BM01MM CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
1 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
LECTURE 2-9-2021
SECTION 1: Course Introduction
About consumer behaviour
1. General theoretical frameworks (vb. associative networks)
2. Specific theoretical frameworks (vb. branding theories)
3. Effects (bv. Mere-exposure effect)
How the course is structured, with examples of networks/theories/ effects. Both top down as bottom up.
The mere-exposure effect = presented participants with fake Chinese symbols → asked to rate the symbols →
higher rate of symbols they have seen more often/ they recognize the words we already know.
We can attach meaning to words like TAN/ CLEM stocks and that is why we choose them to invest in, only
because it feels recognizable.
Also with brands you have the same exposure effect: APPL or Apple → people choose Apple, because it is more
fluent and seemed more familiar → people buy more stocks of it.
How recognizable is something? Plays a big role in how we experience value.
Why are studies like this important?
- Brand like Kleenex you ask to someone: “Can you pass me a Kleenex” instead of a tissue. Or: “Give me
some Band-Aid” instead of bandage. Band aid is also a brand.
Comfort, familiarity, safeness, feel of goodness spreads more → you need to attach a new product to
something people already know in order to brand the product successfully.
Grading
1. Group assignment (paper and presentation) = 40%
2. Teammates evaluation = 5%
3. Exam = 55%
Inside the mind of the consumer:
- Why do you buy things? Bv a car
- A lot of ads are of products you never googled before
- Algorithm of FB identified the kind of person that would want to develop ukulele lessons for example
(things you never googled before)
- We are not trying to build of model for every separate person, but EVERY person, not an individual
brain, but how are people acting? Build and map out all of your interest to figure out: what do you
want -> try to offer things that you want or need.
What is consumer behaviour?
- Products, services, ideas and experiences & related stimuli (ads/ wom/ etc..)
1
, - Study individuals/ groups/ organisations of consumers
- Affect = the feelings you get towards something, vb. guilt, happy, sad, positive or negative feelings etc.
Vb. how you feel on your birthday
- Cognition = the way that you would describe the affect, write it down what happens. VB. on your
birthday you describe what you did, the actual things what happened: eating cake, went to shop etc…
Rationalize what you feel, words to capture how you feel, vb. when you are having a fight with your
brother and try to explain how you feel
- Behaviour = this is effected by how you feel (affect) and how you rationalize this (cognition) → this is
the focal part of what we are interested in
See model on the slide!!
Not about changing your preferences but about changing your behaviour! Try to influence the affect and
cognition and eventually the behaviour of people.
Questions consumer behaviour can answer → not only advertising, it is about broader strategy research
thinking about the nature of market place → we study human patterns, that can be used for commercial aims,
but also other behaviour influences, vb. wearing masks.
Consumer puzzles → vb. a stair and an escalator to the gym where they work out… Makes sense if you think
about human behaviour. Quite rational if you look at underline drivers.
Or other example → subscription on print only is the same price! People choose it a lot. Or the price of
attending the conference AND being a member and join the conference -> no difference in price!
We follow the basic lines of supply and demand. You weight product price against quantity sold. But sometimes
we deviate of what is rational vb. apple products → very expensive!! Psychological theory understands this
(more value then only how strong the processor is, etc.) but economic theory not so much. People want a
MacBook for different reasons: fitting in, being cool, not be a loser, etc.
People do not decide random → do people decide random with flipping a coin? Heads or tails? The more data
we have about this, the less random it seems to be, the less random the behaviour is.
Consumer behaviour research:
1. Topics: motivation, advertising effect, etc
2. Theories: psychology, economics, etc
3. Methods: experiment, surveys
Who studies consumer behaviour?
1. Marketers
2. Social organization -> not about selling a product, but also not directly coming from policy makers
3. Public policy makers
We need to keep in mind: people have limited attention. Vb. Haïti overmaken geld bij orkaan -> moet je ze aan
herinneren. You need advertising to try and change people’s minds, vb. gender change, inclusion, social
movements LGBTQ community → often we need to advocate for this group, how do people perceive others?
You need to know this in order to develop messaging, try to reach and move society. First you need to
understand! How do people behave.
Consumer decision process:
Key elements -> how do you buy? Process MODEL:
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,1. Need recognition -> before thinking about buying or consuming something. W
a. What is a need? = discrepancy between actual and desired state = indifference zone.
b. You don’t have a house -> you desire to have one -> that is a need
c. If there is a change in the desired state -> you get out of the indifference zone -> vb. running
out of trash bags, but have a lot of garbage than you get out of the indifference zone to go to
the shop to buy some. When you don’t really need new trash bags -> still in the indifference
zone
d. What changes desired states?
i. Life stage changes (bv. Start working -> new clothes, start family -> new products) →
creates a desire for new products
ii. New tastes (bv. New haircuts, trends etc) -> identity related
iii. New technologies (bv. New phones, scooters, only when the iPhone launched, we
realize we want things, before that moment people really didn’t desire it). Apple
created a desire instead of sharing the possibilities to consumers about the product
(technologies).
e. The change in actual stage. Our tolerance between the actual and desired stage = the
indifference zone. VB. stock depletion (no more trash bags), problem removal (stains in
clothes), problem avoidance (insurance -> buy yourself a sense of security)
2. Search for information
a. Internal → retrieval from memory
b. External → marketer sources (websites, brochures, salespeople, advertising, influencers, etc)
// non-marketer sources (other consumers wom, organisations, media, government, google
ratings, reviews)
c. Information processing is about:
i. External information comes in, you need to be exposed to this information,
otherwise there is no way for you to process this. First notice it but also interpret it!
Next step…
ii. Perception (exposure → attention → interpretation). You think about it and engage
in this information.
iii. Memory
d. Heuristic (ad-hoc, convenience based, relies on rules of thumb) // systematic search
(organized, comprehensive, effortful)
i. Heuristic = less risk, low level of involvement, more knowledge, less time. VB. toilet
paper
ii. Systematic = more risk, high level of involvement, less knowledge, more time. VB.
food if you have an allergy/ laptops/ houses/ insurance/ etc…
e. Consideration of options model:
i. Universal set = all possible options
ii. Awareness set = options one is aware of
iii. Evoked set = options one can recall
iv. Consideration set = options one will consider
f. You do not process 10K products in an Albert Heijn. Maybe 50-100 products when you walk
through the ails. There is only a subset in your awareness set. Often we do not buy things
that are in front of us. We want a limited subset.
3. Pre-purchase evaluation of alternatives → sometimes you do it for entertainment not because you
need it, vb. scroll down Zalando. Once you acquire the information you need to use it to make
decisions. Main topic throughout this course!
a. Evaluation criteria -> vb. you need a new phone -> search for information, focus on three
attributes.
b. Judgement models or decision rules
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, i. Compensatory models (very simplistic) -> vb. I care mostly about battery, so the
phone with the best battery will be bought. Involve some effort: how important is
this for me?
ii. Non-compensatory models -> vb. I want a huge screen, don’t care about the other
factors
c. Consumer decision process – continuum (same thing with heuristic/ systematic!!)
i. Limited problem solving (LPS)
ii. Extended problem solving (EPS)
iii. From LPS to EPS: more effort & time spent on decision (information gathered,
processing of info, more alternatives considered, etc.)
d. When do we engage in LPS?
i. Limited importance of product (low-risk)
ii. Limited availability of time/ resources
iii. Similarity of alternatives → indifference
4. Purchase → once you have made your decision. The fact that people deviate from their plan, vb.
doing groceries and buying candy on the way out. Often times there is a gap between planned
behaviour and actual behaviour.
a. Decisions on:
i. Purchase time (immediate or delayed, it if is delayed, the plan is harder to hold on
to) -> vb. crypto good example of consumer behaviour -> predict how people feel
about the digital currencies
ii. Mode of purchase (web, store, catalog)
iii. Place/ store
iv. Quantity -> also crypto currencies, if more people have it, more people buy it
b. Even after the choice is made, purchases can be modified (sold out etc..)
5. Consumption → how do people consume?
a. Timing, frequency, volume of use → important for packaging and affects satisfaction → not
only the goal to sell a product, but also the after care of consuming it. Think about it!!
b. Mode of use → proper use (instruction following), alternate uses (vb. use a rubberen
zwembad ding als toy)
6. Post-consumption evaluation → expectations are crucial!!
a. Satisfaction: products meets or exceeds expected performance → want people to remember
your good product or service
b. Dissatisfaction: product performs below expectation → bad word of mouth etc..
c. 3 sources of consumption value (!!!):
i. Anticipatory consumption → before you go on a trip, you are very excited, you
expect to have a good time → you build expectations using your memory of previous
information of trips. It’s a combination of expectation and imagination of something
that didn’t even happen yet. If you imagine something you already feel excited.
ii. The act of consuming → a lot of experiences are fleeting, but on the holiday (the
actual consumption) is enjoyable
iii. Enjoying memory of past consumption → it let’s you re-experience the holiday if you
tell stories about it. The first and the last day are the days you most remember →
make it unforgettable as hotel!!
7. Disposal → not spending a lot of time on that in this course
A decision is not made in isolation → see complex map with all the factors that play a role in the decision
making process.
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