Somehow, the world has come to the point where understanding what people value is less about asking them directly and more about observing their choices under pressure. Namely, as people get more drowned in data, they are struggling to discern genuine priorities from polite agreements more and more.
When asked, most people will say that a multitude of features, benefits, or attributes are important or even critically important. These responses don’t really reveal anything, unless it be the general confusion plaguing the mind of an automaton.
“Everything Is Important” Just Won’t Do
If even they are confused, what is there to say of businesses, product developers especially in the seed-stage of the startups, and marketers trying to earn their share in the overall mess?
More often than not, they end up making decisions based on ambiguous signals. This, however, isn’t the smartest of strategies, as resources are limited. In addition, such decisions don’t guarantee the development of compelling offerings or messages that genuinely connect.
In truth, “everything is important” isn’t a viable strategy. If it seems like everything is equally essential to your audience, it’s time to change your approach.
Translating Confusion into Coherence
To begin with, people select one product feature over another even if it means foregoing something else. Yet, traditional surveys often fail to capture this reality. What they do is present a list and invite respondents to rate each item on a scale from “not important” to “extremely important.”
The usual outcome is a cluster of high scores that leaves decision-makers no clearer on where to focus their efforts. It’s like asking someone if they like all vegetables, and then being surprised when they leave the broccoli untouched on their plate. Businesses need to know what their customers prefer when they can only pick one.
How to do this, however?
There’s actually a simple solution to the conundrum, namely MaxDiff analysis. Presently it is the best antidote to the ambiguity of conventional preference measurement. MaxDiff, short for Maximum Difference Scaling, is a simple yet profound methodology designed to cut through the noise.
Instead of asking respondents to rate every item independently, MaxDiff presents them with carefully constructed subsets of items and asks a very specific question: “Which of these is the best/most preferred/important, and which is the worst/least preferred/least important?
It makes a huge difference in the final outcome. For starters, imagine you’re trying to figure out which features customers want in a new smartphone. A traditional survey might ask, “How important is a long battery life?” or “How important is a high-resolution camera?” Chances are, most people will say both are “very important.”
MaxDiff will present things in a different light. A respondent might see a screen with four features: “long battery life”, “high-resolution camera”, ”water resistance”, and “expandable storage”. From just these four, they will need to pick the single one they care about most and the single one they care about least.
The shift in questioning changes the nature of the response. It simulates a real decision-making process where people must prioritize.
The brilliance of MaxDiff lies in this forced comparison. Items are presented in multiple, varying subsets throughout the survey. No single item is ever directly compared against all others at once. Instead, by observing which items are consistently chosen as “best” and which are consistently chosen as “worst” across many such mini-decisions, the analysis can statistically infer a clear preference hierarchy for all the items.
The respondent never sees the full list of twenty or thirty attributes. They only engage with small, manageable groups. Yet, behind the scenes, algorithms are working to aggregate these best/worst choices, transforming them into a comprehensive scale that quantifies the relative importance or desirability of each item.
The output isn’t a ranking but a set of scores that illustrates the distance between preferences.
Exploring MaxDiff analysis is a transformative experience that typically delivers unparalleled clarity in prioritization. It provides a definitive hierarchy, complete with scaled scores.
Secondly, the insights are remarkably actionable. It enables businesses to understand the true drivers of choice and then confidently make decisions that directly impact their audience. For a product manager, knowing that “seamless integration with existing devices” is twice as important as “latest processor speed” means they can direct development efforts with conviction.
For a marketing team, identifying the top two or three benefits that significantly outweigh all others means their messaging can be more compelling and efficient. This data allows truly customer-centric approaches, which move beyond assumptions to a foundation built on expressed preferences.
MaxDiff also has the ability to unveil hidden gems and expose overrated attributes. Sometimes, businesses assume that some feature is highly valued by the audience. However, it turns out to be lower on their priority list when forced into trade-offs.
By contrast, an attribute considered secondary might surprisingly emerge as a top contender. This allows for significant strategic shifts that prevent wasted investment in less efficient features.
Not Any MaxDiff Will Do, Mind You
However, not everything is so idyllic (as if it ever is!). Namely, even though the analysis itself might be sophisticated, it needs to be set up for success.
To do this, businesses should pay particular attention to initial design. The items included in the survey need to be clearly defined and relevant to the decision at hand. Avoid jargon or overly technical language. The number of items is also a critical consideration: too few might not capture the nuances, while too many could make the respondent fatigued. Typically, anywhere from 15 to 40 items works well, with the underlying design ensuring each item appears multiple times across different subsets.
Providing concise instructions to respondents is critical: they need to understand the “best/worst” equation.
For inexperienced teams, working with marketers who know the trick might prove the best solution. However, don’t get scared off: MaxDiff is certain to help your business get real actionable insights that will transform it into a factory of success in no time!