SIT Tool. Attribute-Value Mapping

SIT Tool ^™

Attribute-Value Mapping™

Introduction

Attribute-Value Mapping™ (AVM) is one of SIT’s most diversified tools. It was initially designed for the purpose of identifying and developing values we want to communicate about our products and services to the market. In this respect it will give an extensive picture of the attributes of our offering (facts about the product or service) and the values for the customer (customers’ perception of the product or service). In market

communication Attribute-Value Mapping is used to:

• Identify values and identifying new values

• Select the key values for market communication (position)

• Refine and strengthen the value proposition

• Communicate the value proposition, both internally and externally

• Produce briefs for advertising campaigns

Today, Attribute-Value Mapping is not only used in market communication. It has been further developed to also become the central tool in SIT’s Innovation Analysis process.

Innovation Analysis provide answers to the following key questions:

• Are there unexplored business opportunities and market positions to be taken?

• What is the potential for innovation in our offering and in our company?

• Does our offering have the right set of attributes needed to deliver the values our customers appreciate? Are there any “white spots” open for innovation?

• Do we have redundant attributes, e.g. features and functions, in our offering that do not correspond to key customers values? Are we over-delivering without payback?

Several of SIT’s customers find AVM useful in the go-to-market process. Some have even implement AVM as one of the key tools in GTM-process. The tasks AVM supports are:

• Cross functional communication in go-to-market process

• Sales organisation to strengthen and communicate value proposition

• Training of sales people during internal launches

Identify Attributes and Values

Attribute - A quality (or fact) of a product or service.

Examples: a VW car can drive many miles using one litre of gasoline, an Epson Copier makes colour copies of a high resolution, Arla milk includes ingredients XYZ, the distance between seats in an Air France jet airliner is X cm’s, Ericson’s cellular phone is only X cm long.

Value - Whatever the customer can expect to derive (or gain) from the product or service.

Examples: if you drive a VW car you can go on expensive holidays, an Epson copier will allow you to make life-like copies, you can hide your Ericsson cellular phone, Arla milk will make you strong, my kids will be smart if they play with Lego, you will be able to relax on an Air France flight.

As can be seen in the examples, attributes focus on the product (or service) while values focus on the customer. Thus, we can point out three further characteristics of the value- attribute distinction:

1. Attributes will be described mainly by nouns and adjectives (names of ingredients, colours, measures, prices, etc.) while values often will be described by verbs or adverbs (save, hide, enjoy, love, easily, quickly, etc.).

2. The subject in descriptions of attributes will always be facts about the product or service while the subject in the case of values will usually be the customer’s “feelings and emotions”.

3. The characteristic described as an attribute will be objective, in the sense that it is valid for any potential customer. The value, on the other hand, is subjectively dependent on the customer. Even a supposedly universal value like financial gain will mean more or less to a rich or poor customer, or be absolutely meaningless for an Indian fakir.

Attribute-Value Interconnections

Values are always based on attributes. You will “enjoy” (value) a beer because of “its ingredients and the way it has been brewed” (attributes). Attributes, in turn, will usually be composed of other, more basic attributes. A “safe car ranked at 5 stars according to Euro NCAP” (attribute) is safe due to its “superior shock absorbers”, its “many air bags”, its

“strong body”, etc., all being attributes too. Note that the attribute “Euro NCAP 5 star ranking” leads to a value – “safe travel for my kids” which in turn leads to a further value –

“feeling like a good parent”. This chain of interconnections can be presented in diagram form we call an Attribute-Value Map (AV-Map).

Attribute-Value Map (AV-Map)

The Attribute-Value Map (AV-Map) is a strong visual tool, representing a comprehensive description of the product or service and it’s consequential value proportion. As

mentioned earlier, it can help you in,

• Doing an innovation analysis by identifying “white spots” in both the attribute and value areas.

• Crafting your value proposition by refining and strengthening existing values and finding new value to communicate.

Some attributes are connected very strongly, in the minds of customers, to respective values. If one product costs 10 percent less than another (attribute) this obviously means less expense for the customer (value). When the distance between seats in an airplane is 3 feet larger than the standard (attribute), anyone can deduce that the plane ride will be more comfortable (value). But this strong tie does not necessarily exist in every value-attribute pair. A computer-controlled transmission may well be a crucial factor in a car’s safety, but not many a customer is aware of the fact. Or again, an F-357 microprocessor might be the best thing to have inside your answering machine in terms of ease-of-use, and yet you may never have known about it. This is called a weak tie.

Drawing an Attribute-Value Map

In theory, drawing an AV-Map is simple. In reality, it will require some practise to get it right. Use the following guideline when drawing your first map. As you gain more experience you can develop your own method to suit your purpose.

Before you begin you need to equip yourself with the following material. Some large sheets of paper, e.g. a flip-chart, a packet of sticky notes and a good marker pen.

1. Decide what the purpose of the map is, e.g. develop a new market position, identity areas for development and innovation or maybe strengthen your value proposition for a product or service. Depending on your goal, decide on what level you should work, e.g. product, service or solution. Than define who the customer is and what his characteristics are.

2. On sticky notes, write down some major attributes of your product or service that come to your mind, e.g. “our flat screen television set has a large, flat and wide display”

(product) or all “our consultants have at least 7 years of work experience” (service).

Write only one attribute per sticky note.

3. Pick one attribute and place it in the middle of a sheet of paper. Then start to develop your map by working your way downward. You can find the supporting attributes that your major attribute is based on, by answering the question “How can I say…?”, e.g.

“How can I say that our flat screen television set has a large, flat and wide display (major attribute)”? “Because, it has an LCD-panel (supporting attribute) and it measure 37 inch in size (supporting attribute) and it has a 16:9 display format (supporting attribute)”. Write only one attribute per sticky note. This makes it easier to change and restructure your map later.

4. Continue to work your self downwards by asking the question “How…?” until your reach the lowest level of supporting attributes relevant for your application. You can think of your AV-Map as growing a tree. First you need to develop a good root system (attributes) and then you can expand the branches above the ground (values).

5. When you have a stable “root” of attributes, it is time to “grow” the values. From your major attribute, work your way upwards to the first level of values by putting yourself in the situation of your customer and stating what the customer can expect to gain from the attribute. When developing the values, it’s helpful to “put yourself in the customer’s shoes” and ask the question “So what?”, e.g. “the flat screen television set has a large, flat and wide display”. So what? Answer this question from your customer’s perspective, e.g. “I as a customer will get a movie-theatre like experience” (value) and

“I will be able to enjoy a motion picture in a full-size non-distorted image” (value).

Write only one value per sticky note and be thorough in expressing the full sentence “I as a customer…”. This sentence is key to make sure that you stay “in your customers shoes” and value the attributes from his perspective.

6. Continue to work yourself upwards by asking the question “So what?” until your reach the highest level of values relevant for your application. For getting full use of the map, challenge yourself by asking the question “So what?” a couple of times more than you feel comfortable with. This helps you stretch your mind and you might find some new interesting things hidden in the “highest branches of your tree”.

7. Now, analyse your map and try to structure it in a logical way by grouping supporting attributes that belong together, e.g. attributes regarding “picture quality”. Likewise, regroup and structure values of similar type, e.g. values expressing something with time like “I as a customer will save time” or “I can do things quickly”. Try to create a well- structured and logical map. If you’re unsure about the structure, try to “climb your tree” form root-up and top-down, by asking “So what?” and “How…?”. It should be possible to find the answer to both questions on all levels of the map. If not, you have to adjust and restructure.

8. The last step in creating your first map is to link attributes and values. Draw lines between the attributes and values representing “the roots and the branches” of your

“tree”. The result should be a logical and well-structured map that is easy to follow and analyse.

9. When you’re done with the first major attribute, select another attribute and repeat steps 2-8. Continue with all major attributes until you have complete set of maps.

10. Now you can mount your maps on the wall and start integrating them. Find common values, restructure and link them together. Try to create a full, logical and well-

structured map of the product or service you are analysing.

Attribute or Value?

Some characteristics of a product or service fall in a “grey zone” between attribute and value. Take, for instance, a beer’s taste. Is this an Attribute or a Value? Applying the aforementioned criteria we discover that it is both. The beer has a taste in the chemical sense regardless of the existence of a customer to taste it, therefore taste is seen to be an independent attribute of the beer. On the other hand, the customer tastes the beer enjoying a sensation, which is totally private and dependent on him or her - what is tasty for one customer may very well be repulsive for another. In this case the (pleasant) taste for the customer is definitely a value.

Analysing Your Attribute-Value Map

An AV-Map contains a lot of interesting and useful information, but it needs to be analysed for further use. Do the following to make your first analysis of an AV-Map.

1. Identify values that are not linked to any attributes. This means that you are either making an unsubstantiated claim or overlooking a relevant attribute.

2. Identify attributes, which do not lead to values. This is a potential starting point for communicating a new value to your customers, or a sign that the attribute is redundant.

3. Identify those values and attributes that are focal points of a large number of connections. They should probably be mentioned in your communication.

4. Attributes that are connected by strong ties to important values can be used for communication.

5. Check whether you are communicating attributes that are connected only weakly to their corresponding values. Try to avoid such a situation.

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–Do we have attributes supporting them? If not, what attributes do we need to add or change?

–Do we communicate them? If not, discuss why and how we can improve our communication

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–Short and distinct idea description –Value or benefit for stakeholders –Challenges when implementing

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–Discuss potential ideas solving these issues.

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–We are we strong respectively weak?

–Where are the competitors strong?

–Are there any unclaimed positions?

–Where are the pitfalls?

Applications

Notes

• Work both top-down and bottom-up to ensure of stringency in cause and effect

• Keep it simple! Start small, ensure success and acceptance, build stepwise as you gain experience and ripeness.

• File both positive and negative values in the AV-map, as well as new attributes

• Ensure cross-fertilisation by inviting workshop participants from different departments

• Try to connect your projects objectives and goals with the over all strategy of the company. Try to do it with AVM.

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