跨境电商英语

Consumer Behavior

武汉工商学院 电子商务学院

阿里 · 瑞兹万
Learning
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience. The
learner need not have experience directly; we can also learn when we observe
events that affect others. We learn even when we don’t try: We recognize many
brand names and hum many product jingles, for example even for products we
don’t personally use. We call this causal, unintentional acquisition of knowledge
incidental learning.
Behavioral Learning Theories
Behavioral learning theories assume that learning takes place as the result of
responses to external events. Psychologist who subscribe to this viewpoint do
not focus on internal thought processes. Instead, they approach the mind as a
“black box” and emphasize the observable aspects of behavior. The observable
aspects consist of things that go into the box and things that come of the box.

Two major approaches to learning represent this view

1. Classical Conditioning
2. Instrumental Conditioning
1- Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that elicits a response is paired
with another stimulus that initially does not elicit a response on its own. Over
time this second stimulus causes a similar response because we associate it with
the first stimulus.

Ivan Pavlov , a Russian psychologist who conducted research on digestion in

animals, first demonstrated this phenomenon in dogs. Pavlov induced
classically conditioned learning when he paired a neutral stimulus (a bell) with
a stimulus known to cause a salivation response in dogs. The powder was
unconditional stimulus because it was naturally capable of causing the response.
Over time, the bell became a conditional stimulus. It did not initially cause
salivation, but the dogs learned to associate the bell with the meat powder and
began to salivate at the sound of the bell only.
1- Classical Conditioning
Repetition
Conditioning effects are more likely to occur after the conditioned (CS) and
unconditioned (UCS) stimuli have been paired a number of times. Repeated
exposures_ repetition_ increases the strength of stimulus-response associations
and prevent the decay of these associations in memory. Some researches
indicate that the intervals between exposures may influence the effectiveness of
this strategy as well as the type of medium the marketer uses; the most effective
repetition strategy is a combination of spaced exposures that alternate in terms
of media that are more and less involving, such as television advertising
complemented by print media.
Stimulus Generalization
Stimulus generalization refers to the tendency of stimuli similar to a CS to
evoke similar, conditioned responses. For example, Pavlov noticed in
subsequent studies that his dogs would sometimes salivate when they heard
noises that only resembled a bell, such as keys jangling.

People also react to other, similar stimuli in much the same way they responded
to the original stimulus; we call this generalization a halo effect.
Stimulus Discrimination
Stimulus discrimination occurs when a UCS does not follow a stimulus similar
to a CS. When this happens, reactions weaken and will soon disappear. Part of
the learning process involves making a response to some stimuli but not to other,
similar stimuli.

When consumers pair nonsense syllables with such evaluative words as beauty
or success, the meaning transfer to the fake words. This change in the symbolic
significance of initially meaningless words shows that fairly simple associations
can condition even complex meaning, and the learning that results can last a long
time.

These associations are crucial to many marketing strategies that rely on the
creation ad perpetuation of brand equity, in which a brand has strong positive
association in a consumer’s memory and commands a lot of loyalty as a result.
Advertising wear-out
Consumers can become so used to hearing or seeing a marketing stimulus that
they no longer pay attention to it. Varying the way in which the marketer
presents the basic message can alleviate this problem of advertising wear-out.

Example: Toyota ran commercial featuring a reworked version of the Fixx’s

1983 hit “Saved by Zero” to promote its no-interest payment options so many
times that close to 10,000 fed-up viewers organized a Facebook group petition
the company for mercy.

As one worn-out group member posted “There have been worse commercials,
and there have been commercials that were played this often; but never before
has a commercial this bad been aired so much.
Marketing Application of Stimulus Generalization
The process of stimulus generalization often is central to branding and
packaging decisions that try to capitalize on consumers’ positive associations
with an existing brand or company name. We can clearly appreciate the value of
this kind of linkage when we look at universities with winning sports teams:
Loyalty fans snap up merchandise, from clothing to bathroom accessories,
emblazoned with the school’s name.

Family Branding_ Many products capitalize on the reputation of a company

name. Companies such as Campbell's, Heinz, and General Electric rely on their
positive corporate images to sell different product lines.
Marketing Application of Stimulus Generalization
Product Line Extension:
Marketers add related products to an established brand. Dole, which we
associate with fruit, introduced refrigerated juices and juice bars, whereas Sun
Maid went from raisins to raisin bread. The gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson
launched its own line of furniture and other home items.
Licensing:
Companies often “rent” well-known names, hoping that the learned associations
they have forged will “rub off” onto other kinds of products. Jamba Juice
recently launched a clothing line. Zippo Manufacturing Co., long known for its
“windproof” cigarette lighters, is marketing a men’s fragrance_ and on, it
doesn’t smell like lighter fluid.
Marketing Application of Stimulus Generalization
Look-Alike Packaging:
Distinctive packaging designs creates strong associations with a particular
brand. Companies that make generic or private-label brands and want to
communicate a quality image often exploit this linkage when they put their
products in packages similar to those of popular brands.

How does this strategy affect consumers’ perceptions of the original brand?

One study found that a negative experience with an imitator brand actually
increased consumers’ evaluation of the original brand, whereas a positive
experience with an imitator had the opposite effect of decreasing evaluations of
the original brand.
Marketing Application of Stimulus Generalization
Marketers of distinctive brands work hard to protect their designs and logos,
and each year companies file numerous lawsuits in so-called Lanham Act Cases
that hinge on the issue of consumer confusion:

How likely is that one company’s logo, product design, or package is so similar
to another that the typical shopper would mistake one for the other?

For example: Levi Strauss has sued almost 100 other apparel manufacturers that
it claim have borrowed its trademark pocket design of a pentagon surrounding a
drawing of a seagull in flight or its distinctive tab that it sews into its garments’
vertical seams.
Instrumental Conditioning
Instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning) occurs when we learn to
perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and avoid those that yield
negative outcomes.

We most closely associate this learning process with the psychologist B. F.

Skinner, who demonstrated the effect of instrumental conditioning by teaching
pigeons and other animals to dance, play ping pong, and perform other activities
when he systematically rewarded them for desire behavior.
Instrumental Conditioning
Instrumental Conditioning
Positive reinforcement
When the environment provides positive reinforcement in the form of a
reward, this strengthens the response and we learn the appropriate behavior.
For example: a woman who gets compliments after wearing obsession
perfume learns that using this product has the desired effect, and she will be
more likely to keep buying the product.
Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement also strengthens responses so that we learn the
appropriate behavior. A perfume company might run an ad showing a woman
sitting home alone on a Saturday night because she did not wear its fragrance.
The message this conveys is that she could have avoided this negative
outcome if only she had used the perfume.
Instrumental Conditioning

Punishment:
In contrast to situations where we
learn to do certain things in order to
avoid unpleasantness, punishment
occurs when unpleasant events follow
a response (such as when our friends
ridicule us if we wear a nasty-
smelling perfume). We learn the hard
way not to repeat these behaviors.
Instrumental Conditioning
Its important for marketers to determine the most effective reinforcement
schedule to use.
Fixed-Interval Reinforcement
After a specified time period has passed, the first response you make brings the
reward. Under such conditions, people tend to respond slowly right after they
get reinforced, but their responses get faster as the time for the next
reinforcement approaches.

For example: Consumer may crowd into a strong for the last day of its seasonal
sale and not reappear until the next one.
 Instrumental Conditioning

Variable-Interval Reinforcement:
The time that must pass before you get
reinforced varies based on some average.
Because you don’t know exactly when to expect
the reinforcement, you have to respond at a
consistent rate.

This is the logic behind retailers’ use of so-called

secret shoppers: People who periodically test for
service quality when they pose as customers at
unannounced times. Because store employees
never know exactly when to expect a visit, they
must maintain high quality constantly “just in
case”.
Instrumental Conditioning
Fixed-ratio reinforcement:
Reinforcement occurs only after a fixed number of responses. This schedule
motivates you to continue performing the same behavior over and over. For
example, you might keep buying groceries at the same store in order to earn a
prize when you collect 50 register receipts.

Variable-ratio reinforcement:
You get reinforced after a certain number of responses, but you don’t know how
many responses are required. People in such situations tend to respond at very
high and steady rates, and this type of behavior is very difficult to extinguish.
Cognitive Learning Theory
Cognitive learning theory approaches stress the importance of internal mental
processes. This perspective view people as problem solvers who actively use
information from the world around them to master their environments.
Supporters of this view also stress the role of creativity and insight during the
learning process.
Observational Learning
Observational learning occurs when we watch the actions of others and note the
reinforcements they receive for their behaviors. In these situations, learning
occurs as a result of vicarious rather than direct experience.

Modeling is the process of imitating the behavior of others. For example, a

women who shops for the new kind of the perfume may remember the reactions
of her friend received when she wore a certain brand several month earlier, and
she will mimic her friends’ behavior in the hope that she will get the same
feedback.
The Observational Learning Process

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Memory
Memory is a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it
will be available when we need it.
Encoding:
In the encoding stage, information enters in a way the system will recognize.
Storage:
In the storage stage, we integrate this knowledge with what is already in
memory and “warehouse” it until it is needed.
Retrieval:
During retrieval, we access the desired information.
The Memory Process

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Types of Meaning
Sensory Meaning:
Sometimes we process a stimulus simply in term of its sensory meaning, such as
the literal color or shape of package. We may experience a feeling of familiarity
when, for example, we see an ad for a new snack food we have recently tasted.

Semantic Meaning:
Semantic meaning refers to symbolic associations such as the idea that rich
people drink champagne or that fashionable women have navel piercing.
Memory System
Sensory memory System:
Sensory memory stores the information we receive from our senses. This
storage is very temporary; it last couple of seconds at most.

For example, a man who walks past a donut shop gets a quick, enticing whiff of
something baking inside. Although this sensation lasts only a few seconds, it is
sufficient to allow him to consider whether he should investigate further. If he
retains this information for further processing, it passes through an intentional
gate and transfer to short-term memory.
Memory System
Short Term Memory:
Short-term memory also stores information for a limited period of time, and it
has limited capacity. Similar to a computer, this system is working memory; it
holds the information we are currently processing. Our memories can store
verbal input acoustically (in terms of how it sounds) or semantically (in terms of
what is means).
Long Term Memory:
Long-term memory is the system that allows us to retain information for a long
period of time. A cognitive process we call elaborative rehearsal allows
information to move from short-term memory into long term memory. This
involves thinking about the meaning of a stimulus and relating it to other
information already in memory. Marketers sometimes assist in the process when
they devise catchy slogans or jingles that consumers repeat on their own.
How our Memory Store Information
The relationship between short-term memory and long-term memory is a source
of some controversy. Depending on the nature of the processing task, different
levels of processing occur that activate some aspects of memory rather than
other. We call these approaches activation models of memory. The more
effort it takes to process information (so-called deep processing), the more
likely it is that information will transfer into LTM.
Spreading Activation
The process of spreading activation allows us to shift back and forth among levels
of meaning. The way we store a piece of information in memory depends on the
way type of meaning we initially assign to it. For example we could store the
memory trace for an Axe men’s fragrance ad in one of more of the following ways:
• Brand- specific_ Memory is stored in terms of claims the brand makes (it’s macho)
• Ad – Specific _ Memory is stored in terms of the medium or content of the ad itself
(a macho – looking guy uses the product).
• Brand Identification_ Memory is stored in terms of the brand name (e.g., “Axe”).
• Product Category_ Memory is stored in terms of how the product works or where
it should be used.
• Evaluative reactions_ Memory is stored as positive or negative emotions.
What Makes Us Forget?
In a process of decay, the structural changes that learning produces in the brain
simply go away. Forgetting also occurs as a result of interference; as we learn
additional information, it displaces the earlier information.

Retroactive Interference:
Consumers my forget stimulus-response associations if they subsequently learn
new responses to the same or similar stimuli; we call this process retroactive
interference.
Proactive Interference:
Prior learning can interfere with new learning, a process we term proactive
interference.
State-Dependent Retrieval
State-dependent retrieval illustrates that we are better able to access
information if our internal state is the same at the time of recall as when we
learned the information. So, we are more likely to recall an ad if our mood or
level of arousal at the time of exposure is similar to that in the purchase time.
Familiarity and Recall
As a general rule, when we are already familiar with an item we’re more likely
to recall messages about it. Indeed, this is one of the basic goals of marketers
who try to create and maintain awareness of their products. The more
experience a consumer has with a product, the better use he or she makes of
product information.

When consumer are highly familiar with a brand or an advertisement, they may
not pay much attention to a message for it, because they do not believe that any
additional effort will increase their knowledge. We call this process
automaticity.
Salience and Recall
The salience of a brand refers to its prominence or level of activation in
memory. Stimuli that stand out in contrast to their environments are more likely
to command attention, which, in turn increases the likelihood that we will recall
them. Almost any technique that increases the novelty of a stimulus also
improves recall. This explains why unusual advertising or distinctive packaging
tends to facilitate brand recall.

The intensity and type of emotions we experience at the time also affect the way
we recall the event later. We recall mixed emotions (positive and negative
emotions) differently than unipolar emotions (either wholly positive or wholly
negative)
Pictorial versus Verbal Cues

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?

Certainly, visual aspects of an ad are more
likely to grab a consumer’s attention. In fact,
eye-movement studies indicate that about
90%of viewers look at the dominant picture
in an ad before they bother to view the copy.

Although pictorial ads may enhance recall,

they do not necessarily improve
comprehension. One study confirmed that
consumers typically recall ads with visual
figures more often and they like them better.
Recognition versus Recall
One indicator of good advertising is, of course, the impression it makes on us.
But how can we define and measure this impact?

Two basic measures of impact are recognition and recall. In the typical
recognition test, researchers show ads to subjects one at a time and ask if they
have seen them before. In contrast, free recall tests ask consumers to
independently think of what they have seen without being prompted for this
information first; obviously, this task requires greater effort on their part.
Nostalgia
The Marketing Power of Nostalgia
Nostalgia describes the bittersweet emotion that arises when we view the past
with both sadness and longing. References to “the good old days” are
increasingly common, as advertisers call up memories of youth and hope that
these feelings will translate to what they’re selling today.

A retro brand is an updated version of a brand from a prior historical period.

These products trigger nostalgia, and researchers find that they often inspire
consumers to think back to an era when life was more stable, simple, ore even
utopian. Very simply, they let us “look backward through rose-colored
glasses”.
Memory Lapses
People are also prone to forget information or retain inaccurate memories.
Typical problems include omitting (leaving facts out), averaging (the tendency
to “normalize” memories by not reporting extreme cases) and telescoping
(inaccurate recall of time).

These distortions are not just a problem in court cases that rely on eye witness
testimony.
 Thanks
&
Have a Nice Day