Integrating the latest Behavior Economics
insights to evaluate brands.

Overcoming the problems inherent with traditional scales
Ability to capture more competitive benchmarks

Better insights, more
reflective of the market

The way we evaluate brands has not changed in decades.
There are so many problems with scales.
All of these leads to bad data and poor results.

Are we really trusting our brands and our programs to this type of measurement?

(hover over each tile to learn more)

Difficult for respondents

One respondent told me “I hate these scales. I’m tired, I want to be done, I just want my $5. ”How much time and consideration are these respondents really putting into these evaluations

Humans don't make decisions on a scale

They make choices among a set of options. The Likert scale is almost 90 years old. This is your grandfather’s scale. We have learned a lot since then.

Bad data

The traditional approach is to ask a respondent to evaluate brands in isolation on a set of scales. But this is not how humans make choices. “We focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another.” Dan Ariely.

Different cultures respond differently on scales

We know, for example, that Latinos give much higher evolutions on scales. So how do we compare one cultural group to another? How do we compare one country to another? How do we compare the same study over time but with a different cultural mix. We can’t. Our industry typically ignores this.

What if they don't know the answer?

If we ask a respondent to evaluate a several brands on 20 attributes each, what is the likelihood that they will not know at least one answer? Pretty high. So how do they answer? A “3” on a 5-point scale is fundamentally different from a “don’t know.” The result – bad data.

It's not you, it's me

As reported in Harvard Business Review, the “Idiosyncratic Rater effect” says more about the rater than what is being rated. “Over the last fifteen years a significant body of research has demonstrated that each of us is a disturbingly unreliable rater of other people’s performance.” (“Most HR Data Is Bad Data,” HBR 2/9/15).
The latest insights from Nobel Prize winning psychologists reveal how we traditionally measure brands is not how humans make these evaluation

Humans make choices — based on evaluating a set of alternatives

“Humans rarely choose things in absolute terms.

We don’t have an internal value meter that tells us how much things are worth.

Rather, we focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another…”

Dan Ariely

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

But current methods still focus on absolute scores on a scale.
“There is a way to overcome the limited resolution of adjective scales: Instead of using labels,

use comparisons.

Our ability to compare cases is much better than our ability to place them on a scale.”

Daniel Kahneman

Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement​

But current methods still don’t have respondents compare.
Brands are presented in isolation.

Brand Insights is a better way to evaluate brands.
Consistent with how humans make these choices.
More reliable results

Because respondents evaluate options as they do in the real world; with choices and in context to the competitive set.

Ability to capture more competitive benchmarks

Without fatiguing the respondent or adding sample. In short, faster, easier, less expensive.​

Less bad data

What if respondents don’t know the answer? A “3” on a scale is not the same as a “don’t know.” This method overcomes that.​

Improved cross-cultural insights

Overcomes the challenges inherent in different cultures using scales differently.​

Improved respondent engagement​

Respondents stay engaged, providing more consideration of their choices – not simply trying to finish the survey.

Works great with mobile

Respondents can respond as they live their lives, on their mobile device.​

A faster, more predictive, and lower-cost way to screen out new product ideas or features

Researchers love scales. The problem is, there are so many problems. There are better ways.

We have tested thousands of concepts

  • This experience allows us to offer more insight and opportunities on how to make the concept better.
  • This means you can trust our results when you share them with your management.
  • Your recommendation (based on our results) will be stronger, more compelling, and lead your company to a better decision.

This is just one reason we have been named a “Most Trusted” market
research firm

This is just one reason we have been named a “Most Trusted” market research firm

  • Trusted to deliver high-quality insightful results
  • Trusted to deliver results you can share with your management without re-writing
  • Trusted to have True North present to your management

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