Consumer Behavior and the Communications Process

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Chapter 4

• Consumer Behavior and the Communications Process

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The Consumer Decision Process
Problem Recognition
Information Search
Alternative Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Postpurchase Evaluation
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Problem Recognition

• Occurs when the consumer perceives a difference
  between his/her actual and ideal states and is
  motivated to resolve this difference

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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological needs (hunger, thirst)
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Information Search

• Internal searchmemory
• External searchoutside
• Personal sources
• Friends, relatives, co-workers
• Marketer-controlled sources
• Ads, salespeople, displays
• Public sources
• Print articles, news reports
• Personal experience
• Handling, examining, testing, using

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Postpurchase Evaluation

• Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model
• Satisfaction
• Dissatisfaction
• Cognitive Dissonance

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The Consumer Decision Process
Problem Recognition
Information Search
Alternative Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Postpurchase Evaluation
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Learning throughOperant Conditioning
Behavior (consumer uses product or service)
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Learning through Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (waterfall)
Association develops through contiguity and
repetition
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Vicarious Learning

• Process through which a change in behavior is
  produced by observing others actions and the
  consequences of those actions ( or -)

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Social Influences on Consumers

• Culture / Subculturemeanings, beliefs, values,
  and behaviors shared by members of a society or
  group
• Social ClassA status hierarchy by which groups
  and individuals are categorized on the basis of
  prestige
• relatively homogenous divisions in a society
  which share similar lifestyles, values, norms,
  interests, and behaviors
• Reference Grouppeople to whom a person looks as
  a basis for judgments, opinions, and actions
• Membership group
• Aspirational group
• Disassociative group

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The Communications Process
Noise
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Communication Process Terms

• Source--co. or person who has info to convey
• Message--information sent by source
• Channel--means of conveying message
• Receivers--those who see, read, hear message
• Encode--sender transforms abstract idea into
  symbols
• Decode--receiver transforms symbols back to
  idea
• Field of Experience--understanding and
  knowledge
• Feedback--communication from receiver back to
  sender
• Noise--extraneous factors, work against
  communication

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Determining the Role ofEach IMC Element

• What information must be exchanged between firm
  and potential customer?
• What are the alternative ways to carry out these
  communications objectives?
• How effective is each alternative in carrying out
  the needed exchange?
• How cost effective is each alternative?