Benefit-Based Conjoint Analysis

Firms develop products by manipulating the attributes of offerings, and consumers derive utility from the benefits that the attributes afford. While the field of marketing has long been aware of the distinction between attributes and benefits, it has not developed methods for understanding how attributes and benefits are related. This paper develops a benefit‐based model for conjoint analysis that assumes consumers satiate on attributes that are perceived to provide the same benefit. A latent‐variable model is proposed that estimates the map between attributes and benefits, and is applied to data from two conjoint studies involving a durable product and a household consumable. The model is shown to fit the data better, provide improved predictions, and lead to different product design implications than the standard conjoint model. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2016.1003.