Marketing Communication Summary
PART B: THE CONSUMER
Week 4 – Consumer decision-making
Belch, G. E., & Belch M. A. (2014/2017). Chapter 4: Perspectives on consumer behaviour, pp. 108-138.
Consumer behaviour= the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using,
evaluating, and disposing of products and services to satisfy their needs and desires.
The consumer’s purchase decision process (cognitive orientation) is generally viewed as consisting of stages through
which the buyer passes in purchasing a product or service. This model shows that decision making involves a number of
internal psychological processes.
The consumer decision-making process
5 stages through which consumers go to decide what to buy and when to buy it.
Each of the five stage is accompanied by different psychological processes, however we don’t always engage in all five
stages when making a decision about a purchase. Purchases could also be based on routine and habit.
A) Stages in the consumer decision-making process:
1) Problem/need recognition: the consumer perceives a need and becomes motivated to solve the problem. A person
recognizes that they have a certain need. E.g. need to communicate with someone who is not in the same room.
The problem recognition stage initiates the subsequent decision processes.
A discrepancy (onovereenstemming) exists between what the consumer wants the situation to be like and what
the situation is really like.
Sources of problem recognition:
o Out of stock: Problem recognition occurs when consumers use their existing supply of a product and must
replenish their stock. E.g. toothpaste, basic things you need every day.
o Dissatisfaction: Problem recognition is created by the consumer’s dissatisfaction with the current state of
affairs and/or the product or service being used. E.g. someone’s boots are no longer comfortable anymore.
o New needs/wants: Changes in consumers’ lives often result in new needs and wants. Changes in one’s
financial situation, employment status, or lifestyle may create new needs and trigger problem recognition.
E.g. You need a suit for work.
o Related products/purchases: Problem recognition can also be stimulated by the purchase of a product. E.g.
after you bought an iPhone you want to buy the air pods.
o Marketer-induced problem recognition (marketing related): Another source of problem recognition is
marketers’ actions that encourage consumers not to be content with their current state or situation. E.g.
personal hygiene products.
o New products: Problem recognition can also occur when innovative products are introduced and brought to
the attention of consumers. E.g. The newest iPhone has the newest and best functionalities.
2) Search for information: consumers begin to search for information needed to make a purchase decision. Information
that will help them satisfy the need that they have recognized that they have. The person searches for products and
brands in the market that will satisfy the need. E.g. the consumer is searching for information about mobile phones
Internal search: (begins with) an attempt to scan information stored in memory to recall past experiences
and/or knowledge regarding various purchase alternatives.
, External search: internet sources, personal sources, marketer-controlled (commercial) sources, public sources
and personal experience
3) Evaluation of alternatives: the consumer compares the various brands or products and services he or she has
identified as being capable of solving the consumption problem and satisfying the needs or motives that initiated the
decision process. E.g. old school phones are cheap/ limited in functions, but smartphones allow a lot of possible
functions but are a bit expensive/ different brands/ different quality etc.
Evoked set/the consideration set: the various brands identified as purchase options to be considered during the
alternative evaluation process.
o Marketers use advertising to create top-of-mind awareness among consumers so that their brands are
part of the evoked set of their target audiences.
Evaluative Criteria and Consequences: Once consumers have identified an evoked set and have a list of
alternatives, they must evaluate the various brands.
o Evaluative criteria: the dimensions or attributes of a product or service that are used to compare
different alternatives. Can be objective or subjective.
(1) Functional consequences are concrete outcomes of product or service usage that are
tangible and directly experienced by consumers.
(2) Psychosocial consequences are abstract outcomes that are more intangible, subjective, and
personal, such as how a product makes you feel or how you think others will view you for
purchasing or using it.
4) Purchase decision: Purchase intentions are generally based on a matching of purchase motives with attributes or
characteristics of brands under consideration. A purchase decision is not the same as an actual purchase. Once a
consumer chooses which brand to buy, he or she must still implement the decision and make the actual purchase ➔
time delay, because additional decisions may be needed, such as when to buy, where to buy, and how much money to
spend. E.g. the consumer decided that she needs an affordable android phone
5) Post-purchase evaluation: after using the product or service, the consumer compares the level of performance with
expectations and is either satisfied or dissatisfied. The purchase is made and the consumer starts using the product. E.g.
The consumer starts analysing if she has made the right decision. If this product satisfies her need this will lead to
delight, but if the decision was wrong she might experience cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance: a feeling of psychological tension or post purchase doubt that a consumer experiences after
making a difficult purchase choice.
o Dissonance is more likely to occur in important decisions where the consumer must choose among close
alternatives (especially if the unchosen alternative has unique or desirable features that the selected
alternative does not have).
B) Relevant internal psychological processes:
1) Motivation: the factors that compel a consumer to take a particular action.
The hierarchy of needs theory: postulates five basic levels of human needs, arranged in a hierarchy based on
their importance
o Physiological: basic needs. E.g. hunger, thirst
o Safety: Security, protection
o Social: Sense of belonging, love
o Esteem: Self-esteem, recognition, status
o Self-actualization: Self-development, realization
Lower-level needs are an ongoing source of motivation for consumer purchase behavior. However, since basic
physiological needs are met in most developed countries, marketers often sell products that fill basic
physiological needs by appealing to consumers’ higher-level needs.
Psychoanalytic theory: consumers’ motivations for purchasing are often very complex and unclear to the casual
observer — and to the consumers themselves. Many motives for purchase and/ or consumption may be driven
by deep motives one can determine only by probing the subconscious.
o Motivation Research in Marketing: gain insight into the underlying causes of consumer behavior. For
example via in-depth interviews, projective techniques, association tests and focus groups.
, o Critique on psychoanalytic theory: small sample size, too vague, because of the emphasis on the
unconscious results are difficult if not impossible to verify, lack of experimental validation.
2) Perception: the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a
meaningful picture of the world.
Marketers are particularly interested in (1) how consumers sense external information, (2) how they select and
attend to various sources of information, and (3) how this information is interpreted and given meaning.
Perception is an individual process; it depends on internal factors such as a person’s beliefs, experiences, needs,
moods, and expectations.
Perception involves three distinct processes:
o Sensation: the immediate, direct response of the senses (taste, smell, sight, touch, and hearing) to a
stimulus such as an ad, package, brand name, or point-of-purchase display.
o Selecting information: psychological inputs explain why people focus attention on some things and
ignore others.
o Interpreting the information: organizing, categorizing, and interpreting the incoming information ➔
filtering process.
Selective perception: occurs as consumers choose whether or not to make themselves available
to information.
Selective exposure: occurs as consumers choose whether or not to make themselves
available to information. E.g. a viewer may leave the room during a commercial break ->
they choose not to be exposed. Most important phase. Without being noticed the rest
of the steps won’t happen.
Selective attention: occurs when the consumer chooses to focus attention on certain
stimuli while excluding others. E.g. people are exposed to thousands of ads every day.
Coca-Cola uses the bright colour red that stands out.
Selective comprehension: is interpreting information on the basis of their own
attitudes, beliefs, motives, and experiences. They often interpret information in a
manner that supports their own position. E.g. an ad that disparages a consumer’s
favourite brand may be seen as biased or untruthful, and its claims may not be accepted
Selective retention: which means consumers do not remember all the information they
see, hear, or read even after attending to and comprehending it. E.g. advertisers make
sure people will remember their product with mnemonics such as symbols, rhymes and
images.
Mnemonics such as symbols, rhymes, associations, and images that assist in the learning and
memory process are helpful to remember something.
Subliminal perception: the ability to perceive a stimulus that is below the level of conscious
awareness.
3) Attitude formation: an attitude is a consumer’s evaluation of an object (or brand or company) and represents positive
or negative feelings and behavioral tendencies.
A multiattribute attitude model views an attitude object, such as a product or brand, as possessing a number of
attributes that provide the basis on which consumers form their attitudes.
Salient beliefs: beliefs concerning specific attributes or consequences that are activated and form the basis of an
attitude.
The multiattribute model provides insight into several ways marketers can influence consumer attitudes,
including:
o Increasing or changing the strength or belief rating of a brand on an important attribute (Colgate Optic
White toothpaste has the best whitening power).
o Changing consumers’ perceptions of the importance or value of an attribute (Michelin tires provide
higher gas mileage and safety).
o Adding a new attribute to the attitude formation process (the product is environmentally friendly
[Clorox Green]).
o Changing perceptions of belief ratings for a competing brand (GM shows its cars can compete with
anyone’s).
