Consumer Behavior & Communication

BY NARENDRA BABU

Consumer Behavior & Communication

Consumer Behavior & Communication

Source ( Sender ) is actually the initiator of the communication. The Receiver of formal marketing communications is likely to be a targeted prospect or a customer. Intermediary and unintended audiences are also likely to receive marketers communications. The Medium: The medium or communication channel, can be impersonal or interpersonal. ( face to face , by telephone, by mail or online). The message can be verbal or nonverbal or a combination of the two.

Consumer Behavior & Communication

Feedback: Feedback is an essential component of

both interpersonal and impersonal communications Prompt feedback permits the sender to reinforce, to change, or to modify the message to ensure that it is understood in the intended way.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

The message initiator ( source): The sponsor of the message first must decide to whom the message should be sent and what meaning it should convey. Then the sponsor must encode the message in such a way that its meaning is interpreted by the targeted audience in precisely the intended way. Credibility : The credibility of the source affects the decoding of the message. The sponsor of the communications and his or her perceived honesty and objectivity- have an enormous influence on how the communication is accepted by the receivers.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Credibility of Informal Sources: receivers feel that informal influencers have nothing to gain from their purchase recommendations. Opinion Leaders, Buzz agents: creates positive word of Mouth. Determined detractors: Initiates bad publicity online.
Credibility of Formal Sources: Formal sources that are

perceived to be neutral such as consumer reports or newspaper articles-have greater credibility than commercial sources because of the perception that they are more objective in their product assessment.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Credibility of spokespersons and Endorsers: Consumers sometimes regard the spokesperson who gives the product message as the source ( or initiator) of the message. The effectiveness of the spokesperson is related to the message. When message comprehension is low, receivers rely on the spokespersons credibility for forming the attitude, but when the comprehension is high, the expertise of the spokesperson has far less impact on a receivers attitude.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

The synergy between the endorser and the type of product or

service is an important factor. Cosmetics products requires physically attractive celebrity spokesperson. For attractiveness unrelated products ( like camera ), attractive spokesperson has little effect. Endorsers who have demographic characteristics ( e.g age, social class and ethnicity) that are similar to the target audience are viewed as more credible and persuasive. Marketers who use celebrities to give testimonials or endorse products must be sure that specific wording of the endorsement lies within the recognized competence of the spokesperson. Eg: Tennis star endorsing an analgesic with comments about how it relieves sore muscle pain; however a recitation of brand superiority over other brands is beyond his or her expected knowledge.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Message credibility: The reputation of the retailer who sells the product has a major influence on message credibility. Products sold by well known quality stores seem to carry the added endorsement of the store itself. The aura of credibility generated by reputable retail advertising reinforces the manufacturers message as well. Effects of time on source credibility: The sleeper effect: The persuasive effects of high-credibility sources do not endure overtime. Although a high credibility source is initially more influential than a low credibility source, research suggests that both positive and negative credibility effects tend to disappears over a period of time. This phenomenon has been termed as sleeper effect.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Barriers of communication: Selective exposure to message: Consumers selectively perceive advertising messages. They read carefully ads for products they are interested in and tend to ignore ads that have no special interest or relevance to them. Psychological Noise: An executive planning an a departmental meeting while driving to work may be too engrossed in her thoughts to hear a radio commercial. A student day dreaming about a Saturday night date may simply not hear a direct question from the professor.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Message structure and presentation 1. Resonance: Ad Resonance is often used to create a double meaning used in combination with a relevant picture. By using resonance in ads, marketers can improve the chances that their ads will be noticed by consumers and create favorable and lasting impressions. For example: absolute master piece appearing next to a bottle of Absolute Vodka. hit the beach topless next to a Pepsi bottle cap lying in the sand.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Message framing: Marketer stress the benefits to be gained by using a specific product (positive message framing) or the benefits to be lost by not using the product ( negative message framing). One-sided versus two sided messages: should marketers tell their audience only the good points about their product or should they acknowledge the competing product? If the audience if friendly, with out any opposing argument then, one sided Information stressing only favorable information is most effective. If the audience is critical or unfriendly, if it is well educated, or if it is likely to hear opposing claims, then a two sided message is likely to be more effective.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Comparative advertising: is a widely used marketing strategy in which a marketer claims product superiority for its brand over one or more explicitly named or implicitly identified competitors, either on an overall basis or on selected product attributes. Comparative advertising is useful for product positioning. Order effect: Communication researchers have found that the order in which a message is presented affects audience receptivity. In a sequence of commercials, the first and last messages are likely to be retained in the audiences memory that those in between.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Repetition is an important factor in learning. Thus, it

is not surprising that repetition, or frequency of the ad, effects persuasion, ad recall, brand-name recall, and brand preferences.

Advertising appeals: Sometimes objective, factual

appeals are more effective in persuading a target audience; at other times emotional appeals are more effective. It depends on the kind of audience to be reached and their degree of involvement in the product category.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Fear : Fear is an effective appeal often used in

marketing communications. Some researchers have found a negative relationship between the intensity of fear appeal s and their ability to persuade, so that strong fear appeals tend to be less effective than mild fear appeals Humor: Many marketers use humorous appeals in the belief that humor will increase the acceptance and persuasiveness of their adverting communications.

Communication & Consumer Behavior

Abrasive advertising: Memories of an unpleasant

commercial that antagonizes listeners or viewers may dissipate over time, leaving only the brand name in the minds of consumers.
Nudity in advertising: may get attention but does

not encourage consumption behavior.

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