Tier Lists in Digital Marketing: What They Are and How to Use Them

A tier list is a ranking method that organizes different elements of the same theme or related topics hierarchically according to the criteria set by the creator.

Although the origin of tier lists comes from a very different sector than marketing, professionals in this area can utilize this resource in their work to great effect. Want to know how? In this article, we explain and recommend how to correctly create a tier list.

History and Evolution of Tier Lists

Tier lists originated in the world of video games. They were, and still are, used to rank characters and other game elements based on their power, with the most powerful at the top.

Tier lists gained popularity around 2015/2016 thanks to Twitch, where content creators made their game lists live while the audience watched the process. This practice continues and is also common on YouTube, where the creation of these lists became popular a bit later, around 2018/2019.

Gradually, this resource has become widespread and is now commonly used not just among gamers but also as an entertainment tool for ranking series and movies, sports teams, or games, with favorites at the top and least favorites at the bottom.

Moreover, this resource has reached more professional realms, being used by teams in various fields, including marketing, due to its utility in visually organizing different elements hierarchically at a glance.

Because of this wide range of uses, tier lists can be very diverse, adapting to the user's purpose. In this image, you can see the appearance of an original tier list, where there is a letter-based ranking. S symbolizes "the best" and F "the worst."

It's important to note that tier lists are subjective, and the result can vary depending on who makes it. This resource does not aim to be a detailed or exact analysis of a topic but rather a useful classification (or simple entertainment) for the person creating it.

How to Create an Effective Tier List

1. First, you need to be clear about what you want to classify. The great thing about tier lists, among other things, is that they can adapt to countless themes. Let's say you want to rank different dishes of Spanish cuisine.
2. Establish the classification criteria, meaning what aspect you'll focus on to order them in the list. Continuing with the example, you might consider your personal taste and how delicious the dish is.
3. Next, choose the ranking levels. You can opt for the classic letter system from S to F, but you can also create your own system where you name each level as you wish and adjust the number of levels to your needs.
4. Then, it's important to have a complete collection of all the elements you want to classify. This is a crucial point because during the ranking process, you'll need to compare all the elements with each other to place them in the right spot. For this, if necessary, gather the information needed to make the classification correctly.
   Additionally, all the elements you will classify should be represented with an image placed at the bottom of the table. This way, the different images should be disordered below the empty tier list, waiting to be classified in their respective places.
5. Now it's time to proceed with the classification of the different elements. As mentioned, tier lists are usually subjective, but depending on the field they are used in and their purpose, they can also be more or less objective, involving data and percentages.
6. Once you have classified all the elements, it's time to conduct a final review to ensure all elements are in the desired place. Of course, you can also make changes during the classification process if you think an element is not in the right spot.
7. If the tier list has a professional nature, it's advisable to justify at the bottom of the table how you made the classification and what criteria you based it on. This way, colleagues can understand it.

Periodically, you can update your tier list and make modifications, such as changing the positions of elements or including new ones.

Tools and Resources to Create a Tier List

You can create your own tier list manually (physically or digitally), but there are also various tools designed for this purpose that can help speed up the process and achieve a more optimal result. Here are some of the most interesting and useful ones to help you choose the one that best suits your needs and preferences.

Tier Maker

This tool is aimed at entertainment tier lists. You can create your own online tier lists or complete those proposed by other users.

At the end, the platform allows you to download the tier list or share it with the people you want.

There are tier lists available on a vast range of topics, from actors and actresses, anime, and food to history, sports, and memes.

Canva

The design tool Canva also offers various templates to help you create your own tier list, as well as tools to design it from scratch.

Source: canva.com

If you're looking to make more professional tier lists for work purposes, this is undoubtedly the tool I recommend. With Canva, you can give your tier list the design you want to match your brand image. It also allows you to create collaborative tier lists in real-time so any team member can participate. And the best part is you can do it completely free.

Miro

Miro is a tool that helps you visually and graphically express different concepts and data. It's a platform specifically designed for businesses and also features a tier list creation functionality.

Source: miro.com

Like Canva, we recommend it if you're looking to create professional tier lists. It has the disadvantage of offering less design customization compared to Canva, but it also includes templates and various tools.

Like the previous tool, it allows for creating collaborative lists and sharing them with the team.

Practical Applications of Tier Lists in Digital Marketing

In the digital marketing sector, tier lists can also be a very interesting resource. For example, they are a very useful tool for visually identifying our company's most direct competitors, the marketing tools that need to be urgently implemented in the company, the most useful marketing strategies for the organization, or ranking different buyer personas based on their importance. The possibilities are numerous, and you can create a tier list for any topic where you need to organize ideas. This allows you to see more clearly the different elements at play to make better decisions.

At Cyberclick, for example, we created our own tier list to rank the different marketing strategies based on:

• Effectiveness (the results obtained)
• Universality (if they can be used by a wide variety of sectors)
• Popularity (if they are trending or fading)

Considering all these factors, we used the traditional tier list classification to order the different strategies. Here we share the final result of our classification for you to use if you want. It can be useful for choosing which strategy might be more interesting to implement in your company or for prioritizing some over others.