Communication

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Communication Consumer Behavior

• SBM 338
• Lanny Wilke

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Consumer Behavior

• The process and activities people engage in when
  searching for, selecting, purchasing, using,
  evaluating, and disposing of products and
  services so as to satisfy their needs and desires.

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The Consumer Decision-Making Process

• Problem Recognition
• The consumer perceives a need and becomes
  motivated to solve the problem
• Initiates the subsequent decision processes
• Caused by a difference between the consumers
  ideal state and actual state.
• problem does not always imply a negative state.

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• Sources of problem recognition
• Out of stock
• Consumer has used their existing supply of a
  product.
• Purchase decision is usually simple routine and
  is often resolved by choosing a familiar brand.
• Dissatisfaction
• Consumer is dissatisfied with the current state
  of affairs and/or the product or service being
  used.
• Advertising may be used to help them recognize
  when they have a problem and/or need to make a
  purchase.

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• New needs/wants
• Changes in consumers lives may result in new
  needs.
• Not all purchases are based on needs.
• Wants a felt need that is shaped by a persons
  knowledge, culture, and personality.

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• Related products/services
• Problem recognition may also be stimulated by the
  purchase of a product.

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• Marketer-induced problem recognition
• Marketers actions may encourage consumers not to
  be content with their current state or situation.
• Marketers also take advantage of consumers
  tendency toward novelty-seeking behavior, which
  leads them to try new brands.
• Encourage switching using advertising and
  promotion techniques.

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• New products
• Can also occur when innovative products are
  introduced and brought to the attention of
  consumers.
• What types of problems will the new product
  solve?

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Examining Consumer Motivations

• Hierarchy of needs

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• Psychoanalytic Theory
• Sigmund Freud
• Consumer motivations are very complex and unclear
  to the casual observer
• Motivation Research
• Methods include in-depth interviews, projective
  techniques, association tests, focus groups

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• May lead to strange insights
• A man buys a convertible as a substitute for a
  mistress.
• Women like to bake cakes because they feel like
  they are giving birth to a baby.
• Women wear perfume to attract a man and
  glorify their existence.

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• Men like frankfurters better than women do
  because cooking them (hot dogs, not men) makes
  women feel guilty. Its an admission of
  laziness.
• When people shower, their sins go down the drain
  with the soap as they rinse.

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• Some ad agencies have used motivation research to
  gain further insights into how consumers think.
• Women associated roaches with men who had
  abandoned them.
• Ronald McDonald created a more nurturing mood
  than did the Burger King.

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Information Search

• Internal search
• Scan info stored in memory to recall past
  experiences and/or knowledge regarding various
  purchase alternatives.
• External search
• Personal sources
• Marketer-controlled sources
• Public sources
• Personal experience

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• Determining how much and which sources involves
  several factors
• The importance of the purchase decision,
• The effort needed to acquire info,
• Amount of relevant past experience
• Degree of perceived risk
• Time available

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Perception

• How consumers acquire and use info from external
  sources.
• Particularly interested in
• How consumers sense external info
• How they select and attend to various sources of
  info
• How this info is interpreted and given meaning.

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• Perception is the process by which an individual
  receives, selects, organizes, and interprets info
  to create a meaningful picture of the world.
• It is an individual process.
• Depends on internal factors such as
• Belief experiences
• Needs
• Moods
• Expectations

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• Also influenced by the characteristics of a
  stimulus
• Size
• Color
• Intensity
• And the context in which it is seen or heard.

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• Sensation
• Three distinct processes.
• The immediate, direct response of the senses to a
  stimulus.
• Perception uses these senses to create a
  representation of the stimulus.

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• Selecting information
• Other determinants of whether marketing stimuli
  will be attended to how they will be
  interpreted
• Consumers personality
• Needs
• Motives
• Expectations
• Experiences
• Explains why people focus on some things and
  ignore others.

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• Interpreting information
• Very individualized
• Also depends on the nature of the stimulus.
• Perception is a filtering process.

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• Selective perception
• Selective exposure
• Consumers choose whether or not to make
  themselves available to info.
• Selective attention
• The consumer chooses to focus attention on
  certain stimuli while excluding others.

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• Selective comprehension
• Interpreting info based on their own attitudes,
  beliefs, motives, and experiences.
• Often interpret info in a manner that supports
  their own position.

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• Subliminal perception
• The ability to perceive a stimulus that is below
  the level of conscious awareness.
• NOT a recommended creative tactic.

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Part 2 - Perception