What is MaxDiff Analysis?
Maximum Differential Scaling (MaxDiff) is a survey research technique used to measure the relative importance of multiple items, such as product features, benefits, or attributes. Unlike traditional rating scales where respondents might rate everything as “important,” MaxDiff forces respondents to make trade-offs by selecting what’s most and least important to them from small sets of items.
The beauty of MaxDiff analysis lies in its simplicity for respondents and its analytical power for researchers. Respondents are shown a series of screens (typically 10 to 15), each containing a subset of items (usually 4 per screen). On each screen, they simply select the “most important” and “least important” item. Through repeated comparisons across different combinations, a robust hierarchy of preferences emerges.
When to Use MaxDiff Analysis
MaxDiff analysis is particularly valuable when:
- You need to determine customer preferences or perceived importance among multiple features, benefits, or attributes.
- You want to avoid the common “everything is important” problem that often arises with rating or Likert scales.
- You need a clear, reliable hierarchy of preferences with meaningful, ratio-scaled differences among items (not just rank order but also how much one is preferred over another).
- You want sharp discrimination among items to confidently guide product development, marketing messaging, or feature prioritization.
- You have 8 to 30 items to evaluate (fewer than 8 can often be ranked directly; more than 30 typically becomes too long or burdensome).
- All items being compared address similar-level needs or belong to the same general decision space (to avoid comparing apples and oranges).
- You need statistically robust results across customer segments to identify meaningful differences and tailor B2B strategies accordingly.
- You have limited survey space or respondent time — MaxDiff is more efficient and less fatiguing than full pairwise comparisons or long ranking exercises.
- You need outputs that can feed into advanced modeling, such as preference shares, market simulators, or TURF analyses for decision support.
MaxDiff analysis is highly recommended as an alternative to traditional ratings grids, which often suffer from scale use bias and provide limited differentiation between items.
How to Run a MaxDiff Survey
- Define Objectives: Determine what you want to measure (e.g., product features, benefits, messages).
- Select Attributes: Choose 7 to 25 items to compare.
- Design Survey: Present respondents with sets of 3 to 5 attributes and ask them to rank from most to least important in each set.
- Collect Responses: Distribute survey to target audience.
- Analyze Data: Use tools like hierarchical Bayes (HB) or counting analysis to see which attributes rank highest.
- Report Findings: Share results.
MaxDiff Analysis Example
Let’s consider a software company evaluating which features to prioritize in its next product release. With 12 potential features but limited development resources, it needs to understand which features matter most to customers.
Implementation:
1. Survey Design:
- Each respondent sees 10 screens.
- Each screen displays 4 randomly selected features.
- Each feature appears approximately 3 times per respondent across different screens.
- Features are displayed in varying positions and combinations
2. Example Screen: On each screen, respondents select the “most important” and “least important” feature:
- Automated data backup
- Customizable dashboard
- Mobile app integration
- Advanced reporting capabilities
From this single screen, the analysis derives information about 5 out of 6 possible paired comparisons:
- Automated backup > Customizable dashboard
- Automated backup > Mobile integration
- Automated backup > Advanced reporting
- Advanced reporting > Customizable dashboard
- Advanced reporting > Mobile integration
3. Analysis: Using Hierarchical Bayes (HB) estimation, each feature receives a score on a 0 to 100 scale, where all scores sum to 100. Higher scores indicate greater importance. For example:
- Automated data backup: 28 points
- Advanced reporting capabilities: 22 points
- Customizable dashboard: 14 points
- Mobile app integration: 7 points
- [Other features]: 29 points
Since these scores are ratio-scaled, we can conclude that automated backup is 4 times more important to customers than mobile integration (28 versus 7 points).
Key Takeaways
- Maximum Simplicity: The task is straightforward for respondents — there are no complex rating scales, just simple choices — typically taking less than 5 minutes to complete.
- Maximum Efficiency: With just 4 items per screen, each selection provides rich comparative data about multiple paired preferences simultaneously.
- Maximum Differentiation: By forcing trade-offs, MaxDiff overcomes the “everything is important” problem and delivers more discriminating results.
- Practical Guidelines:
- Aim for a minimum sample size of 50 respondents (larger if segment analysis is required).
- Limit the exercise to 30 items maximum.
- Show each item approximately 3 times per respondent.
- Use 4 items per screen for optimal efficiency.
- Ensure all items are either uniformly positive or uniformly negative statements.
- Keep item descriptions clear and concise to prevent respondent fatigue.
- Avoid mixing “must-have” items with “nice-to-have” items.
- Analytical Power: The resulting scores provide not just rankings but ratio-scaled values that can be used for advanced analyses, such as feature bundling and segmentation studies.
MaxDiff analysis offers a powerful tool for researchers seeking to understand customer preferences with greater precision and discrimination than traditional methods provide. When designed correctly, it delivers actionable insights that can drive product development, optimize marketing messages, and enhance customer satisfaction.
As a leading survey provider with expert support in survey design, GLG can help you run a MaxDiff survey with your key audience. Contact us at the form below to get started.
Other Related Articles:
Case Study: GLG Conducted a MaxDiff Survey with 130 Senior Decision Makers
Three Market Research Methodologies to Better Measure What Customers Really Want
