Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is a hotel in Alberta, Canada. Surrounded by mountain peaks and an emerald lake in the Banff National Park, this hotel has a pub for the outdoor enthusiasts coming from all over the world. At the pub, the menu was carefully designed for foreigners by mapping local drinks in two dimensions: how bitter (vs. sweet) and mild (vs. full flavor) beers are and how sweet (vs. sour) and mild (strong) cocktails.
However, as the menu suggests, positioning map could benefit customers as well when provided with unfamiliar products. As persona helps designers communicate with users, map could help novice customers make informed decisions. In other words, positioning map aids consumers’ understanding of their own preferences, like consumption vocabulary.
Consumers’ understanding of their own preferences can be aided by a “consumption vocabulary”-a taxonomy or framework that facilitates identifying the relation between a product’s features and one’s evaluation of the product. In the absence of such a vocabulary, consumers’ understanding of their own preferences will require more extensive experience and may never fully develop. The effect of such a vocabulary is tested in two experiments in which subjects provided with a vocabulary (1) exhibit better-defined and more consistent preferences than control subjects, (2) show improved cue discovery, and (3) show learning (i.e., increases in consistency over time). All results hold regardless of the functional form of the model used to assess subjects’ preference formation.
2 thoughts on “Positioning map helps consumers make decisions”
To briefly summarize the selected article, the story begins in a pub located in a hotel. The pub offers a variety of drinks and borrows the idea of a positioning map, also known as a perceptual map. This map is applied to the menu by mapping the drinks in two dimensions, making easier for consumers to identify unfamiliar drinks and select a beverage based on their preferences.
And I agree with that. Before everything else, I think it’s a very interesting factor because positioning map can be viewed simultaneously from a design perspective of data visualization and a marketing perspective of consumer perception change strategy through information provision.
First, from a design perspective, the positioning map can be considered the most suitable choice among various types of visualization methods. According to the paper ‘A Meta-Analysis of Repeated Types of Data Visualization in Youth: Awards in the National Student Statistics Utility Competition from 2019 to 2021,’ it is easy to make errors in expressing ratios without being based on actual values in the data visualization process. In particular, the paper suggests that the 3D visualization types make intuitive discrimination and interpretation difficult. However, positioning map appears to be a clever approach to design the menu, addressing pain points for individuals lacking existing information to guide them through the purchasing journey and to lower the purchase hurdle.
Second, from a marketing perspective, I thought the ‘STP strategy’ that I learned in class. Guests visiting hotels with beautiful geographical characteristics were defined through ‘Segmenting,’ which is the process of subdividing consumers into groups with similar characteristics geographically and demographically. Next, for ‘Targeting’, the group selected was ‘Outdoor enthusiasts coming from all over the world,’ which has the most influence on the Pub’s sales increase among hotel guests. Lastly, ‘Positioning,’ a process that emphasizes the differentiated value compared to other competitors, appears to have been expressed through ‘providing local drinks with various flavor.’
In conclusion, by understanding the floating population based on the pub’s location, setting the main target, and deriving results through the target’s needs, the ‘menu’ is the outcome. In other words, similar to easily understanding one’s preferences through frameworks like ‘Consumption Vocabulary*’, the positioning map of the menu is not designed just for simple information delivery like an infographic. It is also made to save resources, such as time and energy, by enabling consumers to ask questions about drinks that suit their preferences and having employees explain.
*For a better understanding, I would like to use real-world companies as an example of the ‘Consumption Vocabulary’ introduced in the attached journal.
There are two companies called ‘Coloso(https://coloso.co.kr/)’ and ‘Class101(https://class101.net/store)’, which are different platforms that provide various categories of online classes.
Let’s assume that ‘Coloso’ is a standard company. While ‘Class101’ can be simply describe as a subscription-based online class platform, ‘Coloso’ can be more specifically presented as an online class platform with the know-how of top tier experts. And we can lead this to the case of ‘(1) better-defined between control subject’.
‘(2) improved cue’ could be the distinguishing factor between competitors. For instance, ‘Class101’ offers limited-time online classes, however, ‘Coloso’ provides lifelong online classes, allowing students to learn repeatedly.
Lastly, ‘(3) learning’ will be naturally acquired through periodic brand advertising. Therefore, consumers who need more professional online classes than hobbies will evaluate ‘Coloso’ as more functionally suitable, and their preferences will continue to increase.
Also, there is a roadmap page in both ‘Coloso’ and ‘Class101′ that serves the roles of the positioning map and consumption vocabulary, curating which online classes should be taken.
Through this, it can be seen that ‘Consumption Vocabulary’, similar to the ‘Positioning Map’, also has a positive effect on consumers’ choices and purchasing decisions.
As a result, the positioning map acts like a trigger device that aids in decision-making for newly acquired users or consumers. It would be beneficial to consider not only its application in menu design but also how to apply it in real-world scenarios to provide even more assistance to users and consumers.
To briefly summarize the selected article, the story begins in a pub located in a hotel. The pub offers a variety of drinks and borrows the idea of a positioning map, also known as a perceptual map. This map is applied to the menu by mapping the drinks in two dimensions, making easier for consumers to identify unfamiliar drinks and select a beverage based on their preferences.
And I agree with that. Before everything else, I think it’s a very interesting factor because positioning map can be viewed simultaneously from a design perspective of data visualization and a marketing perspective of consumer perception change strategy through information provision.
First, from a design perspective, the positioning map can be considered the most suitable choice among various types of visualization methods. According to the paper ‘A Meta-Analysis of Repeated Types of Data Visualization in Youth: Awards in the National Student Statistics Utility Competition from 2019 to 2021,’ it is easy to make errors in expressing ratios without being based on actual values in the data visualization process. In particular, the paper suggests that the 3D visualization types make intuitive discrimination and interpretation difficult. However, positioning map appears to be a clever approach to design the menu, addressing pain points for individuals lacking existing information to guide them through the purchasing journey and to lower the purchase hurdle.
Second, from a marketing perspective, I thought the ‘STP strategy’ that I learned in class. Guests visiting hotels with beautiful geographical characteristics were defined through ‘Segmenting,’ which is the process of subdividing consumers into groups with similar characteristics geographically and demographically. Next, for ‘Targeting’, the group selected was ‘Outdoor enthusiasts coming from all over the world,’ which has the most influence on the Pub’s sales increase among hotel guests. Lastly, ‘Positioning,’ a process that emphasizes the differentiated value compared to other competitors, appears to have been expressed through ‘providing local drinks with various flavor.’
In conclusion, by understanding the floating population based on the pub’s location, setting the main target, and deriving results through the target’s needs, the ‘menu’ is the outcome. In other words, similar to easily understanding one’s preferences through frameworks like ‘Consumption Vocabulary*’, the positioning map of the menu is not designed just for simple information delivery like an infographic. It is also made to save resources, such as time and energy, by enabling consumers to ask questions about drinks that suit their preferences and having employees explain.
*For a better understanding, I would like to use real-world companies as an example of the ‘Consumption Vocabulary’ introduced in the attached journal.
There are two companies called ‘Coloso(https://coloso.co.kr/)’ and ‘Class101(https://class101.net/store)’, which are different platforms that provide various categories of online classes.
Let’s assume that ‘Coloso’ is a standard company. While ‘Class101’ can be simply describe as a subscription-based online class platform, ‘Coloso’ can be more specifically presented as an online class platform with the know-how of top tier experts. And we can lead this to the case of ‘(1) better-defined between control subject’.
‘(2) improved cue’ could be the distinguishing factor between competitors. For instance, ‘Class101’ offers limited-time online classes, however, ‘Coloso’ provides lifelong online classes, allowing students to learn repeatedly.
Lastly, ‘(3) learning’ will be naturally acquired through periodic brand advertising. Therefore, consumers who need more professional online classes than hobbies will evaluate ‘Coloso’ as more functionally suitable, and their preferences will continue to increase.
Also, there is a roadmap page in both ‘Coloso’ and ‘Class101′ that serves the roles of the positioning map and consumption vocabulary, curating which online classes should be taken.
Through this, it can be seen that ‘Consumption Vocabulary’, similar to the ‘Positioning Map’, also has a positive effect on consumers’ choices and purchasing decisions.
As a result, the positioning map acts like a trigger device that aids in decision-making for newly acquired users or consumers. It would be beneficial to consider not only its application in menu design but also how to apply it in real-world scenarios to provide even more assistance to users and consumers.