For decades, marketers have embraced the concept of a “consideration set”—a supposedly stable group of brands that consumers weigh before making a purchase. This idea aligns neatly with the traditional marketing funnel: awareness leads to consideration, which leads to purchase.
It’s a tidy, linear model, and like many tidy models, it fails to reflect reality.
The problem? There is no single consideration set.
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Contextual Brand Choices
Human decision-making doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Instead, it is deeply shaped by context. Take wine, for example:
- For a casual dinner, you might consider affordable, widely available brands.
- For a romantic evening, your preferences shift to something more refined.
- For a party gift, your focus turns to well-known or prestigious labels.
These contexts radically reshape which brands come to mind. There is no static, universal “wine consideration set” stored in your memory, and asking consumers to identify one in a survey ignores the dynamic nature of their choices.
Cognitive Inefficiency
Why don’t we hold a universal set of brands in memory for every occasion? Simply put, it’s inefficient. Consider the Australian wine market:
- 2,213 wine producers
- 65 distinct wine regions
- 150+ varietals
Attempting to sort through these options for every wine-buying decision is cognitively impossible. Instead, the human brain adapts to specific contexts, retrieving just a few brands relevant to the immediate situation.
Imagine needing coffee on your way to work. Would you sift through thousands of beverage brands? Of course not. The brands you consider are shaped by your need (caffeine), your environment (a café nearby), and even your previous experiences.
Flaws In Survey-Based Metrics
Surveys often ask a deceptively simple question: “Which brands would you consider?” Yet, this question assumes:
- A static consideration set.
- That consumers consciously retrieve brands in a naturalistic way during a survey.
In practice, consumer responses are highly situational, heavily primed by how the question is framed, and often fail to represent real-world decision-making. For instance, you may list a luxury car brand in a survey because it feels aspirational, even if you’d never seriously consider it when actually buying a car.
Source: Attest Brand Perception Survey Example
Evidence Against The Static Consideration Set
Research consistently undermines the idea of a singular, stable consideration set:
- A study on automobile purchases found that 22% of buyers considered only one brand, with prior ownership being a key determinant.
- Another analysis in financial services revealed an average consideration set size of just 1.4 brands.
- Analysis of over 100,000 consumers searching for LED TVs showed consideration set size of 3.19
When decisions are highly contextual, the size and composition of consideration sets vary wildly—sometimes they don’t exist at all.
Source: Visualizing Asymmetric Competition Among More Than 1,000 Products Using Big Search Data
The Rise Of Category Entry Points (CEPs)
If traditional consideration metrics are flawed, what’s the alternative? Enter Category Entry Points (CEPs).
CEPs are the mental cues that link consumer needs or contexts to brands. Rather than assuming consumers start with a predefined list of brands, CEPs recognize that consumers begin with situations or desires:
- Need: “I want something healthy.”
- Context: “It’s a cold evening.”
- Mood: “I want to treat myself.”
By focusing on these cues, marketers can better understand and influence how consumers approach purchase decisions.
Real-World Applications
CEPs allow brands to find new opportunities by expanding into adjacent contexts. Consider the case of the Aperol Spritz:
- Historically positioned as a summer drink, the brand identified a gap in winter occasions.
- By launching campaigns around après-ski moments, Aperol reframed itself as a year-round beverage.
- Result: a 9.6% volume increase in 2023, driven by penetrating new mental and social contexts.
Rethinking Brand Metrics
Using consideration as your primary metric risks oversimplifying consumer behavior and underestimating the fluidity of brand choice. Instead, CEPs provide a more actionable framework:
- Measure relevance across different contexts.
- Identify gaps where your brand isn’t currently evoked.
- Build campaigns tailored to situational needs rather than static demographics.
The End of Consideration
The traditional consideration set is an outdated relic. Brands must adapt to a world where context—not static loyalty—shapes consumer choice.
- There is no one-size-fits-all consideration set.
- CEPs offer a better lens for understanding and influencing purchase behavior.
If your brand strategy is still anchored in outdated consideration metrics, it’s time to rethink your approach.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Matthew Daniell, Founder, Memorised.ai
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education
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