Why Study Consumer Behavior?

• Micro Perspective. It involves understanding consumer for the purpose of

helping a firm or organization to achieve its objectives. All the Managers in
different departments are keen to understand the consumer.
• They may be Advertising Managers, Product Designers, Marketing and
Sales Managers and so on.

• Societal Perspective is on the macro level. Consumers collectively

influenced economic and social conditions within a society. Consumers
strongly influence what will be produced, what resources will be used and
it affects our standard of living.

• Note: Most noteable reason to study CB lies in the marketing concept.

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Customer Satisfaction

Satisfaction ??
 Customer Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction

• Customer satisfaction is the difference

between customer experience and
customer expectation
• Finding the right fit between expectation
and delivering performance.
 Customer Loyalty
• Satisfaction means meeting or
exceeding expectations.
• Satisfaction is the result of a
process
• Satisfaction is about trying to please
existing customers
• Deals with assuring a successful
transaction
• Satisfied customers will desert in
case of a better offer/deal
• Loyalty means an emotional bond
between the customer and the
company.
• Loyalty is the result of a relationship.
• Loyalty is about trying to develop
devoted clients.
• Depends upon developing an enduring
customer relationship
• Loyal customers keep coming back time
and again.
Motivation
Motivation as a Psychological Force
• Motivation is the
driving force within
individuals that impels
them to action.
• Needs are the essence
of the marketing
concept. Marketers do
not create needs but
can make consumers
aware of needs.

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 Types of Needs
• Innate Needs
– Physiological (or biogenic) needs that are
considered primary needs or motives

• Acquired Needs
– Learned in response to our culture or
environment. Are generally psychological and
considered secondary needs

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 Goals
• The sought-after results of motivated behavior
• Generic goals are general categories of goals
that consumers see as a way to fulfill their
needs
• Product-specific goals are specifically branded
products or services that consumers select as
their goals

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Rational versus Emotional Motives
• Rationality implies that consumers select
goals based on totally objective criteria, such
as size, weight, price, or miles per gallon
• Emotional motives imply the selection of
goals according to personal or subjective
criteria

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Four Slide
Personality
 Freudian Theory
• Id
– Warehouse of primitive or
instinctual needs for which
individual seeks immediate
satisfaction
• Superego
– Individual’s internal
expression of society’s
moral and ethical codes of
conduct
• Ego
– Individual’s conscious control
that balances the demands of
the id and superego

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Five Slide
 Segmenting Consumer Markets
Types of Personalities
•Reserved Vs Outgoing
•Submissive Vs Dominant
•Serious Vs Happy-go-lucky
•Timid Vs Venturesome
•Relaxed Vs Tense
•Sensitive Vs Tough-Minded
•Trusting Vs Suspicion
•Practical Vs Imaginative
•Forthright Vs Shrewd
•Group Dependent Vs Self-sufficient
•Uncontrolled Vs Controlled
 Brand Personality
• Personality-like traits associated with brands
• Examples
– Purdue and freshness
– Nike and athlete
– BMW is performance driven
• Brand personality which is strong and favorable will
strengthen a brand but not necessarily demand a
price premium

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Five Slide
Perception
 Perception
• The process by which an
individual selects, organizes,
and interprets stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent
picture of the world
• Elements of Perception
– Sensation
– Absolute threshold
– Differential threshold
– Subliminal perception

Copyright 2010 Pearson

Education, Inc. Publishing as 15
Prentice Hall Chapter Six Slide
 Sensation
• Sensation is the immediate and direct
response of the sensory organs to stimuli
– A stimulus is any unit of input to any of the
senses.
• Sensory Receptors … ?
• Sensation depends on change in energy within
the environment.
• Could sensory organs other than eyes be used in marketing?

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 Absolute Threshhold
• The absolute threshold is the lowest level at which an
individual can experience a sensation.
• With constant stimulation, absolute threshold increases.
• Adaptation – getting used to certain sensations.
• Sensory adaptation is a problem for advertisers.
• Common techniques used to overcome sensory adaptation:
– Use of empty space in print ads.
– Use of silence in the beginning of an ad.
– Use of scents in stores.

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 Differential Threshold
(Just Noticeable Difference – JND)
• Minimal difference that can be detected between two similar
stimuli
• Weber’s law
– The JND between two stimuli is not an absolute amount
but an amount relative to the intensity of the first stimulus
– The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the additional
intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived
as different.
– JND in temperature, wind speed, noise etc.

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Six Slide
 Marketing Applications
of the J.N.D.
• Marketers need to determine the relevant JND for
their products
– so that negative changes are not readily discernible to the
public (increased price, reduced size or quality).
– so that product improvements are very apparent to
consumers (improved package, large size or lower price)

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Six Slide
 Subliminal Perception
• Stimuli that are too weak or too brief to be
consciously seen or heard
– They may be strong enough to be perceived by
one or more receptor cells.
• Is it effective?
– Extensive research has shown no evidence that
subliminal advertising can cause behavior changes
– Some evidence that subliminal stimuli may
influence affective reactions
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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Six Slide
 Perceptual Mapping
• An analytical technique that enables
marketers to plot graphically consumers’
perceptions concerning product attributes of
specific brands

Copyright 2010 Pearson

Education, Inc. Publishing as 21
Prentice Hall Chapter Six Slide
 Perceptual Mapping
Figure 6.9

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Six Slide
Learning
Attitude
 A learned
predisposition to
behave in a
consistently
Attitude
favorable or
unfavorable manner
with respect to a
given object.

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eight Slide