Strategic
Business
Insights
Frequently Asked
Questions
August 2010
Issued by:
VALS™
Strategic Business Insights
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, California 94025
www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals
What does VALSTM stand for?
The first VALS framework was based on social values, and VALS was an acronym for Values and
Lifestyles. The current VALS framework is based on psychology instead of social values, so we
dropped Values and Lifestyles but retained the VALS brand.
What is VALSTM used for?
Marketers use VALS to understand why consumers make the choices they do. The more
marketers know about their target consumers, the better they can design products and services and
develop marketing strategies and communications that will appeal to the target. By using VALS
to understand the motivations that stimulate consumer behavior (such as buying a product or
participating in a loyalty program), marketers increase their chance of cutting through today’s
advertising clutter.
What are primary and secondary VALSTM types?
An individual’s primary VALS type is the group with which the individual has the strongest
affinity—the group with which the individual has the most characteristics in common. An
individual’s secondary VALS type is the group the individual is next most like. Using both
primary and secondary VALS types in combination expands the number of groups in the system
and enables marketers to target smaller, more niche consumer groups.
The VALSTM survey is so short. How do you know
about product, service, and activity preferences
by VALS group if you ask only these questions?
The VALS survey on our Web site is our “VALS-location battery.” Its purpose is to identify a
person’s VALS type. We gather consumer-product, -service, and -activity data by integrating the
VALS questionnaire (survey) into larger custom or syndicated questionnaires. We integrate the
VALS questionnaire into Consumer Financial Decisions’ MacroMonitor survey, giving us a
source of detailed financial behavior by VALS types. We also integrate into various clientspecific surveys and GfK MRI’s Survey of American Consumers.
How did the VALSTM questionnaire develop?
The VALS questionnaire is based on a development effort and several large national surveys of
consumer opinion that SRI International—a nonprofit research organization in Menlo Park,
California—conducted between 1987 and 1992. These surveys allowed SRI to identify the
specific attitudes that have had a strong correlation with a large range of consumer preferences in
products and media. The current questionnaire is the third version based on this kind of extensive
empirical research. Strategic Business Insights is a spin-off of SRI International.
What is the idea behind the VALSTM questionnaire?
The motivations and demographic characteristics that this questionnaire asks about are very
strong predictors of a variety of consumer preferences in products, services, and media. The main
advantage, therefore, is predictive power. To understand consumers’ individual preferences and
likely reactions to new products and services, we ask this relatively short list of questions in place
of a very long list of questions about current product activity and media choices.
Some of the questions in the VALSTM questionnaire
seem overly simplistic. Why?
The questions measure very basic individual motivations with as little confusion as possible.
Therefore, we refer to commonplace, concrete activities or interests, and we ask the questions in
straightforward and simple terms.
Why do many of the questions in the VALSTM
questionnaire seem to ask the same thing?
Asking repeatedly about an issue provides a more accurate measure about that issue. For instance,
a single question permits an opinion to fall into only 1 of the 4 numbered response categories;
with two questions, an opinion may fall into 1 of 16 categories (four times four). Asking about the
same issue in different ways also reduces the possibility that respondents may misunderstand
what we want to know.
Are you aware that some of the questions in
the VALSTM survey are politically incorrect?
We are measuring how people think, not prescribing how they should think. If someone finds a
question objectionable, he or she should register his or her disagreement by selecting the “mostly
disagree” option.
What good is the VALSTM questionnaire anyway?
Using questionnaires such as the VALS questionnaire is one of the primary ways that businesses
come to understand consumers’ individual preferences, needs, and interests. Imagine, for
instance, that a company must design a new kind of software program, knowing only that most of
its potential users are between 30 and 40 years old, with a college education. VALS adds the
human side of the equation: preferences for control or freedom, tradition or novelty, information
or stimulation, hands-on activity or intellectual abstractions.
What are the weaknesses of the VALSTM
questionnaire?
People can always provide false answers to this kind of questionnaire out of malice or curiosity.
The more accurate the responses, however, the more trustworthy the results. Added problems
arise through misinterpretations or ambiguities inherent in the use of words. Because no
conversation or interactivity exists to clear up possible misinterpretations or ambiguities, the
VALS questionnaire asks more than one question about each topic. Finally, words themselves
characterize only a small portion of human experience. Future tests may be more sensory and
more interactive, much like a multimedia game.
Why does changing just my income and
education change my VALSTM type?
VALS is optimized to identify the major consumer groups in the population. Think of each
segment as a bull’s eye—the center ring represents individuals most true to type. If a person is on
the edge of a segment, then small changes in demographics or attitudes can change the person’s
VALS type. In such a case, however, the person’s assignment to a different VALS type would be
to a segment with a similar attitude construct. We ask both attitude concepts and demographics
because these measures are related but not redundant. Having both has more utility for marketers
than have demographics or attitudes alone.
What is GeoVALSTM?
GeoVALS specifies the proportion of each of the eight primary VALS types in residential zip
codes and block groups in the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). GeoVALS data are
available for standard geographic areas such as U.S. Census regions; U.S. Census divisions; or
state, county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), or custom pieces of geography. GeoVALS is
most typically in use for direct marketing, sales analysis, site location, merchandising mix, and
media-plan development. Individuals can now purchase GeoVALS data directly on the Web by
going to www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/geovals .
VALSTM focuses on the United States. How
about other countries?
The U.S.VALS Framework can also serve reliably in Canada. VALS frameworks are also in use
in Japan and the Dominican Republic. Frameworks for more countries are under development.
Every country has groups that have three primary motivations: Tradition (Ideals in U.S. VALS),
Achievement, and Self-Expression. Each country is unique in terms of the distribution of types
and the relative status of types in the country. The motivations may manifest in various ways and
must sit in the context of each country. For example, some countries very much respect people
with a traditional motivation. In other countries, the view of tradition will not be so important.
Another important factor is the relative wealth of the society and the resources available. People
with few resources cannot express a distinctive motivation and live very pragmatic lives. In each
case, the country-specific VALS framework must take these distinctions into account.
VALS™ is a lens for understanding consumer psychology. The VALS consulting and
consumer-research services provide clients with tailored, real-time, marketing solutions
for customer:
• Targeting
• Positioning
• Communications.
What Can U.S. VALS™ Do for You?
• Provide a fresh perspective by “getting into the heads” of your customers.
• Identify your best targets—the most profitable customers or to attract new consumers.
• Create richly textured consumer profiles or personas of psychological traits, attitudes,
behaviors, lifestyles, and demographics.
• Increase communication effectiveness by knowing your target’s distinct
communications styles, content preferences, and media-channel use.
• Innovate new products and services for specific consumer targets.
• Locate geographic concentrations of your target.
Surveys and focus groups inform our work. Ongoing training and reports support ongoing
learning and provide your team with a common language.
Visit our Web site at www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals .
About Strategic Business Insights
Strategic Business Insights (SBI) works with clients to identify and map new
opportunities based on emerging technology and market insights. We combine
ongoing research with consulting services to create insights that affect customers,
business, and technology.
With our help, leading organizations identify coming changes faster, separate hype
from reality, and create strategy with a greater awareness of what the future may
bring.
SBI stands apart from our competitors in our staff’s ability to integrate all pieces
of the puzzle necessary to manage the future: the technology developments that
will determine commercial opportunities, the forces that will define the business
environment, and the shifts in consumer demand that will shape the marketplace.
SBI is the former Business Intelligence division of SRI International that has worked
with clients on opportunities and change since 1958. Headquartered in Silicon
Valley—with offices in Japan, the United Kingdom, and New Jersey—we have
a global reach and work across a wide range of government and business sectors,
including electronics, health care, energy, and financial services.
The standard in consumer financialservices research, strategy, and insight
C F D
CONSUMER FINANCIAL DECISIONS
Continuous evaluation of opportunities
in technology commercialization and
applications
TM
Organizational radar to identify signals of
change
Consumer insights that drive market
innovation
An exploration of emerging technologies
and applications
Consulting
Services
Leveraging of our research expertise
and proprietary methods
• Scenario planning
• Opportunity discovery
• Strategic roadmapping
• Customer targeting
STRATEGIC BUSINESS
INSIGHTS:
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, California 94025
Telephone: +1 650 859 4600
Fax: +1 650 859 4544
P.O. Box 2410
Princeton, NJ 08543
Telephone: +1 609 378 5041
Fax: +1 650 859 4544
Knollys House
17 Addiscombe Road
Croydon, Surrey
CR0 6SR, England
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8686 5555
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8760 0635
Parkside House 3F.
2, Ichibancho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102-0082, Japan
Telephone: +81 3 3222 6501
Fax: +81 3 3222 6508
Visit our website at
www.strategicbusinessinsights.com .