Methods for Producing Perceptual Map from Data

Group 7
Abhinav-04, Devi Prasad-18, Dinesh-20, Shelly-56, Srustijeet-63, Tejasvini-66

Graphics helps us in interpreting quantitative information. They can help us in exploring and
describing data. In this way we can successfully extract out useful information. We can also
remember important features of data, if we have a graphical picture of the data.

One important type of graphics

that is used in marketing is
perceptual mapping. They can
help managers in visualize their
products with respect to
competitors’ products. They can
help in visualize in the
‘targeting’ and ‘positioning’ of
the products. They can also give
a fair idea of competition in the
market. One example of
perceptual maps is as on the left
side.

We can see that Hummer is seen

to be more rugged SUV. Nissan Pathfinder and Toyota 4Runner are fairly close on this map.

This map allows us to compare different vehicles on the prestigious and ruggedness. We have
assumed that customers evaluate products based on the above attributes. These attributes
are most important among the pool of attributes customer has. And the above map is
perceived by the customer.

We will now discuss how to collect data to plot consumers’ perception like above. First, we
will consider a situation in which analyst know consumers’ perceptions.

Constructing the XY plot

In this we collect consumer ratings for each

product and for each attribute. It is usually done by
Likert Scale. See the adjacent figure. For example,
the product can be Hummer and attribute can be
rugged. We can thus form a score for each vehicle
and for each attribute.

Till now we can have more than two attributes. To determine which attributes will make the
axis of the perceptual map, we can run simple linear regression. Using this researcher can
determine which of the attributes are most important.
After choosing attributes for which coefficients in the are the greatest in linear regression as
well statistically significant, we can use those to determine the overall performance of
products. After this researcher can use the average rating of the product to plot them on the
perceptual map. Centering origin at (3,3) instead of (0,0) makes perceptual map more useful
in decision aid.

Constructing the ideal vector

We have prepared the perceptual map, but until now we don’t have any information from
the map, which product will be preferred by the consumers. To do so, we sketch “ideal
vectors”. Researcher use estimated regression preference regression model to sketch these
vectors.