What is consumer behavior?
The set of value-seeking activities that take place as people go about addressing and attempting to address real needs
What fields of study contribute to Consumer behavior? (4)
Sociology, Economics, Psychology, Anthropology
Consumer Behavior is Dynamic. What are some factors that contribute to this?
Technology
Communication
Demographics
Economy
What are two broad approaches to studying consumer behavior? Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Quantitative research: Uses formal questions and predetermined response options in questionnaires administered to large number of respondents.
Ex. Surveys, Experiments
Qualitative research methods: Seeks to understand research participants rather than to
What is value?
The personal assessment of the net worth a consumer obtains from an activity
What is Value Framework?
Value framework consists of internal and external influences
Internal Influences: Memory, experiences, personality, lifestyle
External influences: Culture, groups, environmental cues
Types of Value
Utilitarian: objective, functional, solves problems
Hedonic: feelings-based, enjoyment, gratification obtained from the product/service
What is value co-creation?
New ways of reaching consumers, new consumer networks, new possibilities for product design
2 levers of creating value from a brand strategy perspective
Benefit and Costs
Competitive analysis
A crucial component of market analysis is a review of the competitive landscape. Your competitive landscape will help determine your market opportunity and positioning. Your competitive set is defined as those products your target consumer might choose in
Market opportunity
Identify segments with needs the market is not currently fulfilling and determine whether it is profitable/feasible to service this segment (white space in perceptual maps)
Perceptual maps
Consumer Learning
...
Perception
The awareness or understanding of sensory information.
Sensation
The physiological reaction to sensory information (the moment a stimulus impacts a sensory organ).
The perceptual process
1. Exposure Stimuli
2. Attention
3. Comprehension
Exposure
Coming into contact with the marketing stimulus (ads, TV, radio)
Factors affecting Exposure
Advertisement Placement: Consumer exposure to online ads is higher if the ads appear high on the search list.
-Commercials that air at the beginning or end of a commercial break
-Product placement within a show
-Targeted advertisement on social media
Shel
Attention
Allocation of processing resources toward understanding stimulus
Rules: Attention is limited
Attention is selective
Attention can be divided
Difference between exposure and attention
Exposure reflects whether a consumer encounters the stimulus, Attention reflects how much mental activity they devote to processing it.
Comprehension
Consumers attempt to derive meaning from information they receive
Just noticeable difference (JND)
How much stronger does one stimulus have to be relative to another so that you can tell the difference?(In design, in price)
Just meaningful difference (JMD)
You might be able to tell but does it matter?
Smallest amount of change that would influence consumer consumption and choice.
Intentional vs. unintentional learning
Intentional Learning: Consumers set out to learn information about a topic.
Unintentional Learning: Consumer responds to the environment and learns how to interact with it.
Behavioral Learning theory: Classical conditioning
-Ivan Pavlov
-Repetition
-Conditioned stimulus
-Unconditioned stimulus
-Conditioned response
Behavioral Learning-Marketing Applications
Brand equity Halo Effects
Applications of stimulus generalization
Family branding (e.g., General Electric)
Instrumental Conditioning: B.F. Skinner
Use outcomes of behaviors to create positive or negative associations
Associating your behavior with its' consequences
We repeatedly do things that are rewarded/reinforced, avoid doing things that are punished
Behavioral Learning theory: Operant conditioning
Use outcomes of behaviors to create positive or negative associations
Reinforcer - any event that increases the frequency of the preceding event
Positive reinforcement: given a reward
Negative reinforcement: removes something unpleasant to increase the l
Factors influencing comprehension
Environmental Characteristics:
What is memory?
Memory is the process of acquiring information and storing it so that it will be available when needed
Brand awareness
I can recognize the product
Process of memory
Sensory Memory- Attention- Short term memory to either encoding or retrieval to long term memory
Sensory memory
Information that comes in through our senses
Information stored in its sensory form
Very short-lived, 1/4 sec. - 2 sec.
If not processed, we lose it.
Types of Sensory Memory
echoic memory - very brief memory for things we hear
Hearing someone's name in the Dr.'s office
Repeating a question
iconic memory - very brief memory for things we see
You turn on the light but the bulb goes out almost immediately, you can briefly pictur
Short-Term memory
Portion of memory where incoming information is interpreted
Limited capacity
Increased for higher involvement
Short-lived duration
Info can be held for about 18-30 seconds.
You can remember (+/- 7) thoughts at a time
Long-term memory
Permanently stored knowledge
Autobiographical (episodic) memory
Semantic memory - about the world
-Very large storage capacity
-Information is never lost, but sometimes can't be found
Emotional memory
Remembering an event triggers excitement, anger, grief, sadness, etc.
How can we improve the chances that information makes it to long-term memory?
Videos
How is memory stored? Associative Memory Network
Concepts, feelings, and events are stored in "nodes."
Nodes are a concept
Associative links (of varying strengths) connect the nodes.
Paths show association between nodes
Stronger links are more accessible
Marketers try to strengthen links between brands
False memories
Imagining events can create false memories.
Evaluations of products are the same between false memories and true product experiences
Recall vs. cued recall vs. recognition
Recall: "Essay Test"
reconstruct from memory with no cues
Cued Recall: "fill in the blanks"
Reconstruct from cues
Recognition: "Multiple Choice Test"
Identify stimulus we have seen before
Categorization
Consumers have knowledge about various objects and people surrounding them.
They also have a natural tendency to group items together.
The items share characteristics.
How can marketers influence categorization?
We Organize Product Knowledge Similar to how we Organize Knowledge about a Brand (Southwest)
How marketers influence categorization?
Product Name
Advertising Message
Analogies
What is motivation? Why is it important to marketing?
Inner reasons or driving forces behind consumer behavior.
If you know what drives consumers you can:
Customize your advertising message
Get them to buy your product
Increase word of mouth
What is the motivation process?
Motivation
1. Need creates tension
2. Tension creates drive to reduce/eliminate need
3. Desired end state = consumer's goal
Products/services provide desired end state and reduce tension
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs
Tip of the Triangle
Self Actualization needs: Self fulfillment (education, hobbies, travel)
Personal Needs: Status, respect, prestige (Cars, clothes, liquors)
Social Needs: Friendship, belonging, love (social media, clothes)
Safety Needs: Freedom form har
Regulatory focus
Promotion vs. prevention focusTheory that explains how we regulate behavior
Promotion-focus: Perceive their goals as dreams, hopes. Pursue goals with eagerness. Adventurous.
I want to reap the rewards!
Prevention-focus: Perceive their goals as duties and
Consumer involvement
HOW MUCH DO I CARE ABOUT THIS PURCHASE?
IF INVOLVEMENT INCREASES, MOTIVATION INCREASES
product involvement
What do you love to shop for?
Clothes, video games, electronics, food
In general some product categories are more involving than others
emotional involvement
Deep personal interest that evokes strong feelings associated with a product or activity.
How attached are you to the purchase?
Emotions
Involve psychological and physical responses to stimuli.
What is an emotional appeal?
A message designed to elicit an emotional response
How do emotions influence what we buy?
When evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions (personal feelings and experiences), rather than information (brand attributes, features, and facts).
Advertising research reveals that the consumer's emotional response to an ad has far greater inf
Cognitive appraisal theory
Emotions originate from evaluations of events.
The event does not create the emotion, it's how we interpret it.
Mood
IS DEFINED AS A Temporary affective state,
Less intense than emotions
Can be categorized as good or bad
What is emotional contagion?
Emotional display by one person influences your own emotional state
Product Contagion
Seeing someone attractive trying on a product, increases the product's value.
Individual difference variables
Individual consumers differ in specific traits and behaviors.
What is personality?
A set of thoughts, emotions, intentions, tendencies and behaviors that a person exhibits consistently as he or she adapts to the environment.
Personality is...
Unique
Stable
Five-factor model approach
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Openness to experience
Stability
Conscientiousness
What is brand personality?
We can think of Brands as holding human traits!
Similar to human personalities, brand personalities can be described across five characteristics. (Reliable, honest, genuine, strong)
How do we build brand personalities?
Communicated through design cues
How do we measure brand personality?
We start by measuring the brand on Competence.
The scale includes 9 attributes that are related to Competence:
Reliable
Hard-working
Secure
Intelligent
Technical
Corporate
Successful
Leader
Confident
Consumer lifestyle
Lifestyles: How do consumers live and spend their time and money
Psychographics
Measures consumer lifestyles
Demographics
Observable, statistical aspects of the population.
Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Income
Self-concept
Total of thoughts and feelings an individual has about him or herself.
Consumers use products and brands as symbols to communicate their self-concepts to others.
What is self-congruence?
Behavior and attitudes towards a product can sometimes be explained by the match between the consumer's self-concept and the image of the typical users of a focal product.
Have you NOT bought a product because you saw someone else buy it?
The self- actual vs. ideal self
Actual : How do I currently perceive myself.
Ideal: How would I like to perceive myself in the future.
Major traits examined in consumer behavior
Value Consciousness
Materialism
Innovativeness
Need for Cognition
Self-Monitoring
What are attitudes?
Relatively enduring overall evaluations of objects, products, services, issues or people.
What composes attitudes? Identify dimensions of attitudes
Beliefs, Affect, Behavioral Intentions
Fishbein model
When asked about a given attitude towards something, many conflicting thoughts may come to mind.
But we can often specify an attitude. How?
Multi-attribute models specify how multiple cognitions are integrated.
Importance:
How important would it be to you
Attitude behavior consistency
Will you buy something if you like it?
Think of an example of when this might not be the case.
Will you buy something you don't like?
Think of an example when this could happen.
MANY TIMES WE DO NOT BEHAVE CONSISTENTLY WITH OUR ATTITUDES.
Theory of reasoned action
Behaviors are based on:
Attitudes: Overall evaluation of the behavior.
Subjective Norm: Is it appropriate?
Theory of planned action
Behaviors are based on:
Attitudes: Overall evaluation of the behavior.
Subjective Norm: Is it appropriate?
Perceived Control: Do I feel capable? Do I have the resources?
How can we change attitudes?
Persuasion, beliefs
Models to change attitudes
Fishbein Model: change beliefs
Behavioral Influence
Approach
Changing Affect
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
Behavioral influence approach
If you can get consumers to change behavior, attitudes will change.
Changing affect
If you can associate products with positive feelings then attitudes will change.
Elaboration likelihood model
Attitudes can change depending on consumer involvement.
Central Route:
High involvement
High motivation to understand the message. Message cues that are directly related to the product, its attribute, advantages, or consequences.
If persuasion occurs, the
Message appeals
-Sex Appeals
1. Moderate levels tend to be preferred
2. Romantic theme is preferred over sexual images.
-Humor Appeals
1. Attract attention, create positive moods, enhance product evaluations.
2. Downside: reduces credibility
-Fear Appeals
1. Rely on rela
Comparative
It is effective to directly compare your brand to a competitor when your brand is not the market leader.
Implicit attitudes
Implicitly: They see something but they are not aware of it consciously.
Example: I see a banner ad when I am looking for information but I don't consciously pay attention to it. Even if I did not consciously see it, the brand name is stored implicitly.
Explicitly
Explicitly: They pay attention, they store information.
Example: I buy coffee everyday and I know what the price of a Grande Skinny Mocha is. I know what level of quality to expect.
Mere exposure effect
Mere exposure to a brand name can induce favorable attitudes toward the brand even if you can't remember seeing it.