we apply a range of MaxDiff approaches to ensure the research reflects how priorities are formed in practice. From straightforward attribute prioritisation to more advanced modelling and segmentation techniques, each approach is selected to balance robustness, respondent engagement, and analytical depth. This ensures we generate reliable, actionable outputs that directly inform product development, messaging, and commercial strategy in medical device markets.

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Standard MaxDiff / Best-Worst Scaling

The core MaxDiff methodology used in healthcare market research. Respondents select the most and least important items from a series of sets, generating clear and robust rankings of attributes, needs, benefits, or messages. Ideal for prioritising product features, unmet needs, and value drivers.

Hierarchical Bayes Estimation

An advanced analytical approach used to estimate individual-level preferences from MaxDiff data. Enables deeper insight into variation across stakeholders and supports more granular analysis of decision drivers by respondent type, segment, or market.

Latent Class Segmentation

A segmentation technique applied to MaxDiff outputs to identify distinct groups of stakeholders with similar priority structures. Reveals hidden segments within the market and supports more targeted value proposition design, messaging, and commercial activation.

Anchoring and Integration Approaches

Methods used to connect relative importance scores to real-world decision-making. This may include linking MaxDiff results to behavioural data, pricing research, segmentation, or adoption modelling to enhance commercial applicability.

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If you are exploring new product opportunities or reassessing your innovation roadmap, our expertise in medical device market research, combined with focused strategic advice to support real product and investment decisions, can help you concentrate investment on the problems that matter most.

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