Quick answer
Brand consideration is the percentage of a defined audience that would seriously include a brand among future options. Brand preference is the percentage that selects the brand as first choice or ranks it above alternatives. Consideration is usually multi-select; preference usually forces a ranking or single choice. Report both across all qualified respondents and, where useful, conversion among aware or considering respondents. Keep those denominators visible. The metrics diagnose memory, relevance and comparative appeal, but stated preference does not guarantee purchase because price, availability, context, habit and changing information can alter real choice.
What are brand consideration and preference?
Brand consideration measures whether a brand enters the set of options a buyer would seriously evaluate for a defined decision. Kantar describes consideration as whether a brand is in the consumer's shortlist. The measure sits between knowing a brand and choosing it, but real journeys do not always follow a neat linear funnel.
Brand preference measures relative stated appeal. A researcher may ask for one first-choice brand, a ranking, a rating versus competitors or a choice under a scenario. The result depends on what alternatives and conditions are supplied, so preference is not a context-free property stored permanently inside a person.
The two metrics answer different questions. A brand can be considered alongside several credible options but not lead the ranking. It can also be preferred in principle yet unavailable, unaffordable or unsuitable in the actual situation.
Why consideration sets matter
Buyers rarely evaluate every available brand with equal depth. Consideration-set research models a smaller set that receives serious evaluation before choice. Hauser and Wernerfelt separated the decision to evaluate a brand, the decision to include it in consideration and the later decision to consume.
Memory affects entry into that set. Nedungadi's experiments showed that changing brand accessibility can affect retrieval, consideration and choice without necessarily changing brand evaluation. A favorable brand that is not retrieved at the relevant moment can lose before a detailed comparison occurs.
Consideration and preference therefore connect memory with evaluation. Awareness supplies possible access; associations, perceived relevance and proof can support shortlisting; comparative benefits and trade-offs can shape preference. Distribution, price and situational constraints still influence the final purchase.
Distinguish awareness, consideration, preference and intent
Awareness asks whether the brand can be recalled or recognized. Consideration asks whether it is a serious option. Preference asks whether it leads relative to alternatives under stated conditions. Purchase intent asks how likely the person claims they are to buy, while actual purchase records behaviour under market conditions.
Do not use the labels interchangeably. Someone may recognize a brand but reject it immediately, consider it without ranking it first, prefer it while postponing the category purchase, or buy another brand because the preferred one is unavailable. Each transition involves a different possible barrier.
In habitual or low-involvement categories, people may not report conscious shortlists even though memory and availability affect choice. In B2B, consideration can exist at account level while users, technical evaluators and economic buyers hold different preferences. Design the measure around the actual decision system.
How to calculate and report the metrics
Overall consideration equals qualified respondents selecting the brand as a serious option divided by all qualified respondents asked. Overall preference equals respondents selecting the brand as first choice divided by the defined question base. Report percentages, base sizes, question wording and uncertainty.
Conditional conversion can aid diagnosis. Aware-to-consider conversion divides considerers by people aware of the brand. Consider-to-prefer conversion divides first-choice respondents by considerers. These rates can look strong for a small brand with limited awareness, so always show the overall market-level metric beside them.
Check whether the data is truly nested. Some surveys ask preference of everyone, and a respondent may choose a brand as preferred despite failing an earlier awareness item. Do not silently force inconsistent answers into a perfect funnel. Review questionnaire logic, data quality and the theory behind any recoding.
Define the decision
Specify the category, audience, occasion, time horizon and conditions the question represents.
- Which future choice is in scope?
- Who is genuinely eligible to choose?
Measure consideration
Ask which brands would seriously enter the respondent's shortlist, normally allowing several choices.
- Is this a genuine option?
- Was the brand recalled or prompted?
Measure preference
Ask for first choice or rank under a clearly defined and realistic comparison.
- Preferred under which conditions?
- Is none a valid answer?
Diagnose the gaps
Compare overall levels and conditional conversions without turning a descriptive funnel into assumed causality.
- Where is the largest credible drop?
- Which mechanism could explain it?
Validate and act
Test the suspected mechanism with qualitative research, behaviour and controlled experiments.
- Does stated preference predict action?
- Did the intervention cause movement?
Design consideration and preference questions
Define the audience and horizon first. A useful question might ask likely buyers which backpack brands they would seriously consider the next time they buy. A subscription service, capital purchase and routine grocery item require different horizons and eligibility rules.
Measure unaided consideration before presenting a list if spontaneous shortlisting matters. For aided consideration, randomize a relevant set, use equal presentation and allow multiple selections. Include none, another brand or do not know where those are genuine states. An incomplete competitive list can inflate the focal brand.
For preference, state the comparison conditions. First choice if all were equally available tests brand predisposition under a simplified scenario; first choice at today's prices tests a different proposition. Ranking, maximum-difference or discrete-choice methods can reveal trade-offs, but their design and analysis require more care than a single tracker item.
Brand consideration and preference example
Mendway's hypothetical funnel shows why overall and conditional metrics belong together. Half of aware respondents consider the brand, yet only one fifth of the whole qualified market does. Improving conversion among aware buyers cannot fully substitute for broader mental availability.
A hypothetical repairable-backpack brand, Mendway, measures likely backpack buyers using stable questions and an illustrative base of all qualified respondents. The percentages are teaching examples, not market benchmarks.
Forty percent recognize Mendway when prompted. This means the brand has a chance to be evaluated by part of the market, not that all aware respondents understand its repair system.
Twenty percent of all qualified respondents include Mendway among brands they would seriously consider. That is 50 percent of the aided-aware group in this simplified illustration.
Eight percent of all qualified respondents select Mendway as first choice under the stated comparison. That equals 40 percent of considerers, assuming the same eligible base and clean nesting.
Interviews find that many considerers like the repair promise but cannot verify future parts availability and compare Mendway with lighter conventional bags. These are hypothetical findings to test, not explanations derived from the percentages.
The team tests visible parts inventory, repair demonstrations and a clearer weight comparison. It tracks overall and conditional rates, plus product-page behaviour and purchases, without claiming that survey preference alone forecasts sales.
The arithmetic is deliberately simple. Real surveys can contain non-nested answers, missing data and different question bases, so analysts must publish exactly who was asked each question.
Diagnose the largest meaningful gap
High awareness with low consideration can indicate weak relevance, unclear category fit, unsuitable associations, low trust or a poor value proposition. It can also reflect an overly broad awareness audience. Use interviews, open responses and association measures before deciding that messaging is the cause.
Healthy consideration with weak preference suggests the brand is credible but not leading the comparison. Investigate perceived performance, price, proof, design, risk and the alternatives winning first choice. Preference may vary by occasion, so analyze priority buying situations rather than average every decision together.
High preference with weak purchase points toward availability, channel, stock, sales execution, approval, switching cost or a gap between stated and revealed behaviour. These are hypotheses. Connect survey respondents to permitted behavioural data, conduct win-loss research or run controlled tests before assigning a remedy.
Low overall consideration with strong aware-to-consider conversion often means that limited awareness constrains scale. Pair the diagnosis with aided and unaided awareness, brand salience and physical availability rather than pressuring the small aware group harder.
Track the funnel without hiding the denominator
A useful dashboard shows overall awareness, consideration and preference for the same qualified market, then selected conditional conversions. Include competitor levels, sample bases, confidence intervals and trend breaks. A conversion percentage without its upstream size can encourage the wrong investment.
Cut results by priority segment, buying situation, buyer role, current usage and acquisition state only when sample sizes support the comparison. A high preference score among current customers answers a different question from preference among noncustomers likely to enter the category.
- Category and future decision defined
- Qualified audience and purchase horizon specified
- Awareness, consideration and preference kept distinct
- Unaided questions placed before prompted lists
- Competitor options relevant and randomized
- Multiple responses allowed for consideration
- Preference conditions stated clearly
- None and uncertainty captured where valid
- Question base shown for every percentage
- Overall and conditional rates reported together
- Sampling uncertainty and trend breaks visible
- Survey findings triangulated with behaviour
Validate movement and marketing impact
Repeatable tracking can show whether consideration or preference changed, but correlation with a campaign does not prove the campaign caused it. Other media, product news, price, distribution and competitor activity may move at the same time.
Controlled lift studies strengthen campaign attribution. Google Brand Lift compares positive survey responses among eligible exposed and baseline groups and can measure consideration as well as awareness. Report the experimental population and uncertainty, and do not generalize one platform's lift to the entire brand without support.
Validate stated metrics against observed steps such as branded search, qualified site behaviour, product comparison, leads, trials, wins and purchases. Behaviour can also be biased by access and promotion, so use it to triangulate rather than declare the survey invalid whenever the two differ.
Limits and common misuses
Consideration and preference are sensitive to list composition, order, question wording and imagined conditions. Adding a competitor, changing price assumptions or moving from general category language to a specific occasion can alter results without any underlying brand change.
Stated preference is not guaranteed action. People may lack full information, simplify answers, express social desirability or encounter different conditions at purchase. Preference can also evolve with category experience, as buyers learn and alternatives change.
A simple funnel can imply that every buyer moves through the same stages in order. Real choices can begin from habit, availability, recommendation or direct search, and people often buy from repertoires. Use the framework as a diagnostic view, not a universal law of decision making.
Consideration means the brand survives screening. Preference means it leads a stated comparison. Purchase means the market conditions allowed that preference, or another force, to become action.
Frequently asked questions
What is brand consideration?
It is the share of a defined audience that includes the brand among options they would seriously evaluate for a relevant future decision.
What is brand preference?
It is the share that ranks or selects the brand as first choice under clearly stated comparison conditions. The measure is relative to the options and scenario presented.
Is consideration the same as purchase intent?
No. Consideration means the brand is a serious option. Purchase intent estimates a respondent's claimed likelihood of buying, which also depends on category timing and other conditions.
How is aware-to-consider conversion calculated?
Divide respondents who consider the brand by respondents aware of it, using compatible bases. Show overall consideration too, because a strong conversion rate can sit on limited awareness.
Does high brand preference predict sales?
It can be informative, but it is not a sales guarantee. Price, availability, habit, competition, channel friction and the gap between stated and actual behaviour can change purchase.
Sources and further reading
- Kantar: Choosing the Right Metrics for Brand Growth ↗Current brand-tracking definitions connecting awareness, consideration, intent, usage and preference-related measures
- Journal of Consumer Research: Recall and Consumer Consideration Sets ↗Nedungadi's experiments on brand accessibility, retrieval, consideration, evaluation and choice
- Journal of Consumer Research: An Evaluation Cost Model of Consideration Sets ↗Hauser and Wernerfelt on evaluation, consideration and consumption as distinct decisions
- Google Ads Help: About Brand Lift ↗Official exposed-versus-baseline survey methodology for campaign effects on consideration and awareness