Buyer Behaviors

Consumer Buyer Behavior

Persuading people to purchase goods and services

The primary goal of an IMC program is to persuade people to buy goods and services. To do that we need to understand how people make decisions to buy them.

Consumer buyer behaviors and B2B buyer behaviors

Looking for a house

A typical family in the buying process

Consumer Purchasing Process

Marketing communications help to influence consumer purchasing decisions.

Messages that will entice customers to buy products should be developed.

Consumer decision-making process goes through several stages. Two of the most important components of this process are:

Information Search Evaluation of Alternatives

Consumer Decision Making Process

Problem Recognition

Information Search

Evaluation of Alternatives

Purchase Decision

Post-purchase Evaluation

Information Search Consumer recognizes a need Searches for information Internal search – mentally recalls

products that meet the need and may make a decision

If the previous experience does not help, a more complete internal search will have to follow. This includes memories of past experiences as well as the examination of other brands.

The consumer may remove brands that did not satisfy him on earlier occasions and also eliminate brands which he did not know about.

The brand managers and creatives should hence make sure that the company’s brands would become part of the consumer’s set of potential alternatives.

External Search Should the consumer is uncertain about the

right brand to buy based on the internal search, the external search follows.

External information comes from friends, relatives, peers, experts, books, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, PR activities, store displays, sales people, and the Internet.

The amount of time a consumer spends on the external search depends upon:

Ability to search Level of motivation determined by:

Level of involvement- might depend on how important is the product for him

Need for cognition – is a personality characteristic an individual displays when he/she engages in and enjoys mental activities

Level of shopping enthusiasm

Final factors that influence an information search are: the perceived costs

and the perceived benefits Higher perceived benefits increase the

tendency to search Consumers do look for reducing the

purchase risk – by collecting more information the risk of making a wrong decision can be reduced

Search costs The actual cost of the good or service Subjective costs associated with the search, such

as time spent, anxiety experienced while deciding Opportunity cost of forgoing other activities to

search for information (going shopping instead of attending a marriage or watching a cricket match on TV)

Greater the perceived subjective cost of the external search, the less likely the consumer will conduct a search

From the IMC perspective, the search process is an important time to reach the customer with information about a particular brand

Major Influences in Consumer Decision-making Process The right time for the marketers to

influence the decision-making process is when the customer has not made his/her mind. The key is to provide the right information at the right time in the right manner.

We may examine three important concepts at this point of time: (1) Attitude, (2) Values, and (3) Cognitive Mapping

Consumer Attitude Is a mental position taken toward a

topic, person, or event that influences the holder’s feelings, perceptions, learning process, and subsequent decisions.

From the IMC point of view, attitudes can drive purchase decisions.

Attitude consists of three components: Affective, Cognitive, and Conative

Affective component- contains the feelings or emotions of a person in regard to an object, topic, or idea

Cognitive (behavioral) component – refers to a person’s mental images, understandings, and interpretations of the person, object, or issue.

Conative component – is an individual’s intentions, actions, or behavior.

Cognitive Affective

Conative

Most of the time, a person develops an understanding about an idea or object. These thoughts emerge from watching TV or newspaper, Internet ads. or word of mouth. Eventually these ideas become beliefs the consumer will have about a product or service. The affective part of the attitude is the general feeling or emotion a person attaches to the idea. In the case of goods and services the product, its name, and other features all generate emotions. Decision and action tendencies are the conative parts of attitudes.

Attitudes can develop in other ways too:

Affective Conative Cognitive

The goal here is to make the consumer “like” a product and then make the purchase (the conative component). Conitive mechanism follows.

Conative Cognitive Affective

Purchase that require little thought, have a low price, or those that do not require a great deal of emotional involvement may follow this path.

Consumer Values Attitudes are partly shaped by one’s

values which are strongly held beliefs about topics or concepts. Values tend to be enduring and normally form during childhood, although they can change as a person ages and experiences life. If a good service can be tied to a relatively universal value, such as patriotism, love, etc. it gain positive image.

Common Personal Values Comfortable life Equality Excitement Freedom Fun, exciting life Happiness Inner peace Mature love Personal

accomplishment

Pleasure Salvation Security Self-fulfillment Self-respect Sense of belonging Social acceptance Wisdom

Cognitive Mapping

Individuals store information in different ways and it impacts the way in which information is recalled. People store, retrieve, and evaluate information and hence marketing communication managers should hence understand how various processes and memories work.

Cognitive maps These are simulations of the knowledge

structures and memories embedded in individuals’ brains. These structures contain assumptions, beliefs, interpretation of facts, feelings, and attitudes about the larger world. People use these thought processes to interpret new information and to determine an appropriate response to fresh information or a novel situation.

Ruby Tuesday

Applebee’s

HamburgerRestaurants

Dine-In

Great Food

Fast Foods

Little Caesar’s Pizza Excellent

Service

Pizza Hut

Slow Mel’s Diner

Cognitive Map for Ruby Tuesday

This customer gets an image of Ruby Tuesday as:

One that gives dine-in service One that gives excellent service One that offers slow service like that of

Mel’s Diner Cognitive structures contain many

linkages and exist on several spatial levels and conjure images of the actual physical location of Ruby Tuesday