Marketing-mix coherence: measuring the interactions that expose value.
Evidence status
What was reproduced, and what it does not prove.
The fixture and the Python run verify adjusted scores, priorities, blockers, index and thresholds of the educational diagnostic. They verify neither an observed coherence nor marketing performance.
- Technical specification of the non-compensatory diagnostic, specification in French (opens in a new tab)
v1, 31 August 2026 · CC BY 4.0 · specification in French · Method document written by marketing-mix.net. The figures are illustrative: they are not market measurements.
Key distinctions
Three conditions before calculating.
Interfaces rather than pillars
An offer, a price or a channel can each look correct separately and fail together. The diagnostic therefore bears on pairs or chains of decisions, with observable evidence for every link.
Economic exposure
An inconsistency confined to a small segment is not handled like a contradiction affecting the majority of the contribution. The score must be weighted by a documented economic base.
No compensation
A high average does not neutralise an undelivered promise, a negative margin or a channel conflict. Some interfaces must keep a blocking status independent of the overall score.
Method
Moving from perceived contradiction to prioritised risk
- 01List the promises and rules
Document benefit, net price, service level, availability, message, promotional policy and capacity as genuinely applied on one and the same unit.
- 02Build the interactions
Assess at minimum product-price, price-channel, channel-service, communication-price, communication-capacity and product-target, each with explicit evidence and threshold.
- 03Compute the exposure
Multiply the relative shortfall by the contribution or revenue at risk; use a range when the economic effect is not causally identified.
- 04Test the correction
Compare changing the product, the price, the channel or the promise; the correction retained minimises cost, delay and the risk of displacing the problem elsewhere.
The interaction × exposure matrix
The coherence score is combined with the amount of contribution at stake. The critical zone is not necessarily the one with the worst raw score.
- Exposed base
- €400k
- Prioritised risk
- €232k
- Exposed base
- €70k
- Prioritised risk
- €45.5k
- Exposed base
- €210k
- Prioritised risk
- €75.6k
- Exposed base
- €180k
- Prioritised risk
- €39.6k
- Exposed base
- €120k
- Prioritised risk
- €20.4k
- Exposed base
- €260k
- Prioritised risk
- €36.4k
An average score of 82 hides €232k of exposed contribution
The four mix families score between 78 and 88. Yet the product-price interaction reaches only 42 out of 100 and concerns €400k of annual contribution.
Prioritised exposure = (100 − 42) ÷ 100 × €400k = €232k. A channel-service interaction scored 35 but limited to €70k exposes only €45.5k under the same rule.
The product-price correction comes before the channel-service work despite a less bad raw score, subject to checking that the exposure is genuinely attributable to the inconsistency.
Acceptance conditions
What must be true to act.
- 01
Every interaction links two observable decisions on the same unit.
- 02
Exposed amounts use contribution or avoidable cost, not revenue alone.
- 03
Compliance, deliverability and margin blockers remain non-compensable.
- 04
The correction is tested on adjacent interfaces before rollout.
Limits
What this analysis does not prove.
- The score structures the diagnostic but does not demonstrate that the inconsistency causes the loss observed.
- The weightings reflect decision priorities and must be revised when the economics change.
- Strong coherence can lock in a positioning that has become unattractive; coherence and relevance are two different questions.
References
Works cited.
- Milgrom, P. & Roberts, J. (1990), “The Economics of Modern Manufacturing”, American Economic Review.
- Porter, M. E. (1996), “What Is Strategy?”, Harvard Business Review.
- Siggelkow, N. (2001), “Change in the Presence of Fit”, Academy of Management Journal.