Motorcycle manufacturer speeds the collection of customer feedback

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Established as a metalwork shop by Hans Trunkenpolz in the Austrian town of Mattighofen in 1934, KTM has grown to become a highly successful motorcycle company. Since its relaunch as KTM Motorcycle AG in 1991 (KTM stands for “Kronreif, Trunkenpolz, Mattighofen” and has been part of the company’s name since it entered the motorcycle market back in 1953), the brand has become a “hidden champion.” It currently sells more than 90,000 motorcycles a year, representing a turnover of €566 million euros ($772.7 million).

One of the factors behind KTM’s success is its strong commitment to racing. This commitment is reflected in the quality of its products, with each innovation being put through its paces in gruelling tests on on-road and off-road racing tracks all over the world. “Ready to race” is also one of KTM’s core values, encompassing concepts such as purity, performance, adventure and extreme. Another key focus for the Austrian company is motocross and road racing series, with victories recorded in more than 130 world championships and many other prestigious events, including the Paris-Dakar rally.

KTM’s product strategies and tactics target the needs of the premium segment. The aim is to meet consumer expectations while at the same time continuously pushing back technical boundaries to surprise customers with innovations. Market research plays a key role, accompanying each stage of a motorcycle’s lifecycle and providing the foundations to plan marketing activities. The process starts at the market launch of a new product, based on segment-specific market and competitive analyses, identification of customer profiles and innovation dissemination processes, as well as marketing mix considerations. KTM draws on all available sources of information, including global databases, regional market information systems, focus groups and network analyses. However, the most important form of market research is interactive customer surveys on the web, at exhibitions and other events. After the market launch, supported by product tests and trial runs, regular customer satisfaction surveys and quantitative data from a central database, including sales figures, orders, stocks, etc., provide information about the current status in the product lifecycle.

Exhibition surveys provide emotional data
One of the most important market research tools used by the KTM Sales Planning & Market Research team is exhibition surveys. “As well as making new contacts, we can analyze brand awareness during a direct dialogue, assess the initial impressions and emotions generated by the motorcycles exhibited on the stand and evaluate purchase intentions and motivations,” explains Simone Hermandinger, team manager. For a medium-sized company such as KTM, effective IT support and justifiable time and costs are essential requirements in producing efficient and truly informative customer surveys. From designing the questionnaire to collecting and analyzing the data, simplified and automated processes minimise workloads, allowing market researchers to concentrate on interpreting the data.

Effective survey planning and efficient surveying with IBM SPSS Data Collection
The survey solution used by KTM is IBM® SPSS® Data Collection* from IBM. The decision in favor of this tool was relatively simple. In the first place, IBM SPSS Data Collection is the undisputed market leader in the survey solutions segment. Although not initially a plus point in itself, this clearly demonstrates the distinctive qualities of the software.

“IBM SPSS Data Collection supports us throughout the entire survey process. Starting with the questionnaires, which we can design quickly and easily and with complete creative freedom, for example, including elements such as race track simulations in the flow of questions,” explains Simone Hermandinger. The questionnaires can be used in “traditional” paper format for letters and interviews, as well as on all technical platforms including the web for online surveys. “This opens up a wide range of options for us in relation to survey methods and media: we can ask questions over the Internet, by phone or in person. The questions can be open or closed, and we can enter and evaluate free text,” continues the marketing manager.

IBM SPSS Data Collection at work: Madrid and Milan
KTM’s first experience with IBM SPSS Data Collection was at the Italian motorcycle exhibition EICMA 2006 in Milan. Employees recorded 5,000 questionnaires on paper during face-to-face interviews and via a terminal. Although the actual survey methods worked very well, there were a few technical obstacles. The terminal hardware did not meet requirements – it was error-prone and lacked flexibility. In addition, the data from the terminal was not available until after the exhibition. Thousands of paper questionnaires each had to be input manually in the PC, a cost-intensive and time-consuming process. Therefore, at MAS Moto Madrid in 2007, KTM opted for a different technical concept. The IBM SPSS Data Collection 4.5 Interview Player was installed on four portable tablet PCs which were used by two trained interviewers to survey stand visitors face to face. This combination of a personal approach and portable electronic data capture proved ideal. It also improved the actual survey process. Respondents could see the entries being made in the online forms, allowing them to immediately rectify any incorrect data and resulting in a significant increase in data quality in comparison with Milan.

The portable PCs were very easy to use and operated practically errorfree, which meant that the technology had no adverse effects on the interviews. The data from the PCs could be synchronized with the central database on the server at any time, allowing immediate evaluation to be carried out on a daily basis. The result from Madrid: 450 detailed interviews in five days, providing top-quality data for KTM’s market research.

What’s next
“The surveys carried out with IBM SPSS Data Collection in Madrid were very successful, and not just in terms of the data collected. We also recognized the potential the software opens up for customer surveys,” resumes Simone Hermandinger. “In the future, we will make even greater use of the possibilities of modular questionnaire design to link standard questions to personalized questions.” More information about IBM SPSS software and products can be found at www.spss.com.