Market Research: Foundations to Practice · Advanced Quantitative Techniques
Conjoint Analysis
Conjoint analysis solves a different problem than MaxDiff: not which individual items matter most, but how customers trade off multiple attributes simultaneously in a realistic product decision. This chapter covers the mechanics.
Conjoint analysis measures how respondents make trade-off decisions across multiple product or service attributes simultaneously, such as price, brand, and feature set together, by presenting respondents with several complete product profiles, each combining different levels of these attributes, and asking them to choose their preferred profile from among the set presented [24].
Key Takeaways
- Conjoint analysis measures trade-offs across multiple simultaneous attributes by having respondents choose between complete product profiles.
- This differs from MaxDiff, which prioritizes individual items from a single list rather than evaluating complete multi-attribute configurations.
- Analyzing choice patterns across many profile comparisons derives individual-level utility scores, revealing precise attribute trade-offs like price sensitivity.
- Conjoint's richer output requires more careful design, more sophisticated modeling, and generally a larger sample than MaxDiff, a real cost trade-off to weigh.