Consumer Behavior Quiz

Consumer Memory Retrieval

• Brand Recall: The ability to remember brands associated with a product category.
• Attribute Recall: Remembering specific features or characteristics of a brand.
• Evaluation Recall: Recalling past judgments or opinions about a brand.
• Experience Recall: Recalling personal experiences or interactions with a brand.
• Consideration Set: A shortlist of brands that a consumer considers for purchase.

Factors Influencing External Search

• Involvement and Perceived Risk: Higher involvement and perceived risk lead to a greater likelihood of conducting external search.
• Perceived Costs and Benefits: Consumers weigh the potential benefits of searching against the costs (time, effort, etc.).
• Relative Brand Uncertainty: Lack of familiarity with brands in a category increases the need for external search.
• Type of Product: Search is more likely for complex or expensive products.
• Attitudes Toward Search: Some consumers enjoy searching while others find it aversive.
• Discrepancy of Information: Conflicting information about a product motivates external search.
• Presence of Others: Seeking information might be influenced by social factors, such as recommendations from family or friends.

Decision Making with High Consumer Effort (Chapter 8)

• Number of Evaluations: The extent of brand consideration varies based on the decision-making process.
  • Extended Problem Solving: Involves evaluating multiple brands and attributes.
  • Limited Problem Solving: May also involve evaluating a few brand alternatives.
  • Habitual Decision Making: Limited or no brand evaluation.
• Evaluative Criteria: Attributes used for comparing choices:
  • Determinant Attributes: Features that influence a consumer's decision.
  • Non-Determinant Attributes: Features that don't significantly impact the decision.
• Compensatory Decision Rules: Allowing a positive attribute to compensate for a negative one.
• Non-Compensatory Decision Rules: Strict criteria where a weakness in one attribute eliminates the option.
  • Lexicographic Rule: Focuses on the most important attribute, with the best scoring brand winning.
  • Conjunctive Rule: Sets minimum standards for each attribute and eliminates brands that fail to meet them.
• Affective Forecasting: Trying to predict future emotions and feelings in response to a decision.

Decision Making with Low Consumer Effort (Chapter 9)

• Performance-Related Tactics: Based on past product experiences (e.g., "I always buy Brand X because it performs well.").
• Brand Loyalty: Committed to a particular brand over time.
• Multi-Brand Loyalty: Switching among a limited set of preferred brands.
• Habit: Choosing a product out of routine and familiarity.
• Price-Related Tactics: Decisions driven by sale prices, discounts, etc.
• Normative Influences: Reflecting social norms and expectations (e.g., choosing a product based on what friends recommend).
• Affect-Related Tactics: Decisions based on emotional responses (e.g., "I love the feeling of this brand.").
• Variety Seeking: Desire for a change or new experience.

Heuristics and Biases

• Heuristic: Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb used for simplifying decision-making.
• Bias: Cognitive distortions that lead to systematic errors in judgment.
• Satisficing: Choosing a "good enough" option rather than striving for the absolute best.
• Availability Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of an event based on its ease of recall (e.g., overestimating the risk of plane crashes because of recent news coverage).
• Representativeness Heuristic: Making judgments based on how closely something resembles a prototype (e.g., assuming someone is a librarian because they are quiet and wear glasses).
• Sunk Cost Effect: Continuing to invest in a failing venture due to past investments (e.g., staying in an uncomfortable movie because you already paid for the ticket).
• Halo Effect: Generalizing positive feelings from one attribute to other unrelated attributes (e.g., assuming a product is high quality because of its attractive packaging).
• Confirmatory Bias: Seeking out information that supports existing beliefs and ignoring evidence that contradicts them.
• Shelf Space Heuristic: Assuming a product's popularity based on its shelf space allocation.
• Scarcity = Desirability Heuristic: Perceiving a product as more desirable when it's scarce (e.g., limited-edition items).
• Brand Name Effect: Relying on brand familiarity as a cue to product quality.
• Price-Quality Heuristic: Assuming higher-priced products are of higher quality.
• Family Influence or Intergenerational Effect: Choices influenced by family traditions or past generations.

More Issues in Decision Making

• Framing Effect: The way a choice is presented influences the decision (e.g., framing an offer as a "gain" is more appealing than framing it as a "loss").
• Evaluation of Individual Events vs. Overall Experiences: Consumers tend to focus more on single events than on the overall experience (e.g., a bad customer service experience can overshadow a positive overall product experience).

Questionnaires & Survey Structure

• Objectives:
  • To collect specific information needed for research.
  • To engage and motivate respondents.
  • To minimize errors in answering questions.
• Determining the Order of Questions:
  • Funnel Approach: Starting with general questions and progressively narrowing the scope (e.g., asking about overall satisfaction before specific details).
  • Logical order: Grouping similar questions together.

Experiments and Experimental Designs

• Experiment Basics:
  • Hypothesis: A statement to be tested.
  • Independent Variable: The factor being manipulated.
  • Dependent Variable: The factor being measured.
  • Experimental Design: The structure of the study.
  • Condition: A specific level of the independent variable.
  • Control Experimental Groups: Groups that don't receive the treatment.
  • Extraneous Variables: Uncontrolled factors that can influence the results.
  • Randomization: Assigning participants randomly to conditions.
• Common Types of Experiments:
  • Laboratory Experiment: Conducted in a controlled environment.
  • Online Experiment: Conducted over the internet.
  • Field Experiment: Conducted in a natural setting.
  • A/B Testing: Comparing two versions of a website or advertisement to see which performs better.

Problem Recognition and Information Search (Chapter 7)

• 5-Step Decision Process:
  1. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a need or opportunity.
  2. Information Search: Gathering data about potential solutions.
  3. Evaluation Of Alternatives: Comparing options.
  4. Purchase Decision: Making a choice.
  5. Post-Purchase: Evaluating the decision and seeking additional information.
• Extended Problem Solving vs. Limited Problem Solving vs. Habitual Decision Making: Refers to the level of effort involved in the decision-making process.
• Problem Recognition (Actual vs. Ideal State): Recognizing a gap between the current state and a desired state.
• Marketers' Role in Problem Recognition:
  • Creating a new ideal state.
  • Encouraging dissatisfaction with the current state.
  • Presenting products as solutions to existing problems.
• Internal vs. External Search:
  • Internal Search: Accessing information stored in memory.
  • External Search: Seeking new information from outside sources.
  • Marketing Implications: Marketers can influence the search process by providing easily accessible information or creating a need for their product.

Marketers' Importance of Post-Purchase Evaluation

• Customer Loyalty: Positive post-purchase experiences lead to repeat purchases and brand loyalty.
• Negative word-of-mouth: Negative experiences can harm a company's reputation.
• Product Development: Feedback from post-purchase evaluations can inform product improvement efforts.