The DNA of Behavior, Part 12

What Does Value Mean?

When talking about the five core need categories that have been the subject of this series, people sometimes quiz me about my seemingly synonymous uses of needs and value, as in Identity needs and Identity values (or simply I-Values). So, I thought I might do well to conclude this series on the DNA of behavior with an attempt to clairify the issue.

A need is a deficiency. Value stands for the degree of attraction or aversion a person feels toward a given resolution of the deficiency. When I feel hungry (consciousness of a deficiency) some foods appeal more (have higher value) to me than others. I love apple pie, particularly a slice from one made according to my cinnamon-rich recipe. However, when I’m really hungry, I want a meal ricer in protein. But after having my fill of protein, the value of hot apple pie topped with rich vanilla ice cream escalates.

Value, like love, is a widely used word with uncountable meanings. Ultimately, no objective definition of value is possible because like love, value is fundamentally subjective. The value of something depends on its magnitude of relevance to a person’s interests. A bucket of water can have a greater value to a cotton-mouthed traveler lost in a featureless desert, struggling to stay alive, than a bucket full of diamonds.

Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary defines value in part as:

1. An amount regarded as a suitable equivalent for something else.

2. Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor. The measure of importance of something to meeting a need or desire.

Value can also be defined as:

1. A property that contributes to the attractiveness of something, e.g., a person, idea, service or material good, attractive.

2. A “touchstone” or benchmark against which something’s relevance to a person can be gauged (anything that lacks relevance to a person lacks value to that person).

However you define value, it is critical to understand that consumers do not assess value in the same way that companies do. Consumers’ estimations of value are based on different circumstances, needs and objectives than companies experience.

For instance, the need of companies to achieve certain financial objectives generally inclines them toward assessing value in monetary terms. In contrast, consumers generally have a bias toward assessing value in experiential terms.

The nature of experiences that consumers hope will be facilitated by a product varies enormously across the life span because experiential needs vary according to a person’s level of personal development.

For instance, the minds of younger, less psychologically developed consumers tend to be more materialistically oriented mind and strongly inclined to make social statements with purchases. “Things” are metaphors standing for a person’s accomplishments and potential. A typical young car buyer seeks not only to meet a transportation need, but also a social need: making a statement to others.

Older people who have “been there, done that” are generally less inclined to make social statements in their purchases. Instead, they are generally more pragmatic. Their satisfaction with a purchase depends less on the enthusiastic validation of the purchase by others. Thus, they are likely to value the model vehicle they buy differently than the typical younger consumer – even if it’s the same model vehicle.

Failure in marketing to recognize stage-of-life differences in how people experience their needs and assess the value of solutions is a major deficiency afflicting the profession. It’s cure depends on marketers suspending their own measures of values in order to be able to step into the mind of the typical prospective customer. This is called empathy.