Data for this session is available in

Data – Perceptual Mapping

Perceptual Mapping

Skander Esseghaier

1
 In this session, you will learn:

„ How to construct a map of product locations in the

perceptual space of consumers

„ How to do it using Minitab

„ What attributes you should use when constructing a

perceptual map

2
 What is Perceptual Mapping

„ A technique to understand the position of brands as consumers

perceive them

„ The output is a map of product locations in the perceptual space

of consumers

„ Though consumers may think about a number of attributes in

evaluating products, it may be possible to summarize these
attributes because consumer perceptions along these attributes
may be correlated

„ We can use factor analysis to find this reduced perceptual space

and map the products in this space

3
Perceptual Map… Final Output

Perceptual Map for Cars

1.5

Dodge Neon
VW Golf 1

Economy 0.5
Camry Taurus
0
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
-0.5

-1
Lexus ES 300

BMW325
-1.5
Fashion
4
 Perceptual Maps:
An Illustration Using the Car Market

„ Cars Considered

„ Ford Taurus
„ Toyota Camry
„ Volkswagen Golf
„ BMW 3-Series
„ Lexus ES300
„ Dodge Neon

5
 Survey…

„ Each respondent is asked to rate 6 cars on a number

of attributes on a 1-7 scale

„ Affordability
„ Practicality
„ Classiness
„ Sportiness
„ Youth Appeal
„ Fun to Drive

6
 Data…

Respondent Car Afford Practical Classy Sporty Youthful Fun

1 Taurus 7 5 2 5 5 5
1 Neon
1 Camry
1 Lexus
1 BMW
1 VW
2 Taurus
2 Neon

20 Taurus
20 Neon
20 Camry
20 Lexus
20 BMW
20 VW
7
 Quick and Dirty Sense of the Data:
Looking at the Correlation Matrix

Afford Practical Class Sporty Youth App Fun

Afford 1
Practical 0,013004 1
Class -0,61826 -0,48435 1
Sporty -0,34601 -0,77767 0,798962 1
Youth App -0,0619 -0,72219 0,257668 0,636417 1
Fun -0,17834 -0,73562 0,573691 0,852368 0,64312 1

Fair amount of correlations between variables

Æ indicates that Factor Analysis may be useful
8
Simple Approach: Plot Attribute by Attribute
Practicality Vs Sportiness

1.5

BMW
1
Lexus
Neon 0.5

0
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
Sportiness -0.5
Taurus

-1 Camry

Volkswagen
-1.5
Practicality

Can lead to too many maps

9
 First Step:
Do Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

„ This allows us to select the # of factors

„ PCA uses the correlation matrix of the data and

constructs factors
„ if there are n variables we will have n factors
„ first factor will explain most variance, second next and so on…

10
 Minitab Output of PCA: Eigen Analysis

Eigenanalysis of the Correlation Matrix

Eigenvalue 3.7336 1.3383 0.4641 0.2558 0.1514 0.0568

Proportion 0.622 0.223 0.077 0.043 0.025 0.009
Cumulative 0.622 0.845 0.923 0.965 0.991 1.000

84.5% of variance in 6 variables

is explained by just 2 factors

11
Minitab Output of PCA: Scree Plot

Scree Plot of Afford-Fun

3
Eigenvalue

0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Component Number

12
 Second Step:
Do Factor Analysis

„ Perform factor analysis with the factors selected

from Step 1

„ Interpret resulting factors

„ use factor loadings and loading plot to interpret factors
„ if it is not interpretable use rotation options until we get
something that can be interpreted

„ Look at factor equations and factor scores

„ score plots will be useful
13
 Unrotated Factor Loadings:
Variable’s Correlation with the Factors

Unrotated Factor Loadings and Communalities

Variable Factor1 Factor2 Communality

Afford 0.376 -0.841 0.849
Practica 0.849 0.367 0.855
Class -0.774 0.529 0.879
Sporty -0.965 0.050 0.934
Youth Ap -0.740 -0.434 0.736
Fun -0.890 -0.158 0.818

Variance 3.7336 1.3383 5.0719

% Var 0.622 0.223 0.845

14
 Interpreting Factors:
Looking at Loading Plot without Rotation
Loading Plot of Afford-Fun

Class
0.5
Practica
Second Factor

Sporty
0.0
Fun

Youth Ap
-0.5

Afford

-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5

First Factor
15
Rotated Factor Loadings:
Variable’s Correlation with the Factors

Rotated Factor Loadings and Communalities

Varimax Rotation

Variable Factor1 Factor2 Communality

Afford 0.063 0.919 0.849
Practica -0.922 0.075 0.855
Class 0.435 -0.831 0.879
Sporty 0.829 -0.498 0.934
Youth Ap 0.857 0.036 0.736
Fun 0.860 -0.279 0.818

Variance 3.2045 1.8674 5.0719

% Var 0.534 0.311 0.845
16
Interpreting Factors:
Looking at Loading Plot with Rotation

Attribute-Factor Relationship
(Loading Plot)
1

0.8 Affordability

0.6

0.4

0.2
Practicality Youth
0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
-0.2
Fun
Factor 2

-0.4

-0.6 Sportiness

-0.8
Classiness
-1
Factor 1
17
 Naming Factors

„ Can we name these factors?

„ This highlights the subjectivity involved here

18
 How Did Cars Score on
Fashion and Economy Factors?
Factor Score Coefficients

Variable Factor1 Factor2

Afford 0.206 0.602
Practica -0.330 -0.135
Class -0.003 -0.446
Sporty 0.211 -0.154
Youth Ap 0.327 0.193
Fun 0.266 -0.008

Fashion = 0.206 Affordability - 0.330 Practicality - 0.003 Classiness

+ 0.211 Sportiveness + 0.327 Youthful Appeal + 0.266 Fun
Economy = 0.602 Affordability -0.135 Practicality -0.446 Classiness
- 0.154 Sportiveness + 0.193 Youthful Appeal - 0.008 Fun

We standardize the variables and then

take the average of the 20 consumer’s ratings
on the standardized variable to plug in 19
 Alternative Approach
To Compute Factor Scores for Each Car

„ Store Minitab’s factor scores for each car based on each

consumer’s ratings
„ we will have 20*6=120 numbers

„ Average the factor scores across consumers for each car

„ we will get the factor score for each car

20
Where are Cars Located in the Perceptual Space?
Perceptual Map for Cars

1.5

Neon
Volkswagen 1

0.5
Camry Taurus
0
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Economy
-0.5

Lexus
-1
BMW
-1.5
Fashion
21
 Applications of Perceptual Maps

„ Who are our competitors?

„ On what dimensions do we compete?

„ Where to introduce new products?

„ you also need to be aware of consumer preferences
„ look for locations with relatively more consumers but
limited competition

22
 Caveats

„ Identify relevant attributes

„ don’t miss important attributes (Exploratory Research is
important)
„ no point asking about unimportant attributes
„ conjoint analysis may be useful in identifying what attributes
are important to consumers

„ Identify discriminating attributes

„ don’t use primary attributes (like cleaning power of detergents)
„ there should be real perceptual differences on average for the
product
23
 Step 1: Choose Number of Factors to Extract

Do Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

„ In Minitab select Stat>Multivariate>Principal Components…

„ Select the variables you want to factor analyze in Variables box

„ Select “Correlation” as the data that will be analyzed; this will

mean that the data will be standardized and therefore each variable
will have equal effect

„ Ask for Scree Plot (using Graphs button) which graphs the
amount of variance explained by each factor
24
 Step 2: Perform Factor Analysis

Do Factor Analysis
„ in Minitab, Stat>Multivariate>Factor Analysis….
„ number of Factors to extract should be from Step 1
„ try “None” rotation for a start (else try Varimax or others if it
doesn’t work)
„ In Graphs: select loading plot (score plot is not useful here)
„ In Storage: in the scores box store the factor scores by selecting
2 variables

25
Step 3: Plot the Perceptual Map

„ Take the average of the factor scores for each car

„ Use these average scores to plot the perceptual map

26