CHAPTER

4
Understanding
Consumer Behavior

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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES (LO)

After reading Chapter 4, you should be able to:

1. Describe the stages in the consumer purchase

decision process.
2. Distinguish among three variations of the consumer
purchase decision process: extended, limited, and
routine problem solving.
3. Identify the major psychological influences on
consumer behavior.
4. Identify the major sociocultural influences on
consumer behavior.

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 ENLIGHTENED CARMAKERS KNOW
WHAT CUSTOM(H)ERS VALUE

Women:
• Make 60% of new car buying
decisions
• Influence 87% of decisions
Key elements of their decisions:
• The sense of styling ©Whisson/Jordan/Corbis/Getty Images

• The need for speed

• The substance of safety
• The shopping experience

Women-Drivers.com
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 FIGURE 4-1 The purchase decision
process consists of five stages.

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Step 1: Problem Recognition

Purchase decision process

Problem recognition starts with the

difference between:
• Consumer’s ideal situation
• Consumer’s actual situation

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Step 2: Information Search

Information search: Seeking value

• Internal search
• External search
• Personal sources
• Public sources
• Marketer-dominated sources

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 FIGURE 4-2 Common consumer selection
criteria for evaluation of smartphones.

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Step 3: Alternative Evaluation

Alternative evaluation stage:

1. Suggests criteria for purchase
2. Yields brands that meet criteria
3. Develops value perception

Evaluative criteria

Consideration set

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Step 4: Purchase Decision

Purchase decision: Buying value

Make the purchase decision by:

1. Decide from whom to buy
2. Decide when to buy

©Seb Oliver/Cultura/Getty Images

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Step 5: Postpurchase Behavior

Postpurchase behavior: Realizing value

Customer satisfaction studies:

• Satisfied customers tell 3 people
• Dissatisfied customers will not buy
product again and will tell 9 people!

Cognitive dissonance

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 MARKETING MATTERS
How Much Is a Satisfied Customer Worth?

How much is customer satisfaction

worth?
• Frito-Lay: Average consumer spends
$52.50/year.
• Exxon: $500/year for gas.
• Kleenex: $994 over 60 years.
• GM: Increasing customer retention
from 60% to 80% is worth $100
million in profit per %. ©Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

• Research shows a 5% increase in

retention can increase profits by 70-
80%.
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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS:
Consumer Involvement And Problem Solving

Consumer involvement affects problem

solving.
Involvement
• Extended problem solving (high
involvement)
• Limited problem solving (medium
involvement)
• Routine problem solving (low involvement)

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 FIGURE 4-3 Comparison of problem-solving
variations: extended, limited, and routine.

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 SHREDDED WHEAT
What Strategy Is Used to Reduce Perceived Risk?

Why do Post cereals display heart-

healthy claims on packaging?

For example: 9 out of 10 doctors

recommend Post Shredded Wheat to
help reduce the risk of heart disease.

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS:
Consumer Involvement & Marketing Strategy

Low involvement
• Common products
• Maintain product quality
• Avoid stockouts
• Reduce cognitive dissonance with ads
High involvement
• Consumers seek information
• Use comparative ads
• Use personal selling

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 CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Situational Influences

Consumer journey map is a visual of

touchpoints between consumer and company.

Situational influences
1. Purchase task
2. Social surroundings
3. Physical surroundings
4. Temporal effects
5. Antecedent states

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 FIGURE 4-4 Apple consumer journey map and
consumer touchpoints for electronic devices sold in
Apple Stores.

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 FIGURE 4-5 Influences on the consumer purchase
decision process from both internal and external
sources.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer Motivation and Personality

Motivation
Hierarchy of needs
• Physiological needs
• Safety needs
• Social needs
• Personal needs
• Self-actualization needs Match.com

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 FIGURE 4-6 Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Personality
Personality
Self-concept
Key traits – Enduring characteristics of a
person:
• Assertiveness
• Extroversion
• Compliance
• Dominance
• And others

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (2 of 2)
Consumer Perception

Strategies to reduce perceived risk:

• Obtain seals of approval
• Secure endorsements
• Provide free trials/samples
• Give extensive instructions
©Whitebox Media/Alamy Stock Photo

• Provide warranties/guarantees

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (1 of 2)
Consumer Perception

Perception
• Selective perception
• Selective exposure
• Selective comprehension
• Selective retention

Subliminal Perception

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 MAKING RESPONSIBLE DECISIONS
The Ethics of Subliminal Messages

FTC – “Subliminal messages are deceptive,”

but they are not illegal.
• 2/3 of U.S. consumers think subliminal
messages are in commercials.
• 50% think this causes them to buy.

Are subliminal messages unethical?

©2004 by August Bullock. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. The SecretSalesPitch.com

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (1 of 2)
Consumer Learning

Learning
Behavioral learning develops automatic
responses to situations:
• Drive (need)
• Cue (symbol)
• Response (action)
• Reinforcement (reward)

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (2 of 2)
Consumer Learning

Behavioral learning concepts:

1. Stimulus generalization
2. Stimulus discrimination

Cognitive learning – Makes

connections between ideas

Brand loyalty – Favorable attitude

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (1 of 2)
Consumer Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes

Attitude formation – A learned response

to objects in consistent way (favorable or
unfavorable)
• Attitude
• Values affect attitudes
• Beliefs

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (2 of 2)
Consumer Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes

Three approaches to changing

attitudes:
1. Change beliefs about a brand’s
attributes.
2. Change perceived importance of
attributes.
3. Add new product attributes.

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer Lifestyle

Lifestyle

• How people spend their time and

resources.

• Lifestyle analysis is useful for targeting

consumers.

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 FIGURE 4-7 VALS™ identifies 8 consumer
segments.
1. Consumers with abundant resources
are near top of framework.
2. Consumers with minimal resources are
at the bottom of framework.
3. Consumer groups within a motivation
can be targeted together.

Ideals-motivated groups:
• Thinkers, Believers
Achievement-motivated groups:
• Achievers, Strivers
Self-expression–motivated groups:
• Experiencers, Makers
High- and low-resource groups:
• Innovators, Survivors
VALS Types
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 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Personal Influence

Consumer’s purchases are often

influenced by others.

Opinion leaders. Dove Video

Word of mouth.

Buzz can be either positive or negative.

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 MARKETING MATTERS
BzzAgent—The Buzz Experience

• Word-of-mouth experiences are

powerful.
• Worldwide volunteer army of talkers.
• Captures honest word of mouth. BzzAgent
Website
• “Agent” database of customers
receive sample product and manual
for creating buzz.
• Agents keep products and earn points.

©McGraw-Hill Education. ©BzzAgent 4-32

 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Reference Groups

Reference groups
Associative group
(belonging)

Brand community
Aspiration group (join) ©Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

Dissociative group (avoid)

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 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Family Influence (1 of 2)

Consumer socialization:
• Children learn to purchase by interacting
with adults and through their own purchase
experience.
Family life cycle:
• Traditional families are only 20% of all U.S.
households.
• Remaining 80% include single parents,
unmarried couples, divorced, etc.
• Buying preferences for each are different.
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 FIGURE 4-8 Modern family life cycle
stages and flows.

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 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
FAMILY INFLUENCE (2 of 2)

Family decision making has two styles:

1. Spouse-dominant
2. Joint

Family member roles:

3. Information gatherer
4. Influencer
5. Decision maker
6. Purchaser
7. User
©Jochen Sand/Getty Images

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 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
CULTURE AND SUBCULTURE INFLUENCES (1 of 3)

Culture and subcultures Nissan Ad

Hispanic buying patterns:

1. Quality and brand conscious.
2. Prefer American-made products.
3. Influenced by family and peers.
4. Advertising is credible product
information source.
5. Convenience is not important.

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 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
CULTURE AND SUBCULTURE INFLUENCES (2 of 3)

African-American buying patterns:

1. Spend more on boys’ clothing, rental
goods, smartphones, audio equipment.
2. Women spend more on health and
beauty products.
3. Income disparities.
4. Price conscious.
5. Motivated by quality and choice.

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 SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
CULTURE AND SUBCULTURE INFLUENCES (3 of 3)

Asian-American buying patterns:

1. 66% are immigrants.
2. Most under 30 years old.
3. Multigenerational households.
4. Diversity in language,
customs, tastes.
5. Hard work, family ties,
education.

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 VIDEO CASE 4
COPPERTONE: CREATING THE
LEADING SUN CARE BRAND BY
UNDERSTANDING CONSUMERS

Coppertone
Video Case

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 VIDEO CASE 4
Coppertone (1 of 5)

1. How has an understanding of

consumer behavior helped
Coppertone grow in the United
States and around the globe?

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 VIDEO CASE 4
Coppertone (2 of 5)

2. Describe the five-stage purchase-

decision process for a Coppertone
customer.

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 VIDEO CASE 4
Coppertone (3 of 5)

3. What are the possible situational,

psychological, and sociocultural
influences on the Coppertone
consumer purchase decision
process?

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 VIDEO CASE 4
Coppertone (4 of 5)

4. What specific marketing activities

does Coppertone utilize to help
Coppertone grow in the
marketplace?

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 VIDEO CASE 4
Coppertone (5 of 5)

5. What challenges does Coppertone

face in the future? What actions
would you recommend related to
each challenge?

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 DIGITAL IN-CLASS
ACTIVITY 4-1
USING VALS TO UNDERSTAND
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

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 DIGITAL IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 4-1
Understanding Consumer Behavior

Learning Objectives:
1. Build understanding of lifestyle as an
important component of consumer
behavior.
2. Understand your individual
personality type.
3. Build marketing programs targeted for
specific personality types.

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 DIGITAL IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 4-1
Understanding Consumer Behavior

Activity Steps:
1. Show the VALS types framework.
2. Take the VALS survey.
3. Teams: Discuss your profiles.

VALS Types VALS Survey

Framework

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 DIGITAL IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 4-1
Understanding Consumer Behavior

Activity Steps (Cont.):

4. Teams: Develop marketing plan for
specific VALS types.
5. Example: How would this product be
marketed to Thinkers? Achievers?
Experiencers? Etc.?
6. Are all products appropriate for all
VALS types?

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 DIGITAL IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 4-1
VALS Types Framework

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 IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 4-1
BUYING PROCESS FOR
STARBUCKS VIA™ READY BREW
INSTANT COFFEE

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 ICA 4-1
Starbucks Via™ Ready Brew Instant Coffee

Purchase Decision Process

Starbucks Starbucks
Website Video

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