What is the Infosurv Concept Exchange (iCE)?

iCE is a patent-pending prediction market sponsored by Infosurv, a full-service market research firm. This innovative, high-tech system presents a new and highly accurate way to predict the success of new products, packages, logos, advertisements, and anything else traditionally measured with traditional concept tests or concept screening methodologies.

How does iCE work?

iCE is a virtual online stock market where respondents are given free virtual dollars to buy “shares” in the products, packages, logos, or advertisements that our clients wish to test. Just like in real world markets, share prices fluctuate based on supply and demand. By observing how share prices move over time, we can make very accurate predictions regarding the real world success of the concepts being tested. To learn more about the academic and commercial research backing the power of prediction markets like iCE, please read our white paper “Prediction Markets for Concept Testing”.

What are the benefits of using iCE for concept testing?

1. Cost savings – Costs are lower with iCE than traditional concept tests for several reasons. For one, a “general population” sample can be used for most iCE markets which reduces sampling costs dramatically, especially for products targeted at low-incidence consumer groups. Secondly, iCE markets require much less time and effort to setup, field, and analyze. Thirdly, iCE markets require a lower sample size than surveys.
2. Speed – It can take up to 4-6 weeks to design, field, and analyze a traditional concept test. Turn-around time on iCE concept tests is much less – just 1 week from project kick-off to presentation of final results. iCE projects are completed more quickly due to ease of setup, respondent recruitment, and data analysis.
3. Accuracy – Prediction markets have been shown to be more accurate at predicting future outcomes than surveys, polls, or individual experts. iCE has been validated by our clients against traditional concept testing surveys with excellent results.
4. Better respondent engagement – iCE traders view participating in the market as a fun, entertaining game with both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Since traders can earn additional incentives by betting on correct outcomes, they have ample motivation to remain engaged in the process.
5. Diagnostics – iCE traders are given a mechanism for explaining why they buy shares in certain concepts, allowing clients to collect qualitative feedback for diagnostic purposes. This feedback can be used to explain the behavior of the iCE market and help the client refine current concepts and create additional concepts for testing.
6. Benchmarking – Because iCE results show the relative probability of success of the various concepts tested, it’s easy to benchmark new concepts against “control” concepts that are already in-market. These controls may include the client’s own products or competitors’ products.

How are iCE respondents recruited?

iCE respondents are recruited just like survey respondents. We work with top survey panel providers to recruit a statistically valid sample of “general population” consumers to participate in every iCE market. Though technically we can certainly target specific demographic subgroups, it’s usually not necessary (see next section below.) If a client wishes to use their own customers or employees as iCE respondents we can do that as well.

Why don’t iCE respondents need to be in my target market?

A traditional concept test typically targets respondents within a specific market. However respondent targeting isn’t usually necessary on iCE since traders have an incentive to “self-select” for only markets they think they can win. Nobody likes to lose money, real or virtual. Respondents therefore only participate in studies dealing with products they use or are familiar with, even though they may not be in the target segment. Also, iCE doesn’t ask respondents “Would you buy this concept?” but instead “Would others buy this concept?” iCE harnesses a phenomena known as “the wisdom of crowds” to allow non-experts to answer expert questions often more accurately than the experts themselves.

How do you protect the security of the concepts that we test on iCE?

We recognize that the concepts our clients test on iCE are often highly confidential. To protect their security we implement the following measures:

1. Digital NDA -- All iCE traders must sign a digital NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) legally prohibiting them from sharing the concepts they see with any third party.
2. Download Prevention -- We have technical measures in place to prevent our traders from downloading or copying any concept images or descriptions. Attempts to do so result in immediate termination from the study.
3. Digital Watermark -- All concept images are imprinted with a digital watermark, unique to each trader, that would allow us to trace any shared images back to an individual trader’s identity.

Who is Infosurv?

Infosurv, a world leading online market research firm, has the mission of providing innovation in online research. Infosurv brings unique technologies and methodologies to clients which allows us to collect and interpret feedback from customers, employees, or prospective customers more quickly, accurately, and affordably. As 300+ ecstatic clients will attest, living on the cutting edge of market research is Infosurv’s passion.