MaxDiff is a form of discrete questioning in market research that asks respondents to choose between the best and worst options out of a list of attributes.
It is commonly used for new product ideas, ad concept testing, packaging designs, and more.
In this post, we’ll discuss MaxDiff analysis in more detail – what it is, when to use it, how to analyze MaxDiff survey results, and more.
Maximum Differential (MaxDiff, also short for Maximum Difference Scaling) analysis is used in survey research and other forms of experimental design to measure the relative importance or preference of attributes in a product concept.
It is also sometimes called best-worst scaling.
MaxDiff analysis involves respondents being presented with a series of item sets and having them select which items they find the most important and the least important.
In most cases, the process is repeated multiple times with a different collection of attributes each time.
For instance, here is a MaxDiff example question.
After the completion of the MaxDiff, results can be used to determine the relative importance or preference of each item had with respondents. Compared to traditional ranking surveys, MaxDiff is able to better differentiate the gaps in preference, especially in large groups of product features.
It’s a clever technique to save time for the respondent as there is no need to rank a full list of items. Instead of asking respondents to rate dozens of items at one time, MaxDiff surveys make the process more accurate and efficient.
MaxDiff analysis is typically used when researchers are looking to understand the relative importance of a large number of attributes or items.
For example, in new product development market research, MaxDiff can be used to determine the attributes or product features that are most important to consumers. These kinds of insights are especially valuable to brands before launches or when testing messaging, packaging, or product features.
It is a great alternative to the typical 1 to 5 rating scale.
That’s because, compared to the standard rating scale that can be used in survey research, this question type does a more comprehensive job of delineating the differences in perception within a group of items.
Ranking surveys in most cases use a 1 to 5 rating scale on importance-based questions and that suffers primarily from respondent-based issues.
For a large group of respondents, the meaning of a “4” rating could have many different definitions that stem from personal experience.
Whereas, the “most important” and “least important” scale used in a MaxDiff analysis is a consistent scale that has the same meaning for everyone across the entire sample base.
A common question our market research company gets is, “What is the difference between MaxDiff vs. conjoint analysis or other methods?”
There are other advanced analytical tools that provide brands with valuable insights, but MaxDiff surveys offer unique advantages that make them especially effective in many scenarios.
As we discussed earlier, the primary use for MaxDiff is to determine the relative importance of a set of items.
Asking someone to rank 20 features is unrealistic. MaxDiff breaks items into smaller sets, making it easier for respondents to answer and for you to collect more reliable survey results.
Using MaxDiff analysis takes the comparisons made by respondents and calculates the relative importance of each item.
What’s the difference?
With MaxDiff, respondents select which attribute is either the most important or least important.
Whereas, in other methods, respondents might be shown two lists of product attributes that make up two different products. Then, they are asked to choose which product they are most likely to purchase.
Compared to other analytic methods, like conjoint studies, there are inherent differences. Conjoint estimates how respondents value combinations of attributes (like price + features + brand).
MaxDiff, on the other hand, isolates the importance of individual items. MaxDiff and conjoint are both great, but serve different goals: conjoint for trade-offs between product bundles, and MaxDiff for clarity on what single features matter most.
MaxDiff is not a replacement for all the survey methods available, but it excels when the research objective is to rank attributes by importance. For product development research, refining features, or enhancing marketing messages, MaxDiff studies provide better data to find actionable insights compared to other traditional approaches.
To properly implement MaxDiff analysis into your survey-based research, the following steps must be taken. If you’re interested in partnering with a third-party market research company for help, contact Drive Research.
1. Identify which items you want to include in your analysis
Depending on the survey topic this could include product features, brand attributes, or any other item of interest.
2. Sort your items into groups
Your selected items can be sorted into either small groups or pairs.
You must make sure that all items must appear consistently with no one item being shown more times than another. It must also be determined that pairs of items aren’t matched overwhelmingly with each other in order to ensure fair results.
3. Start your data collection
After properly implementing MaxDiff into your survey, open it up to respondents and watch the results roll in.
4. Calculate the MaxDiff score
Once your data collection is complete, proceed to the next step of data analysis where you will be able to estimate the importance of each item in the MaxDiff.
There are multiple different modeling techniques that can be used to calculate these values. After passing this data through a model of your choosing, you will now be able to identify which items are most important/least important to respondents.
For example, once all the data is received for the survey, our market research analysts calculate a MaxDiff score for each factor by taking the percentage of those who rated it “most” and subtracting the percentage of those who rated it “least”.
After the interpretation of the results, the findings are presented. MaxDiff can be used by businesses for a multitude of purposes not limited to informing pricing decisions, product development, and marketing.
When concluding a MaxDiff study, there are multiple ways you can go about analyzing the data collected. The method of analysis could differ based on the specific topic of research or the type of market research outcome that is being addressed.
Here are several different methods of analysis that can be used to interpret your MaxDiff survey findings.
Latent Class Analysis (LCA)
This is one of the most common methods of data modeling that is used to identify segments of respondents that share similar preferences for items shown in the MaxDiff.
Segmentation can be done based on single or multiple preferences selected.
Multinomial Logistical Regression
This method can be used to estimate the probabilities of several different outcomes based on categorized dependent variables.
An example research question that could be used for this type of analysis could be “What product will a respondent choose based on their annual spend with the company and the product attributes that are most important to them?”
Conjoint Analysis
MaxDiff results can be taken a step further by implementing a conjoint analysis after the results are collected.
Determining the preference of items during a MaxDiff is a great way to inform a conjoint analysis on which product features should be included in the products presented.
Which is the Best Approach?
In terms of data analysis, there isn’t a single approach that works best for every research outcome.
Depending on the research question, sample size, and type of data collected it is important to find the model that best fits what you’re looking for.
Drive Research is a full-service market research company specializing in advanced survey analysis techniques. Our team of market research professionals can design, program, field, and analyze several different survey types such as MaxDiff, conjoint analysis, factor analysis, and more.
To learn more about our services or get a quote for conducting a MaxDiff analysis, contact us today.
