Consumer Psychology Quiz

Chapter 4: Consumer Behaviour

• This chapter focuses on consumer behaviour, exploring the steps in the consumer buying decision process, factors influencing consumer behaviour, and the impact of involvement on consumer decisions.
• Consumer behaviour is crucial for successful marketing strategies, as firms need to understand consumer needs to effectively market their products or services.
• A key principle is that firms should listen to and learn from their customers to improve their products and services. Customer feedback is critical.
• The consumer buying decision process involves several sequential steps: need recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and postpurchase.

Learning Objectives

• LO1: Describe the steps in the consumer buying decision process.
• LO2: Identify factors that determine the time consumers spend researching information before making a purchase.
• LO3: Summarize the influence of psychological, social, and situational factors on consumer buying behaviour.
• LO4: Explain how involvement influences the consumer buying decision process.

The Consumer Decision Process

• The process starts with need recognition, which can be functional (e.g., basic needs) or psychological (e.g., desire for status).
• Next is the information search, where consumers gather information about available product or service options, either internally (from memory) or externally (from external sources).
• This leads to alternative evaluation, during which consumers assess different options and select criteria to make a choice.
• The purchase decision stage involves choosing a specific option.
• Postpurchase evaluations assess satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Key outcomes from this evaluation can be customer satisfaction, postpurchase dissonance (buyer's remorse), customer loyalty, and negative word-of-mouth.

Factors Affecting Consumer Search Processes

• Perceived benefit vs. perceived cost.
• Actual or perceived risk (different types of risks exist and can influence research).
• Locus of control (internal vs. external, affecting research time).
• Time effort is a factor.

Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Decisions

• Psychological factors - motives, attitudes, perceptions, learning, lifestyle.

• Motives: Self-actualization, esteem, love, safety, physiological.

• Attitudes: Evaluations or feelings towards products/services.

  • Attitudes are learned, often long-lasting, but can change.
  • Attitude has components including affective, behavioural, and cognitive.

• Perceptions: Understanding perceptions of the world (influenced by culture and upbringing).

• Learning: Impacts attitudes and perceptions, affected by social experiences.

• Lifestyle: Consumer's overall life choices or patterns.

• Social Factors - family, reference groups, culture

• Family: Influential decision makers and influencers.

• Reference groups: Family, friends, coworkers, famous people. Reference groups provide information, rewards, and influence self-image

• Culture: Shared beliefs, customs, values, and morals influence consumer behavior. Marketers need to adapt to differing cultures in various contexts.

• Situational Factors - Purchase situation, shopping situation, and temporal state, important purchase decisions that frequently influence decisions (e.g., gift-giving situation may differ from a personal situation).

Types of Buying Decisions

• Extended Problem Solving: Consumers devote substantial time and effort to making a decision (e.g., purchasing a car).
• Limited Problem Solving: Consumers spend moderate time and effort (e.g., grocery shopping for milk).
• Impulse Buying: Decisions made spontaneously.
• Habitual Decision Making: Consumers make little to no effort (e.g., buying toothpaste routinely).

Alternative Evaluation: Decision Rules

• Compensatory: Weighing various product attributes (like price and quality).
• Non-compensatory: Focusing on key features or attributes, ignoring tradeoffs (like deciding simply based on price in a compensatory situation).
• Decision Heuristics: Mental shortcuts that help make purchasing decisions simpler. (includes decisions based on price, brand, or product presentation).

Key Takeaways

• Understanding consumer behaviour is fundamental to successful marketing.
• Consumers have specific factors that determine buying decisions, some psychological, some social, and some situational. -These factors interact, influencing how we evaluate products and services.