MaxDiff

At Sawtooth Technologies, we separate the wheat from the chaff to identify the opportunities that pack the most promise for your business.

MaxDiff (or Maximum Difference Scaling) is a technique that allows you to identify the “best” of many alternatives—whether it’s a set of concepts, attributes, applications, benefit statements, brand names, or packaging options.

The result is a clear determination of market preferences, allowing you to set priorities based on what the market values.

Shedding Light

A MaxDiff study provides answers to these vital questions:

• Which product features or applications are most important to the market?
• What benefit statements, messages, or names have the greatest impact?
• Which new packaging option is most preferred?

The structure of our MaxDiff survey is straightforward. Survey respondents are presented with a set of items and asked to choose which is most preferred and which is least preferred. Dozens of items can be tested, but the task is manageable, because respondents consider only four or five items at a time. The outcome is a MaxDiff score for each item that indicates both absolute and relative importance based on preference, importance or relevance of the items.

MaxDiff Training

We also offer training and coaching for MaxDiff studies, so that your staff members can learn how to perform these types of studies on their own.

Backroom Services

We offer backroom services for MaxDiff studies, including designing the study, programming and hosting the survey, and computing the MaxDiff scores.

Beyond MaxDiff

The results of a MaxDiff study have even more value when they are segmented by groups of customers with similar needs. A needs-based segmentation is a natural partner to a MaxDiff study. The result is an understanding of how the market is segmented into groups of people who place similar value on the tested alternatives, allowing you to identify and target strategic market segments.

Looking for more information about MaxDiff? Check out our blog to understand more of its benefits and how it works.

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