London, 23 April 2026
Conveo, the enterprise AI research platform, today announced Conveo MaxDiff: the first MaxDiff methodology to combine preference ranking with AI-moderated qualitative probing in a single study. For the first time in the 40-year history of MaxDiff, enterprise research teams can understand not just what consumers prefer, but why.
MaxDiff (Maximum Difference Scaling) has been a cornerstone of quantitative consumer research since the 1980s. Used by research teams across CPG, financial services, and technology to rank consumer preferences with statistical precision, it has always carried the same limitation: it tells you which option wins, but not the reasoning behind the choice. Researchers who needed the "why" had to commission a separate qualitative study, adding weeks, cost, and coordination to an already complex process.
Conveo MaxDiff changes this. After completing the standard preference ranking, participants are invited to explain their choices on video. The result is a single study that delivers both quantitative preference data and qualitative reasoning, integrated in one set of results.
The capability was conceived and championed by Charles Allison, Conveo's Insights Lead. Allison has been in the insights industry for 15 years, most recently as a client-side researcher at Sky, Starbucks, and Instacart before joining Conveo specifically to shape its product roadmap from the inside. Conveo MaxDiff was the first idea he brought to the team.
"MaxDiff has been behind some of the most impactful work of my career, I love it!" said Allison. "But I always walked away with half the answer. You get the ranking, and then you spend weeks trying to understand it. Now, you get the full picture. We're a team of researchers building for researchers. Closing that gap was the whole point."
"MaxDiff has been telling researchers what people prefer for 40 years," said Dieter De Mesmaeker, CEO of Conveo. "It has never told them why. That bothered us. So we built it."
Early access customers responded with immediate enthusiasm. "That's like fairy dust," said one lead researcher at a Mag 7 technology company. "I can already think of so many use cases."
About Conveo
Conveo is the enterprise AI research platform that turns qualitative research into reusable understanding. Used by leading brands including Unilever, ASICS, and Canva, Conveo helps enterprise research teams run studies faster while building a compounding knowledge base across every project. From first interview to strategic decision, Conveo makes every insight count.
