B2C Case Study: Virtual Qualitative
Laddering for Emotional Benefit Insights
Business Issue
A client was reintroducing a recreational vehicle. Qualitative research with category users was conducted to evaluate alternative positioning platforms.
Solutions
Virtual focus groups were conducted with current owners, with active shoppers and with open-minded prospects.
Respondents were exposed to different pictures and asked to select the scenario most associated with the experience, and then were shown possible positionings.
Results
Based on the research the client was provided with potential emotional benefits to be incorporated in product communications. The research and laddering output also allowed to separate the emotional areas by user segments (e.g., social vs. health vs. lower physical stress vs. new exploration) for matching emotional appeals to each target.
In addition to probing reactions (motivation, uniqueness, believability of positioning platforms), the participants were probed using laddering questions to identify the linkage between functional attributes, psycho-social consequences, more emotional benefits.
The laddering (hierarchical) map that emerged follows.