Data-Rich, Insight-Poor: How to Finally Understand Why People Choose You

The Problem:

You have dashboards. Heat maps. Churn reports. Conversion funnels. Demographic breakdowns. Boy-oh-boy, do you have a lot of stuff. And yet you still don't know why people say yes or no. All that data tells you what happened. None of it tells you why. You're data-rich and insight-poor.

For decades, researchers tried to solve this. Early work like Schwartz's Values Theory in the 1990s showed that values could predict consumer behavior, but it was hampered by small sample sizes and limited geographic reach. The study "The usefulness of Schwartz's 'Values Theory' in understanding consumer behaviour towards differentiated products" (Journal of Marketing Management, 2012) acknowledged these limitations while demonstrating that values-based frameworks explain decisions better than product analysis alone. The research pointed the way forward: if you want to know why people choose you, you need statistically powerful values data at scale.

The Hack:

Create a "values hypothesis" for your next project. Write it like this: "Our audience values [X], so we will design messaging and features that give them more [X]."

For example:

  • "Our audience values Independence, so we'll let them customize everything and never force a workflow."

  • "Our audience values Belonging, so we'll build community features first and solo features second."

  • "Our audience values Financial Security, so we'll show cost certainty and transparent pricing upfront."

Then launch and compare results to your last project. Watch what happens. This isn't fuzzy brand strategy. This is structured data about what drives decisions. Valuegraphics turns values into something you can measure, test, and act on.

Use it as:

  • A research lens that explains behavior

  • A marketing engine that predicts resonance

  • A product filter that prioritizes features

  • An AI empathy layer that makes outputs feel human

  • A culture map that aligns teams

Plug a values profile into your systems and things start clicking. AI produces better outputs because it knows what matters most. Teams tell stories that people actually want to hear. Products feel intuitive from day one.

Ready for a statistically reliable values profile instead of another hypothesis? Talk to The Valuegraphics Research Company. We have the only benchmark database in the world built from nearly a million values surveys. We'll show you what matters most to your audience, backed by real data.

Values are the answer. Let’s put them to work.



David Allisonvalues, #valuesthinking, #valuesdriven, data, InsightsComment