By Jacob Holst Mouritzen, Partner, Holst Mouritzen – part of Obsidian
Most brand trackers ask whether people know the brand. Far fewer ask whether people think of the brand when they actually need what you sell. That difference is the core of working with Category Entry Points – and of measuring mental market share.
This article explains what Category Entry Points are, how you find them, and how the three central metrics – mental penetration, number of connections and mental market share – are calculated. If you want the broader introduction first, read our guide What is a brand tracker?
Knowing a brand vs. thinking of it when the need arises
Awareness tells you whether people recognise you. But buying decisions start with a need, not with a brand. Someone is hungry on the way home, needs a gift by Friday or has to replace a broken laptop. In that moment, a small set of brands comes to mind – and the rest are effectively invisible, no matter how well known they are.
That is why it pays to measure the link between your brand and the concrete situations where the category is bought. A brand that is linked to more of those situations, by more buyers, has more chances to be chosen.
What a Category Entry Point is
A Category Entry Point (CEP) is a need or situation that can make people think of a category and its brands. A good CEP contains a need, a time and a reason to buy.
An illustrative example from groceries: "I need to find something easy for dinner on the way home."
The question to the market is then: which stores do you associate with that situation? We examine whether your brand comes into play, and how it stands against the alternatives.
CEPs describe the buyer's situation – not the brand's features. "Has a wide range" is a brand attribute. "When I need to shop for the whole week in one trip" is a buying situation.
How to find and qualify your CEPs
The relevant situations are not invented in a workshop. We find them through analysis and qualify them with the market:
- Collect candidates: from existing research, customer service, search behaviour, reviews and interviews with buyers.
- Describe them in the buyer's language: each CEP should be a situation a real buyer would recognise.
- Cover the breadth of the category: include both frequent and less frequent situations, and both those where you are strong and those where you are not.
- Qualify with the market: test which situations are actually relevant for the category's buyers before they become part of the fixed tracker.
The list then becomes part of the stable core of the tracker, so development can be compared over time.
Aided associations or spontaneous recall
How the question is asked determines what you measure. If you show respondents a list of brands for each situation, you measure aided associations. If you ask without a list, you measure spontaneous recall.
Spontaneous recall is a tougher test and closer to the real moment of choice, but it gives fewer responses per brand. Aided associations give a fuller picture of the network of links. Neither is "right" – but the method must be chosen and described, so the results are read correctly.
The three metrics, with an illustrative example
The calculation below uses fictional figures and is only meant to show the logic.
Illustrative example with fictional data: 10 category buyers are asked which brands they associate with a set of buying situations. 4 of them link your brand to at least one situation. In total those 4 buyers make 10 links to your brand. Across all measured brands there are 40 links.
- Mental penetration – how many? The share of category buyers who link you to at least one of the measured buying situations. In the example: 4 of 10 = 40%.
- Number of connections – how broad? Among buyers with at least one link, how many of the measured situations do they connect you with? In the example: 10 links / 4 buyers = 2.5 on average.
- Mental market share – how strong, relatively? Your share of all measured links between brands and buying situations. In the example: 10 / 40 = 25%.
Together the three metrics show whether a brand's mental position comes from many buyers with a few links each, or a few buyers with many – which leads to quite different strategic tasks.
Why mental market share is not sales share
Mental market share depends on which situations and brands you measure. Change the list and the number changes. It is therefore not the same as your share of sales, and it should not be reported as if it were.
The useful question is how the two relate. If more buyers link you to the relevant situations but customer acquisition stands still, something else is blocking the purchase – typically distribution, availability, price or other barriers. If sales are stronger than your mental position, growth may rest on factors other than the brand. Either way, the tracker should be read together with sales and customer data, and when the question is what an activity actually caused, with methods such as marketing mix modelling.
Memory is one part of the full picture
CEPs measure memory: when are you thought of? But a brand can be remembered and still not be chosen. A complete brand tracker therefore combines several perspectives:
- Evoke (memory): awareness and links to buying situations.
- Evaluate: what speaks for and against you, and which barriers buyers experience.
- Identify: whether your colours, symbols and other distinctive assets are recognised and linked to you – useful input for your creative strategy.
- Advocate: what buyers hear about you, and their own experiences.
From metric to decision
The point of measuring CEPs is to support choices. Typical decisions the metrics can inform:
- Which situations to prioritise: where you have a realistic chance of growing, given competitors' positions.
- What communication should link the brand to: the prioritised situations, consistently over time.
- Who to reach: if mental penetration is low, the task is usually to reach more of the category's buyers – not to tell existing fans more.
- Where to look when things stall: at distribution and buying barriers when memory improves but sales do not.
The metrics only work when the situations are tied to the strategy. That is why the tracker design starts with the growth task and the strategic choices – see our work with digital strategy and strategic planning. In B2B, the same logic applies, but defining who buys and decides matters even more – read about B2B marketing.
Learn more about Category Entry Points
Jacob Holst Mouritzen discusses the method in the Danish podcast episodes "En ny tilgang til brandmåling" (a new approach to brand tracking) and "Tre års læring med Category Entry Points" (three years of learning with Category Entry Points), covering experiences with using buying situations for analysis, positioning and brand tracking.
Talk to us about CEPs in your tracker
Holst Mouritzen – part of Obsidian – has more than 10 years of experience with brand tracking across markets, and can add CEPs to a new tracker or review an existing design. Our dedicated brand tracker site is in Danish, so the easiest way in is to contact us and ask for Jacob Holst Mouritzen as your expert.
FAQ about Category Entry Points
What are Category Entry Points?
Category Entry Points are the needs and situations that make people think of a category and its brands – for example a specific time, occasion or problem that triggers a purchase.
How many CEPs should we measure?
Enough to cover the breadth of situations where the category is bought, but not so many that the survey becomes too long. The list should be found through analysis and qualified with the market.
What is the difference between mental penetration and mental market share?
Mental penetration is the share of category buyers who link you to at least one situation. Mental market share is your share of all measured links between brands and situations.
Is mental market share the same as market share?
No. It depends on which situations and brands are measured and is not the same as your share of sales. Read it together with sales and customer data.
Aided associations or spontaneous recall – which should we use?
Both have a role. Aided associations show the fuller network of links; spontaneous recall is a tougher test. Choose deliberately and describe the method.
Can we add CEPs to our existing brand tracker?
Often, yes. An existing design can be reviewed and CEP questions added as a module, also when the data comes from your current research partner.
