Linescale.com website

Brief notes on Linescale

Linescale® predicts customer behavior using better psychometrics.

Harvard Business School helped General Foods improve the traditional Likert scale to enable powerful insights with a "sticky" and continuous line scale. Linescale allows head-to-head comparison with each person's benchmarked favorites on a single Likert scale.
Result! Behavior Change Forecasting predicts marketplace performance.

What is a Linescale?

It looks like a six-point Likert scale, it's also 1,000 point scale

How does it work? THREE quick steps!
1. Here's Linescale in action...let's look at a monadic concept test for a new salty snack idea.

First, the customer identifies potato chips is their favorite snack and rates it. Then they rate the category in general. These become personal benchmarks on a normalized scale. A new idea is shown and rated twice. First, a brief overview for a quick, “thinking fast” evaluation. Then a second exposure with more detail for a thoughtful, “thinking slow” evaluation.

Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman teaches we have two "Thinking Systems;" an immediate intuitive first impression "Thinking, Fast" — or System 1 thinking. And, a slower, more logical deliberation and evaluation - "Thinking, Slow" — or System 2 thinking. Both are critical to understand how people perceive, think, decide and take action. Understanding both is critical to PREDICT BEHAVIOR.

Here's how it looks so far —

Notice, all ratings are "5" on a traditional scale. We'll report that, but this is telling us so much more.

2. Direct Competitive Comparison.

High ratings and consumer applause are nice, but you need to know if your product will displace competition, not just whether people like it. ANSWER THE BIG QUESTION: Will they "give up what they are doing today" to get your new idea.

To answer this question, respondents then rate the idea on several other dimensions plus recommendation. Now you have a Benchmarked normative concept test and can identify who and how many are ACCEPTORS or BORDERLINE or INDIFFERENT or REJECTORS of your Brand, Ad, Product, Program or New Idea.

What is an Acceptor?
3. A Linescale Acceptor has true commitment more so than traditional "intention to buy" ratings.

An Acceptor truly prefers your idea to what they use today. An Acceptor will choose your brand in place of what they do today IF it is available and marketed effectively. Our proprietary algorithm validated over decades with thousands of tests and post market analysis, determines acceptance based on:

  • First impression, System 1 thinking (Thinking, Fast)
  • Then, after second exposure, System 2 thinking (Thinking, Slow)
  • And, how Acceptor rates how believable, distinctive, relevant and would recommend to others
What will you learn?
  • HOW MANY are Acceptors
  • WHO they are
  • WHAT their favorite currently is
  • WHERE your volume will come from, what brands will you displace
  • WHY they prefer you to their favorite
  • and, WHAT is driving rejection
  • WHAT will it take to turn Borderlines into Acceptors.
Deep Engagement

Each person sees their score agrees or disagrees with it - most agree. Agreement builds commitment. When we ask "WHY this rating?", because engaged, they tell us QUALITATIVELY what was salient, important. Then quantify their reasons by choosing five key factors from a list of positive and negative reasons. Driver Analysis lets us contrast Acceptor reasons with Rejectors or Borderlines reasons to QUANTITATIVELY show what's great about your idea, what's weaker, and what needs to change to turn Borderlines to Acceptors. Next steps become clear.

Our clients include...

Let us show you...

Talk with Larry 212.557.5788

Dan's our CTO and Chief Wizard