We have all seen ladder, as the ladder has many steps using which we climb up in the same way in case of marketing there is brand laddering using which companies climb up in the minds of the consumers and thus achieving its target of good sales along with customer satisfaction. Brand laddering has three levels or ladders first level or ladder is attributes which refer to physical features of the product, the next ladder is the functional benefit which refers to customer benefitting from the various functions of the product and the third ladder is emotional benefits which consumer experience due to regular use of the product. In order to understand this concept in a better way, one should look at some of the examples of brand laddering –
Brand Laddering Example
Cars
In the case of cars, the first ladder that is the attributes are the various features of cars like its engine, interiors, braking system, seat belts, infotainment system and so on while the second ladder is the satisfaction of the consumer from using the various features of the car such as listening to music system when going for a long drive or getting saved in case of accidents due to seat belts and airbags. The last ladder is the emotional attachment as when one goes out to celebrate anniversary or birthdays or meet relatives then they go by car which in turn leads to the car giving many memories to the owner of the car.
Restaurants
When one goes to restaurants to eat food than the first ladder as far as the restaurant is concerned is the set up of restaurants, the general environment of the restaurant, and service of the staff while the second ladder is the food quality and satisfaction from eating food in the restaurant and the last ladder that is emotional attachment is when the customer feels good after having lunch or dinner and writing positive reviews on social media as well as saying good things about the restaurant to friends and family members.
Laptop
In the case of laptops the first ladder is the various features of the laptop as the hard disk space, memory of laptop, display factor, keyboard, battery backup, and so on while the second ladder is how well the laptop performs when the customer uses the laptop, hence if laptop boots quickly, the battery runs for 10 to 12 hours, there is no lag when a customer plays games or do programming than the consumer will be happy. Besides on laptops, you save your pictures, videos, and even passwords which results in one getting emotionally attached to the laptop.
Banking
In the case of banks, the first ladder is the products offer by banks whether its deposit products or loan products, or digital banking while the second ladder is when the customer makes a fixed deposit or take a loan for the education of their children or do internet banking transactions and last ladder of emotional benefit is the satisfaction of the customer when the fixed deposit mature and give good returns or when the children for whom the loan was taken becomes successful in their professional life or when the customer can pay all bills and do transactions from the comfort of their home doing online banking.
Clothes
In the case of clothes, the first ladder is the color of cloth, its texture, and quality of cloth while the second ladder is how the cloth looks, as well as fits on the person wearing the clothes, and the last ladder, is the emotional attachment with the clothes which is the case with clothes which are purchased for a special occasion like marriages where both groom and bride keep their wedding clothes with them for a very long period of time.
As one can see from the above example that brand laddering is present everywhere and that is the reason why companies should pay attention to this aspect of the marketing of the product.