Understanding Customer Perception Using Market Mapping

Introduction
How do customers see your brand compared to competitors? Often, the difference between success and failure lies in how you are perceived in the market.

Market Mapping (also called Perceptual Mapping) is a visual tool that shows where your business stands in customers’ minds.

Perceptual maps visually show you how existing products/services are positioned in the market, i.e. in the minds of consumers, in relation to product attributes, e.g. features, price, value, etc. and the associated positioning of the competing products in the marketplace.

Do you want to know any of the following? If so perceptual/market mapping may help. 

• Where to position a new product/service in the market?
• How the target market perceives your brand in the marketplace?
• Monitor changes in customer preferences
• Assess the changing market position of competitive brands
• Track how new products are being positioned in the market
• Evaluate the performance of your recent marketing campaigns or strategy change
• Evaluate the performance of your competitor's recent marketing campaigns or strategy change
• How the customers see your brand relative to others in the market
• Gain a better understanding of market segments and spot gaps/opportunities in the market.

What is Market Mapping?
Market maps plot products or services against two chosen attributes (e.g., price vs quality, traditional vs innovative, luxury vs value). Using Excel bubble charts allows you to add a third attribute.

The resulting map shows clusters of competitors and highlights gaps where new opportunities may exist.

Benefits of Market Mapping

• Visual clarity – Complex market data becomes easy to understand at a glance
• Identify gaps – Spot areas where customer needs are underserved
• Strategic positioning – Decide whether to differentiate, move into a gap, or consolidate existing positioning

Practical Example
A food company might map products on price vs healthiness. If the map shows most competitors clustered as cheap but unhealthy, a gap may exist for affordable healthy snacks.

A technology company mapping innovation vs ease-of-use may discover a gap in the high-innovation but user-friendly quadrant, signaling a growth opportunity.

Application in Practice
Using our templates available at The Business Tools Store, allows executives input customer survey data or market research, and automatically generate charts to create perceptual maps. This structured approach helps ensure customer perceptions guide strategic planning.  You can check out the Perceptual/market Mapping User Guide for full details

Conclusion
Market Mapping provides a clear picture of customer perception and competitive positioning. It’s a vital complement to tools like SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces and Competitive Analysis when shaping strategy.