Consumer Behavior

Prof. Shashikant Pawar

Unit 5: Consumer Learning
• Elements of Learning
• Learning theories
• Cognitive Learning
theories
 Consumer Learning
Learning is a process by which
individuals acquire the purchase
and consumption knowledge and
experience that they apply to
future related behavior
 Consumer Learning
• Marketers are concerned with consumer
learning because they are interested in
teaching them about products,
attributes, benefits, how to use, how to
maintain, where to buy from etc
• Marketers want their communication to
be noted, believed, remembered and
recalled
 Consumer Learning
• Repeating advertising message about brand
and their benefits
• Rewarding people for purchase behavior by
selling products that provide super benefits
• Getting consumers to make associations with
brand and various products offered under the
brand
• Developing brand loyalty
Elements of Learning
1. Motivation
2. Cues
3. Response
4. Reinforcement
 Motivation
• Unfulfilled needs lead to motivation
which spurs learning
• Uncovering consumer motives is
prime task of marketers
• They try to teach motivated
consumer segments why and how
their products will fulfill the needs
 Cues
• Cues are stimuli that direct motives
• Price, styling, packaging, advertising
store display serve as cues
• Telecalling, bulk messaging also
serve as cues
• Cues need to be consistent with
customer expectations
 Response
• How individuals react to a drive or
cue?
• How they behave constitute their
response?
• Learning can occur even when
responses are not overt?
 Reinforcement
• Reinforcement increases the likelihood
that a specific response will occur in the
future as a result of particular cue
• If a consumer is rewarded by enjoying a
product or service he/she has learned to
associate the purchase with a pleasant
feeling and therefore likely to repeat the
behavior and become loyal customer
Behavioral Learning Theories
They are referred to as stimulus-response learning.
When a person acts(responds) in a predictable
way to a known stimulus, he/ she is said to have
learned
1. Classical Conditioning
2. Instrumental (operand) conditioning
3. Modeling/ observational learning
 Classical conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov and study with dogs
Unconditional Stimulus
(Meat Paste) Unconditional
Response
Conditional Stimulus (Salivation)
(Bell)
After Repeatition
Conditional Stimulus Unconditional Response
(Bell) (Salivation)
 Strategic applications
• Repeatition
• Stimulus generalisation
• Stimulus discrimination
 Repeatition
• It increases the strength of association
between a CS and UCS
• Three hit theory: 3 repeatitions to make
aware, show relevence and remind benefits a
• With increasing competitive exposure
increased exposure is needed
• Lot of repeatition may lead to advt. weareout
• Wearout is overcome by bringing cosmetic
variations in advertisements
 Stimulus generalisation
• Pavlov found that dogs salivated on listening
somewhat similar sound of jangling keys
• Making a same response to slightely different
stimuli is called generalisation
• Some me too products succeed in the
marketplace , consumers confuse them with
original products they have seen
• Application: Product line, form, category
extention, family branding, licensing
 Stimulus discrimination
• It is opposite of stimulus generalisation
• Stimulus discrimination is selection of
specific stimulus from among similar
stimuli
• Positioning helps create a differentiated
and unique image in the mind of the
consumer
Instrumental Conditioning
• F.B Skinner: experiments with animals
• Learning occurs through trial and error
• IC requirs link between stimuli and response
however stimulus that produces most
satisfactory response is the one that is learned
• A favourable experience is instrumental in
teaching the individual to repeat a specific
behavior
 Strategic Applications
• Customer Satisfaction: In addition to
product / service customer should
receive satisfaction / reinforcement
from other elements, environment,
attention and service by staff,
amenities etc.
• Relationship Marketing:
• Shaping:
Little Wings
• Whether you are 6 or 66, onboard Kingfisher Airlines, your experience promises to be full of
delightful & unforgettable moments. Our little guests may be nervous initially but chances
are as soon as we take off they’ll soon be absorbed in the thrill of stretching their own little
wings!
A world of fun
• While relaxing in comfortable seats, our little guests can slip into a world of fun courtesy
cartoons and movies played on their personal in-flight entertainment system in Kingfisher
Class & First.
• Our interactive Little Wings activity magazine available on all classes of Kingfisher Airlines
takes the experience further and truly immerses our little guests into a fantasy world.
Created in association with Walt Disney, this magazine has something for everyone – Mickey
Mouse & Winnie the Pooh for the little ones and High School Musical, Pirates of the
Caribbean & Hannah Montana for all the adventurous teens on board.
• Of course with activities such as coloring pages, comic strips pull out posters, code cracking
games and trivia on beloved Disney Characters, there’s never a dull moment
 Modelling or
Observational Learning
• Consumers often observe how others behave in
response to certain situation, the result that
occur and then they imitate ( model) the
behavior
• Role models are generally the people they admire
• Advertisers select models (celebraties/ unknown)
carefully to create a persuasive appeal
• Example: Dove uses upper middle class women
as their models whereas lux
 Cognitive Learning Theories
• Learning based on mental activity is
called cognitive learning
• Learning takes place as a result of
consumer thinking and problem solving
• Learning involvs complex mental
processing of information
• Learning process involvs storage,
retaintion and retrieval of information
 Storage

1. Sensory store
2. Short term store
3. Long term store
 Sensory Store
• Each sense receives a piece of
information and transmits it to the brain
where a whole and single image is made
• This image lasts for just a second or two
• If not processed it is lost immediately
• Brain tags all perception as +ve or –ve
• Hence impression created in first micro
second tend to remain
 Short term store
• Information is processed and held for
just a brief period
• If information in the short term store
undergoes the process known as
rehearsal (silent mental repeatition) it is
then transferred to long term store
• Transfer takes 2-10 seconds
• If not rehearsed it is lost in 30 seconds
 Long term store
• After rehearsal data is stored in long
term storage by a process of encoding
• Encoding is a process by which we select
a word or visual image to represent
perceived image
• Learning a picture takes less time than
verbal information
Print ads with illustration and body copy is
more likely to be encoded and stored
 Commercials and Learning
• Encoding commercials is related to the
context in which they are featured
• When viewers committ more cognitive
resources to the program itself they encode
and store less info from the commercial
• Highly involved viewers of a show respond
more positively to commercials played
adjacent to the show
• Info overload leads to difficulty in coding
 Retention
• Information is constantly organised and
reorganised as new links between chunks of info
are forged
• Activation is a process of relating new data to old
data to make material mre meaningful
• Consumers are more likely to recall info they
receive on new products bearing familier name
• For a long term retention reinforcement and
repeatition is necessary
 www.theeastindiacompany.com
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 Retrieval
• Process by which we recover information from
long term storage
• Retrieval is most often triggered by cues
• Retrieval is quick if the brand is heavily advertised
or consumer has pleasant usage experience
• Memory is often emotional than rational
• Purchase decisions / preferences are often driven
by memory rather than current experience
Thank You