Laddering
Laddering is an interview method in market research that aims to uncover the relationships between product features and their subjectively significant benefits through targeted inquiries.
The term “laddering” describes a so-called “cognitive ladder” that the interviewer and the interviewee (for example the consumer of a certain product) climb higher and higher. This is done by asking questions about a product as a chain of questions like “ Why is this important to you? “Poses to find out the subjective value that a product benefit has for the consumer. For example, it can be found out why a consumer always buys a product in a smaller packaging unit, although the product is also available in bulk packs and would therefore be cheaper. For the consumer, however, the benefit that he achieves from the smaller packaging unit (e.g. product does not spoil so quickly) outweighs the price disadvantage.
The term was established by Reynolds and Gutman in the 1980s and is based on the means-end-chain theory.
literature
- Thomas J. Reynolds, Jonathan Gutman: Laddering theory. Method, analysis, and interpretation . In: Journal of Advertising Research , Vol. 28 (1988), Issue 1, pages 11-31, ISSN 0021-8499 .