Question

As one of the more popular tools in marketing research, surveys have become automated. These on-line surveys address various types of data needed by the marketer. There are simple survey tools that are free like SurveyMonkey®, and the more professional use surveys. In this Discussion you will take one of the survey instruments that are free from a professional consumer research company, Strategic Business Insights (SBI). The survey instrument VALS™ uses psychological traits to predict consumer behavior.

Topic 1: VALS

VALS™ strengthens demographic characterizations by explaining the deeper psychological drivers of consumer behavior. Visit the VALS ™ web site, take the survey, and find out in which psychographic group you fall. VALS website: http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml

Would you have guessed that you would have been in this group?

How would you rate VALS ™ in terms of market segmentation?

Why it is important for marketers to know VALS™ ?

How and when should this information be used?

Answer 1

Question: Why it is important for marketers to know VALS?

Good marketing is inspired by good insights. Good insights about customers come from more than just product or service category or brand behavior—and from more than just demographics.

Every nation includes people who are more or less impulsive or more or less deliberate, preferring the familiar to the novel; the same is true for other characteristics such as adherence to traditional values, me-first, and reliance on self. These attitudes connect to a broad range of behaviors such as brand preferences, the adoption of new products, and leadership qualities.

VALS is a proprietary psychometric method that measures these and other predictive attitudes—in conjunction with behaviors and demographics—for developing countrywide typologies such as US VALS. The types within a country persist through decades, as work since the 1970s has verified.

VALS Framework and Segment

These consumers are on the leading edge of change, have the highest incomes, and such high self-esteem and abundant resources that they can induldge in any or all self-orientations. They are located above the rectangle. Image is important to them as an expression of taste, independence, and character. Their consumer choices are directed toward the "finer things in life."

2. Thinkers.

These consumers are the high-resource group of those who are motivated by ideals. They are mature, responsible, well-educated professionals. Their leisure activities center on their homes, but they are well informed about what goes on in the world and are open to new ideas and social change. They have high incomes but are practical consumers and rational decision makers.

3. Believers

These consumers are the low-resource group of those who are motivated by ideals. They are conservative and predictable consumers who favor American products and established brands. Their lives are centered on family, church, community, and the nation. They have modest incomes.

4.Achievers

These consumers are the high-resource group of those who are motivated by achievement. They are successful work-oriented people who get their satisfaction from their jobs and families. They are politically conservative and respect authority and the status quo. They favor established products and services that show off their success to their peers.

5. Strivers

These consumers are the low-resource group of those who are motivated by achievements. They have values very similar to achievers but have fewer economic, social, and psychological resources. Style is extremely important to them as they strive to emulate people they admire.

6. Experiencers.

These consumers are the high-resource group of those who are motivated by self-expression. They are the youngest of all the segments, with a median age of 25. They have a lot of energy, which they pour to physical exercise and social activities. They are avid consumers, spending heavily on clothing, fast-foods, music, and other youthful favorites, with particular emphasis on new products and services.

7. Makers.

These consumers are the low-resource group of those who are motivated by self-expression. They are practical people who value self-sufficiency. They are focused on the familiar-family, work, and physical recreation-and have little interest in the broader world. As consumers, they appreciate practical and functional products.

8. Survivors

These consumers have the lowest incomes. They have too few resources to be included in any consumer self-orientation and are thus located below the rectangle. They are the oldest of all the segments, with a median age of 61. Within their limited means, they tend to be brand-loyal consumers.

Use of the VALS Framework

Marketing classes use this tool to determine the placement of a given product to a certain niche in an industry.