Marketing Chp #4

• These study notes cover consumer behavior, the consumer decision process, factors affecting consumer search, alternative evaluation, purchase decisions, post-purchase behavior, factors influencing buying decisions, and involvement in consumer buying decisions.

Consumer Behavior

• Consumer behavior insights drives marketing strategies.
• Firms must grasp consumer needs for effective marketing.
• Listen to customers and use feedback to improve offerings.
• Feedback is essential for continuous product and service enhancement.

The Consumer Decision Process

• The consumer decision process involves need recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior.

Step 1: Need Recognition

• Functional needs arise from product performance requirements.
• Psychological needs involve personal gratification consumers associate with a product or service.

Step 2: Information Search

• Internal search involves recalling information from memory.
• External search involves seeking information from outside sources.

Factors Affecting Consumers' Search Processes

• Consumers assess if the perceived benefits of searching outweigh the perceived costs.
• Locus of control affects search effort; internal leads to more activity, external leads to less.
• Actual or perceived risk influences search processes.

Factors Affecting Consumers' Search Processes: Types of Risk

• Performance risk involves the uncertainty of a product's performance.
• Financial risk is concerned with the monetary outlay, including the initial cost and usage costs.
• Social risk involves the fear of negative perceptions by others.
• Physiological, or safety, risks affect the consumer's health and well-being.
• Psychological risks relate to how consumers feel if the product does not convey the right image.

Step 3: Alternative Evaluation

• Alternative evaluation involves assessing different options.
• Decision heuristics are mental shortcuts that help consumers narrow options.
• Evaluative criteria are the attributes a consumer uses to compare alternatives.
• Determinant attributes are key factors that differentiate choices.

Alternative Evaluation: Decision Rules

• Compensatory decision rules weigh positive features against negative ones.
• Non-compensatory decision rules select a product based on a cutoff point for a feature.
• Price, Brand, and Product Presentation are all examples of decision heuristics.

Step 4: Purchase Decision

• Increase conversion rates by making purchasing easy, ensuring merchandise is in stock and reducing wait times.
• Customers are ready to buy

Purchase and Consumption Strategies

• Increase conversion rate by reducing abandoned carts, merchandising in stock, and reducing actual wait time.
• Reduce real or virtual abandoned carts by making it easy.
• Plenty of product should be on hand

Step 5: Post-purchase

• Post-purchase outcomes include customer satisfaction, dissonance, and loyalty.

Postpurchase Outcomes Explained

• Customer satisfaction occurs when expectations match performance.
• Post-purchase dissonance is buyer's remorse and is prominent with expensive, infrequently purchased items.
• Customer loyalty develops through repeat purchases of the same brand.

Undesirable Consumer Behavior

• Negative word of mouth and rumors can be very damaging to a company's reputation.
• With the internet being an effective tool for spreading negativity, marketers must respond to these issues quickly.

Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Decisions

• Psychological factors involve motives, attitudes, perceptions, and learning.
• Social factors include family, reference groups, and culture.
• Situational factors include purchase situation, shopping situation, and temporal state.

Psychological Factors: Motives

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs includes physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization needs.

Psychological Factors: Attitudes

• Attitudes are evaluations or feelings toward an object or idea.
• Attitudes are learned and long-lasting, can change abruptly, and have affective and behavioral components.

Psychological Factors: Perception

• Perception is influenced by culture, tradition, and overall upbringing.

Psychological Factors: Learning

• Learning affects both consumer attitudes and perceptions.
• Learning is influenced by social experiences.

Social Factors: Family

• Family members influence buying decisions as decision-makers or influencers.

Social Factors: Reference Groups

• Reference groups provide information, rewards, and contribute to self-image.

Social Factors: Culture

• Culture includes shared meanings, beliefs, morals, and customs.
• Marketers must understand cultural differences to effectively market products.

Situational Factors

• Situational factors affecting consumer behavior include purchase situation, shopping situation, and temporal state.

Involvement & Consumer Buying Decisions

• High involvement leads to greater attention and deeper processing.
• Extended problem-solving occurs with high-involvement, risky purchase decisions.
• Impulse buying requires minimal time and effort, habitual decision-making requires the next least
• Store atmospherics are unique images based in part in their internal environment.