Perceptual mapping is a marketing technique that visually demonstrates how consumers perceive a company’s products. Marketers use survey data to plot data points along axes to identify areas for improvement or cost-effective niches. It can be used for existing or new products, but market research must be conducted carefully.
Perceptual mapping is a technique used by marketers to visually demonstrate the ways in which a company’s or industry’s products are perceived by consumers. This can include both current customers and consumers who could potentially be attracted to a product or business. Marketers use this technique when they are in the process of developing new product campaigns and also when they want to improve existing marketing. Visual representation of consumer insights can help marketers more clearly identify areas where a business needs work or sectors of the market that are relatively free from competition and therefore could be cost-effective niches.
To use perceptual mapping techniques, marketers use survey data which can include a series of questions designed to provide insight into perception. For example, if marketers work for an alcohol company, they might want to ask questions about price, smoothness, taste, and quality. They can collect data on a range of brands and products to see how consumers perceive the global market.
These data points can be plotted along the axes which also rate them for importance. For example, people may consider quality the most important attribute and fluency the least. A series of plot points are generated, with each point representing a rival product or brand. Presenting this information with perceptual mapping will allow marketers to see areas of the market that could be possible to target with a good campaign.
Perceptual mapping can be done with an existing product to see if there is a technique that could be used to distinguish it from the competition. This could include changing the packaging, developing a new slogan for the product, or altering the thrust of an advertising campaign. Companies developing new products can also use perceptual mapping to study general consumer perceptions of the market for products such as the one under development, so that a tailored advertising campaign can be developed.
This graphical technique for improving product positioning is most effective when market research is conducted with care. For example, a company that produces a high-end product might care more about the perceptions of affluent consumers in the high-end market. The survey should be conducted in such a way as to reach those consumers, as consumers at the low end of the market may have very different perceptions and very different opinions about what is important.
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