How to use MaxDiff analysis to uncover customer preferences
MaxDiff analysis can be your go-to tool for market research. Get more out of your data with expertise from global market research services.
If your business is successful, there are bound to be plenty of things about your products and services that your customers like.
Yet there are times when it’s important that you know what those customers value the most—even love—above all else that makes them loyal and repeat customers who readily sing the praises of your brand. These behavioral analytics provide insights into consumers’ actions and preferences, allowing you to update your products and messaging strategy.
That’s where MaxDiff analysis can be your go-to tool for market research.
MaxDiff analysis differs from other marketing methods in that it measures relative importance rather than broad satisfaction, such as Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS®).
The methodology provides valuable insights into your customers' preferences, enabling you to meet their needs and exceed their expectations through continually improving products and services.
What is MaxDiff analysis?
MaxDiff analysis is an analytic methodology used to gauge survey respondents' preference scores for different items, resulting in a best-worst ranking of those attributes.
With MaxDiff analysis, you can identify customer preferences based on lists of attributes or features for just about any product, service, or issue.
So, if your company makes exercise equipment, you could conduct a MaxDiff survey asking respondents to choose what they like best about your treadmills, such as quietness, online coaching, health metric electronics, or portability.
Gaining insights through a survey using MaxDiff design can be the key to making better, more informed decisions and investments that can help drive growth—and prevent you from costly missteps based on assumptions that aren’t backed by data.
Introducing MaxDiff Analysis
With our intuitive platform, backed by expert survey methodology, anyone can perform MaxDiff studies–even if you're not an expert.
How MaxDiff analysis works
MaxDiff analysis works by forcing people to choose the most and least important attributes from a list provided to them in a survey. This provides insights into what features consumers value most.
- Forced prioritization: MaxDiff analysis forces respondents to choose the most important and least important attributes from a list.
- Built-in comparison: By making forced choices, participants naturally highlight what matters most to the majority of customers.
- Goes beyond rating scales: Unlike standard survey questions, MaxDiff reveals actual priorities.
- Avoids vague preferences: Traditional surveys often show that people like many features, but they don’t clarify which features they value the most.
- Supports better decisions: This prioritization helps businesses identify where to focus resources, make tradeoffs, and decide what to invest in or improve.
How does MaxDiff analysis differ from other methods
MaxDiff is one of several market research methodologies designed to identify and rank customer preferences, producing best-worst data. It is a type of best-worst scaling that gauges survey respondents' preference scores for different items.
Here is a breakdown of how MaxDiff analysis differs from other common methods.
MaxDiff analysis vs. standard rating scale questions
- In marketing research, standard rating scale questions differ from MaxDiff analysis in that they don’t force a respondent to choose their top preference from a list of choices.
- Standard rating scales aim to capture consumer opinions regarding a product or service. While types of rating scales vary, they often ask respondents to choose on a scale of 1 to 5, ranging from strong disagreement to strong agreement with a statement.
MaxDiff analysis vs. conjoint analysis
- In conjoint analysis, researchers add more dimensions beyond what MaxDiff analysis seeks to determine by describing a product or service with multiple attributes.
- Multiple product features are combined to build many product concepts. Then, respondents are asked to choose which concept they prefer, providing feedback that can be valuable in developing the most useful and marketable product.
MaxDiff analysis vs. Net Promoter Score
- NPS measures loyalty with a single question (“On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to others?”).
- NPS is helpful in benchmarking overall customer sentiment, but not for pinpointing which features drive loyalty.
- MaxDiff identifies specific attributes customers care about most, guiding resource allocation.
MaxDiff analysis vs. Likert scale surveys
- Likert scales measure agreement/disagreement on statements, but don’t force prioritization.
- Easy to administer, but often leads to “everything is important” results.
- MaxDiff cuts through this by requiring respondents to distinguish what’s most versus least important.
The key benefits of MaxDiff analysis
MaxDiff analysis can make a huge difference by getting to the heart of your customers' top preferences and then providing actionable data to help guide your focus and decisions. These key benefits include:
- Clear insight: Gain a deeper understanding of what aspects of your products and services matter most to your customers.
- Greater efficiency: MaxDiff surveys directly address the core of an issue by requiring respondents to make choices. This enables you to use the results to implement data-driven actions.
- Straightforward recommendations: The data captured from MaxDiff analysis is typically clear-cut. This can help you feel confident in your decisions related to the results.
- Eliminates “everything is important” bias: Standard surveys often show high ratings across the board; MaxDiff cuts through this by requiring clear choices.
- Supports strategic tradeoffs: Helps businesses decide where to invest, which features to highlight, and what to deprioritize.
- Efficient and scalable: Captures rich insights without needing lengthy surveys; works well even with many attributes to test.
Drawbacks of MaxDiff
There are potentially a few challenges with MaxDiff analysis as well. Among them:
- Knowing what your customers hate: MaxDiff often can’t reveal the things that customers might not like—or even despise. This challenge lies in the fact that MaxDiff analysis typically reveals what your customers like best in descending order, but whatever comes in last place doesn’t fully reveal what customers think about it.
- Knowing how much customers may love a certain product or feature: It’s also difficult to get a clear read on a product or feature that your customers love. MaxDiff doesn’t reveal unbridled passion for a product or feature, which can be a gold mine for marketers.
- Too close to call: When there’s a tight race for the top, it can be challenging to interpret results. MaxDiff works best when there is a clear winner. Figuring out how to keep everyone happy may take some more investigation when the results are close.
- Requires thoughtful design: The survey design of MaxDiff analysis surveys is important to get right. Too many attributes can overwhelm respondents and skew results.
- Doesn’t measure context-specific preferences: MaxDiff tells you what’s most/least important in general, but not necessarily how preferences change in different scenarios (e.g., budget travelers versus luxury travelers).
How to use MaxDiff
Are you wondering how to use MaxDiff analysis for different use cases? These MaxDiff examples share how to utilize this analysis type for customer experience, human resources, and marketing purposes.
Customer experience (CX)
Customer retention and loyalty are crucial in today's competitive business environment. Identifying key drivers of positive customer experiences is vital, and MaxDiff surveys effectively uncover these essential factors.
MaxDiff analysis helps your business allocate resources to the areas that will have the biggest impact on satisfaction and loyalty.
Example question: “When thinking about your experience with our staff, which of the following is most important and least important to you?”
- Friendliness of staff
- Knowledge/expertise
- Speed of service
- Proactive problem-solving
Example question: “When using our website or app, which features are most important and least important to you?”
- Fast page loading
- Easy checkout process
- Clear product/service descriptions
- Personalized recommendations
Human resources (HR)
HR must quickly adapt initiatives—updating policies, launching programs, and re-evaluating talent management—to retain high-performing employees and align with evolving business demands.
HR professionals can use MaxDiff analysis to improve the employee experience backed by data.
Example question: “Which of the following benefits is most important and least important to you?”
- Health insurance coverage
- Retirement plan contributions
- Paid time off (PTO)
- Professional development funding
Example question: “Which of these opportunities for growth is most important and least important to you?”
- Clear promotion paths
- Regular training programs
- Mentorship opportunities
- Stretch project assignments
Marketing
In a landscape of ever-changing customer behaviors, preferences, and expectations, marketers face a significant challenge: truly understanding their target audience's values and effectively communicating those values.
MaxDiff analysis is an excellent method for identifying what customers value most in your products or services. The insights gleaned from MaxDiff analysis can inform messaging strategies and help marketers connect with target audiences.
Example question: “Which of these product features is most important and least important when deciding what to purchase?”
- Durability
- Ease of use
- Innovative design
- Warranty or guarantee
Example question: “When engaging with our brand online, which type of content is most important and least important to you?”
- How-to guides/tutorials
- Customer success stories
- Behind-the-scenes/company culture posts
- Product demos
Use MaxDiff to scale your business
The more you know about what they like and value most, the better equipped you are to keep customers happy and attract new ones to grow your brand and your business.
MaxDiff analysis can play a key role in strengthening your brand. Work with the expert SurveyMonkey research team to use MaxDiff to prioritize features and optimize your product.
NPS, Net Promoter & Net Promoter Score are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
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