Traditionally, consumer preference is modeled in terms of preference for the aesthetic and functional features of a product. This paper introduces a new means to model consumer preference that allows for the experience of and interaction with a product to account for not only for how a product looks and functions, but also how it feels to use it. Traditional conjoint-based approaches to preference modeling require a user to judge preference for a product based upon a 2D product representation or a feature list. While the aesthetic forms and functional features of a product are certainty important, the decision to buy or not to buy a product often depends on more, namely the experience or feel of use. We introduce the concept of experiential conjoint analysis, a method to mathematically capture preference for a product through experience-based preference judgments. Experience-based preference judgments are made based upon the use, or simulated use, of a product. For many products, creating enough physical prototypes to generate a preference model is cost prohibitive. In this work, virtual reality technologies are used to allow the subjects an interactive, immersive, and realistic product experience, provided at little investment. The results of this work show not only that preference judgments of the interaction of a 3D virtual product representation can be used to generate accurate preference models, but that non-experiential judgments of the same product's 2D forms lead to the generation of different preference models. Further, the virtual reality experience is found to provide an advantage in the form of confidence, information, and/or realism. Such experiential-based preference models provide previously unavailable design insight with which to inform the design generation process.
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