Perceptual Mapping - The Trusted Tool of Marketing Planners

For companies planning to launch a new product or desiring to know which market segment they should launch their product in, perceptual mapping can be incredibly useful.

What is Perceptual Mapping?

In consistent use by marketing planners for over three decades, Business Directory defines perceptual mapping as - a marketing research technique in which consumers are asked questions on their experience about a product, and these qualitative answers are transferred to a perceptual map using a suitable scale such as the Likert scale. The results are employed in improving the product or in developing a new one.

Why is Perceptual Mapping Used?

Perceptual mapping is commonly used by senior marketing planners to get a broad graphical representation of the strengths and weaknesses of their product, product line, service and company vis-à-vis their competitors. It also allows marketing planners to view their customers and competitors simultaneously in the same realm.

Methods of Perceptual Mapping
There are two methods of developing a perceptual map

• Attribute based rating – which involves factor analysis
• Similarity based rating - which involves multi-dimensional scaling

Steps in Perceptual Mapping

Preparing a perceptual map involves three steps, namely:

• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Presentation

While perceptual maps can have any number of dimensions, a 2D map is most preferred. Any more can become a challenge to draw and confusing to interpret. However, one must also remember that perpetual maps work best for functional attributes like price and product features, and in there lays its limitations. With India becoming a favored KPO destination, perceptual mapping, the widely used tool of market planners, is likely to be outsourced to India in a big way.