PSYC 495 Week 3 Perception PDF

Perception PSYC 495 DR. ERI N SH ANAHAN FAL L 2024  Outline 1. Introduction to the Perceptual Process 2. Exposure 3. Sensation 4. Attention and Interpretation 5. Marketing and Perception 6. Practice!  Relevant Student Questions ◦ What is the impact of visuals in driving consumptions? ◦ Why do cust...

Perception PSYC 495 DR. ERI N SH ANAHAN FAL L 2024  Outline 1. Introduction to the Perceptual Process 2. Exposure 3. Sensation 4. Attention and Interpretation 5. Marketing and Perception 6. Practice!  Relevant Student Questions ◦ What is the impact of visuals in driving consumptions? ◦ Why do customers respond to colours differently? ◦ What is the role of emotions in purchase decisions? ◦ What are subconscious factors in branding that people don't think about?  Perception and Consumer Behaviour ◦ We have limited cognitive resources ◦ Make choices about which perceptual stimuli we will attend to ◦ Can occur deliberately or automatically ◦ Knowing how stimuli are perceived is vital for our understanding of consumer behaviour and integral to developing successful products and effective marketing campaigns  The Perceptual Process ◦ Stimuli: an object or event that elicits a sensory or behavioural response ◦ Sensation: registration of a stimuli by our sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin) ◦ Perception: the process through which information about stimuli in the environment is selected, organized, and interpreted ◦ Can be distorted and is often subjective ◦ “Perception is Reality” The Perceptual Process Exposure Exposure ◦ Need to place the stimulus (e.g., product, brand, package, sign, ad etc.) in the appropriate place for consumers to have access to it ◦ Can be difficult when consumers are simultaneously exposed to many stimuli ◦ Physical positioning is important ◦ Consumer expectation are important in determining what they notice  Selective Exposure ◦ Consumers can limit their exposure to stimuli through selective exposure: the active seeking and avoidance of stimuli ◦ As a consumer, how do you engage in selective exposure? ◦ Children are particularly susceptible to exposure to advertising ◦ What are are some strategies for reducing this vulnerability? Example: Zonnic Nicotine Pouches  Selective Exposure and Perceptual Filters ◦ Our values, goals, and current situation can act as powerful perceptual filters ◦ Perceptual Vigilance: filter stimuli for relevance, such that relevant stimuli are more noticeable ◦ Examples? ◦ Perceptual Defence: filtering out potentially threatening or unpleasant stimuli ◦ Examples?  Advertising Appeals ◦ Need to make sure consumers stay exposed long enough to receive and understand the core massage ◦ Advertising appeal: the approach used to make a message more interesting and relevant in order to increase its effectiveness ◦ fear, humour, sex, rational, emotional, social, identity, scarcity, nostalgia ◦ Example using humor to overcome perceptual defence mechanisms when trying to change risky behaviours  Example: Social Farting Anti-Smoking Ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIj2DWQRdw Sensation Sight ◦ Sight accounts for about 80% of human perception ◦ Size, shape, colour, and environmental context ◦ Colours have deep-rooted cultural meanings ◦ Come to be associated with particular groups, roles, and situations which creates emotional meaning ◦ E.g., Clinique Sight ◦ Brand logos are an essential part of a brand’s identity ◦ Need to be able to convey the intended message consistently ◦ Need to adapt over time to signal strategic marketing shifts ◦ E.g., Starbucks logo change Sight ◦ Want to ensure your product is seen in the “right” environment ◦ Want products sold in stores that will attract the target clientele and reflect the values of the brand ◦ On-screen ads and product placement selected based on perceptual fit of the brand with the target audience  Sound ◦ The music we hear in stores and is designed to enhance or change people’s moods to encourage purchase ◦ E.g., Spend more time in store when slow music is played ◦ Music and dance can communicate messages to a wider audience ◦ Don’t require translation  Sound ◦ Brand names with sound repetition create positive feelings and increase purchase intentions ◦ E.g., Lululemon, KitKat, Jelly Belly ◦ Use of alliterations in promotion increases deal perceptions and feeling of choice ◦ E.g., $5 Footlong vs. $4.99 12-inch Sub  Smell ◦ Smells can elicit emotions in people, particularly in relation to memory ◦ Most commonly used terms to describe smell: floral, herbal, fruity, sweet, green, woody, spicy, animal, and citrus ◦ Consumers generally expect certain products to have particular fragrances. ◦ Lemon cleaning products or dish soap Touch, Texture, and Weight ◦ People want to touch the things that they are going to buy, and yet online environments make it less possible ◦ Many products are marketed on the basis of texture ◦ Fabric softener and hair conditioner ◦ Smooth/crunchy peanut butter  Touch, Texture, and Weight ◦ Evaluations of how a product or brand feels are evaluations of sensory inputs (e.g., weight) in the context of past experiences and associations ◦ “Heavy” = sturdy, solid, well-built, robust, powerful ◦ “Light” = flimsy, insubstantial, insufficient, frivolous Taste ◦ What tastes good to one person may not to others ◦ Some brands lean into this with their marketing campaigns ◦ Food product manufacturers should provide variety and ensure that their brands are thoroughly taste-tested before being brought to market Taste ◦ Flavour is a composite perception ◦ Taste matters but also temperature, texture, expectations, and brand associations ◦ Companies may strategically create “feel good” tastes by combining certain textures and flavours that further stimulate the appetite ◦ Can lead to addiction and craving  Sensory Thresholds ◦ Differential threshold: the point at which we notice a difference between two stimuli ◦ Brand may avoid disclosing changes if they believe they are unnoticeable and might be perceived negatively ◦ Can you think of any products that you’ve noticed have gotten smaller recently? Sensory thresholds ◦ Shrinkflation: reducing the size of a product while keeping the price the same ◦ Try to avoid negative reactions to price increases by charging the same but reducing the size of the package hoping it will go unnoticed  Sensory Thresholds ◦ Weber’s law: the stronger the initial stimulus that more difference is needed for the change to be noticed ◦ Impacts how price promotions are perceived ◦ E.g., 50 cent discount at a grocery store vs. a designer shoe store ◦ The Rule of 100: percentage discounts are perceived as more attractive than for products under $100 (e.g., 25% off vs. $5 off a $20 shirt) whereas absolute discounts are perceived as more attractive for products over $100 (e.g., $500 off vs. 25% off a $2000 fridge) Attention and Interpretation  Attention ◦ Attention: the mental activity given to a stimulus ◦ It is selective—we are exposed to such a large amount and variety of marketing stimuli that we have to select what we pay attention to, otherwise we risk experiencing sensory overload ◦ Adaptation: the extent to which people’s awareness of a stimulus diminishes over time ◦ Makes grabbing and maintain attention more difficult  Getting the Consumer’s Attention To gain and maintain consumers’ attention in a cluttered environment, companies have to think of novel, different, and relevant ways to get noticed ◦ Using novelty ◦ Using a combination of sound and visually arresting images to aid recall ◦ Using emotional, fear, humour appeals ◦ Sexual appeals also attract attention ◦ But do not necessarily increase brand recognition, or intention to purchase ◦ More effective when it is relevant to the product  Interpretation ◦ Perception is highly subjective, and two people seeing the same advertisement or event may visualize and interpret it quite differently ◦ Interpretation may depend on ◦ Schemas: mental representations that we use to organize and interpret information ◦ Personal relevance of the stimulus ◦ Our particular preferences  Gestalt Psychology ◦ Gestalt psychology: a study of how people look for meaning and patterns in the environment ◦ Principle of closure ◦ Principle of similarity ◦ Principle of proximity ◦ Principle of figure and ground  The Principle of Closure ◦ Principle of closure: the tendency for people to fill in the “missing” elements of an incomplete picture  The Principle of Similarity ◦ Principle of similarity: how things that are similar to one another are perceived to be more related than those that are dissimilar  The Principle of Proximity ◦ Principle of proximity: the things we see close together are perceived to be more related than things that are seen as farther apart  The Principle of Figure and Ground ◦ Principle of figure and ground: the tendency to distinguish the prominent element as the figure, and the context in which it is seen as the ground Marketing and Perception  Positioning ◦ Positioning: the place a brand or product occupies in consumers’ minds ◦ There are many approaches to positioning strategy: ◦ By competition ◦ By product attributes ◦ By benefit to consumers ◦ By price–quality relationship ◦ By use and usage occasions ◦ By user ◦ By product category ◦ By consumer culture  Perceptual Mapping ◦ Perceptual maps: visual representations of the marketplace from the customers’ perspective ◦ Perceptual maps are useful for a number of reasons: 1. They are a visual representation from the consumers’ rather than the company’s perspective of brands and their relations with other brands 2. They can show where there may be potential gaps in the market for new product development 3. By showing the company where their products lie compared with their competitors, managers can consider changes to their brand that might improve its position Example  Perceptual Map Activity ◦ Either individually or in small groups, look at the brands provided on the worksheet and identify their similarities and differences ◦ Draw a perceptual map for these brands using the template provided  Discussion ◦ Based on your perceptual map which brands have the best position and why? ◦ Where are the gaps in the market and what kind of brand might fill the gap?  Perceived Risk ◦ Perceived risk: consumers’ subjective evaluations of the uncertainty and adverse consequences of a purchase or activity that influences their decisions ◦ Perceived risk is likely to increase in the following situations: ◦ When there is a completely new offering to the market ◦ When there is little information about the product or service ◦ When there are major differences among brands ◦ When the consumer has limited experience of the product class ◦ When the purchaser may be judged by others for the purchase decision  Perceived Risk ◦ Six types of perceived risk are most commonly recognized as affecting consumer behaviour: 1. Financial risk: the perception of a likely financial loss 2. Performance or functional risk: the perception of how well a product will perform its expected task 3. Physical risk: the perception of how much harm that a product or service might cause 4. Social risk: the personal and social risk that may arise from a purchase 5. Psychological risk: the risk that reflects the individual’s perception of themselves 6. Time risk: the risk of losing time on buying or learning to use a product  Price Perception ◦ Consumers often make assumptions about the quality of products based on price ◦ They will assess what the price of a good is likely to be based on the environment in which it is placed ◦ It is important for brand owners to ensure that their products are stocked in the stores that best reflect the price being charged ◦ Once the stores are connected with high-end brand names, customers may be more willing to pay more for products in these stores  Review Questions ◦ Describe the main steps of the perceptual process ◦ Discuss the importance of each of the five senses for consumer decision making and marketing ◦ Identify how marketers can increase consumers’ attention to sensory stimuli ◦ Describe the Gestalt principles of closure, similarity, proximity, and figure and ground  Review Questions ◦ Describe what a perceptual map is and why it is useful ◦ Explain the factors impacting exposure ◦ Describe the six types of perceived risk that most commonly impact consumer behaviour Practice Questions  Question 1 ________ ensures that the stimulus is in the appropriate place for consumers to have access to it. A. Memory B. Belief C. Exposure D. Perception  Question 2 ________ is the place a brand or product occupies in consumer’s minds. A. Positioning B. Image C. Value D. Affection  Question 3 The principle of closure is _____________ A. The tendency to perceive things that are similar to be more related than things that are dissimilar B. The tendency to fill in the missing elements of an incomplete picture C. The tendency to distinguish the prominent element as the figure, and the context as the ground D. The tendency to perceive things that are close together to be more related than things that are far apart