SESSION 4 KEY TOPICS

Note: Figures 6.2 through 6.6 inclusive from the text show important concepts
I.

Buyer Decision Process (5 Stages) Text Fig 6.5

A.
B.

C.

D.

E.

Problem or Need Recognition

- discrepancy between actual & desired states
- internal & external triggers
Information Search : Internal &/or External
- Sources of information: personal, commercial, public & experiential
- Influenced by level of involvement (interest) in the decision
- Memory (internal) search
- External search: personal, commercial, public, experiential sources of information
Evaluation of Alternatives
- Evaluation procedure depends on the consumer & the buying situation
- Attributes & importance weights are chosen as criteria
- Alternatives compared against the criteria
- individualistic nature of decision making
Purchase Decision
- Two factors intercede between purchase intentions & the actual decision:
- Attitudes of others
- Unexpected situational factors
Postpurchase Behaviour
- Satisfaction: relationship between consumer expectation & perceived performance
- Delighted consumers engage in positive word-of-mouth.
- Unhappy customers tell other people.
- Cognitive dissonance

4 Types of Buying Decision

Behaviour Fig 6.4

II.

Influences on Consumer Behaviour: 4 Categories Psychological, Personal, Social & Cultural

- Note: Students should note all of the influences in the text as only select areas will
be covered
A.
Psychological Factors
1.
Motivation - Maslows Hierarchy
- 5 levels of needs ranging from the most basic ones (physiological) to the most
complex (self-actualization)
- As the lower level of needs becomes satisfied the next higher level emerges as the
prime motivator of behaviour. Satisfied needs are not the prime motivators of
behaviour.
- Needs are never 100% satiated for extended periods of time and can re-emerge as
main motivators of behaviour (that is, to drive behaviour once again)
- Applications & a single communication can apply to more than 1 need level
2.
Perception
- The process by which people select, organize, & interpret information to form a
- meaningful picture of the world from 3 perceptual processes:

1. Selective attention
2. Selective distortion
3. Selective retention
- breaking through the selective barriers

Psychological Factors Continued

Learning
Belief is a descriptive thought that a person has
about something based on knowledge, opinion,
faith, etc.
Attitude is a persons relatively consistent
evaluations, feelings, & tendencies toward an
object or idea

3.

Categories of Adopters & Fig 6.6 (important for subsequent chapters)

Each category of adopters behaves differently toward new products.
Each group has different characteristics (students should make notes to combine
with subsequent chapters)
5 Important Product Characteristics that Influence the Rate of Innovation Adoption
1. Relative Advantage: Is the innovation superior to existing products?
2. Compatibility: Does the innovation fit the values & experience of the target
market?
3. Complexity: Is it difficult to use or understand?
4. Divisibility: Can it be used on a trial basis?
5. Communicability: Can the results be easily observed or described to others?
- Examples of other characteristics that can influence how quickly an innovation is
adopted
-

4.

B.

Personal Factors
1.
Personality & Brand Personality
- Brand Personality: The specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to a
particular brand
- Match brand personality to the consumers personality

2.

Brand personality traits: Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication,

Ruggedness

Lifestyle Analysis
1. Activities, Interests & Opinions (AIOs): note unlike demographics, there are no
preset categories to use. The following is a list of some of the more popular
ones that are used.

C. Social Factors
1.
Roles
2.
Canadas changing family structure Census 2011
Some trends include:
o Households without children are increasing
o Blended or Step-families are increasing
o Single parent households are increasing
o Increase in same sex marriages
o Increase in common-law & living together
o Multi-generation families living together
o Adult children staying at home longer or returning home, especially in large
urban centers partly due to economics
o Families are getting smaller
3.

Family Life Cycle (FLC) Stages examples of segmenting and targeting by stage

4.

Reference Groups
- Opinion Leaders For consumer goods it was hard to reach them individually
on a cost effective basis as they shared many of the same characteristics as
their followers (reference groups). The digital world and social networking have
changed all that. Often they are a products most passionate consumers, and
can serve as brand advocates. If dissatisfied, todays marketer will hear about it
louder and more often (& so will everyone else)
- Word-of-Mouth:
- Is now a strategy and no longer just a tactic to leverage. Marketers &
their agencies are no longer just in the message delivery business.
They are also in the message propagation business. Marketers can
stimulate word-of-mouth, but they do not control it. It can be
accomplished in several ways (see text).
- What is word-of-mouth? Its not about technology. It is about what
people do.
- Underlying theory from cognitive psychology as to why word-of-mouth
occurs & explains why some things go viral and others dont).
Consumers form their beliefs into schemas (mental models of how the
world works). They do this to avoid overload.

To stimulate word-of-mouth marketers disrupt an existing schema

Tactics: Interrupting schemas & conceptual blends (that is blending 2
familiar schema which forms a 3 unfamiliar one that is disruptive. When
a consumers schema is disrupted, it causes disequilibrium in the mind.
To achieve balance, consumers talk about the disruption to rationalize
it.
- If the disruption is too great or
incongruent (inconsistent with
the foundational truth of the
brand its positioning), then it
will not succeed not matter how
good the buzz tactics and
execution are. E.g. Vegas
campaigns
- If the disruption is too little, then
the risk I that it will not be of
sufficient interest to talk about it
to resolve it.
The power of a single tweet example
Buzz Marketing For a street level buzz campaign, hire a specialist in the
geographic area in order to recruit the appropriate ambassadors. The
information should be unique, appear privileged so that consumers will want to
hear it and pass it along.
-

D.

Cultural Factors
1.
Social Class summary of additional class differences at end of key topics
- Societys divisions who share values, interests and behaviours
- Multi-dimensional based on a number of factors education, occupation,
values, etc.
- It is not the same as income. Social class is NOT based solely on income.
- Issues that separate the social classes: use of language & symbols, perceived
risk, media habits, occupations, education
- See charts at end of key topics for descriptions of the class and examples of
differences between classes (These charts are an FYI for your information
only & not for exams)
- Social stratification in the online social media world - example
2.

Cultural & Subcultural Factors

- Culture: The set of basic values, perceptions, wants, & behaviours learned from
family & other important institutions.
- Influences a persons wants & behaviour
- We learn our culture through 4 institutions: family, school, religion & mass media
- Subculture: Groups of people within a culture with shared value systems based
on common life experiences & situations. E.g. Founding Nation Aboriginals
- Regional subcultural example
- Mature market subculture examples & challenges
- Ethnic subcultures challenges & opportunities

Note: Students should make notes on which cultural trends are relatively stable, and those which are
changing.

For Your Information Only Not For Exams

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIAL CLASSES
1. PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR
Clothing
Uppers & Middle: Style & fashion conscious
Working & Lower: Tend more towards comfort
Leisure Goods:
Upper-Middle: Active, movement sports, & natural serenity
Working & Upper-Lower: Lower activity level
Financial Services:
Uppers & Upper-Middle: Credit card for convenience. For loans - use banks, loan
companies, friends, etc.
Lowers: Credit cards for necessities & as installment credit.
Food Products:
Uppers & Upper-Middle: Symbolic expression of self-image
Working & Lower: Buy standard well-known brands
2. SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR
Uppers & Upper-Middle: Shop more frequently, discuss shopping with friends, focus on
task efficiency
Middle: Work more at shopping, higher anxiety levels regarding purchases
Lowers: Shop more impulsively, discuss shopping with family members
3. COMMUNICATIONS BEHAVIOUR
Classes use different expressions
Upper classes have voice & speech patterns that are perceived as more credible when
used in ads
4. PRICING BEHAVIOUR
Lowers: Limited price & product information. Price is often used as a cue for
quality. Tend not to wait to buy on sale, or stock up on sale items.
Upper class & upper middle consumers judge products on their own quality merits rather than
relying on price.

One Social Class Scheme

- Based on multiple measures: income, occupation, education, etc.