Chpt 1 - Intro to Consumer Behaviour

what are we trying to do with consumer behaviour?

• looking for hidden behaviour in ppl

• what is the psychological construct behind buying behaviour that makes people buy stuff?

consumer behaviour is seen as a ___ that consists of what 4 steps?

• a process.

• select, purchase, use, dispose

when does “behaviour” happen?

prepurchase, purchase, and postpurchase

• we have questions at every stage

insight helps us do what?

explain the WHY behind peoples behavior

• behavior → insight → strategy (marketing mix) → market response

segmentation: what are demographics?

age, income, life stage, geography

segmentation: what are psychographics?

values, lifestyle, interests, personality

whats more expensive, psychographics or demographics?

psychographics

• more specific behavioral data, takes more money to get this info

how can we get even more specific with our segmentation?

move from segmentation to personalization

• mass market → segments → micro segments → individual personalization

how do we achieve individual personalization/psychographic segmentation of an offering?

by using algorithms and consumer data

• this is also more expensive BUT we are getting a better personalization of consumer needs

what is a construct in this class’s context?

an abstract, unobservable concept or theoretical variable used in research to study complex consumer behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions

1st construct: functional value

• what a product does

• performance, comfort, durability, price

2nd construct: symbolic value

• what a product says

• identity, status, belonging, values, aspiration

• Identity: singling out your identity with a brand: Harley davidson (anarchist, free spirit)

• Status: paying a premium for a product that could be a status symbol: Balenciaga

• Belonging: making the same purchase others do to fit in

• Values: brand shares values that you have, that can influence your purchase

• Aspiration of a brand can influence you to buy it

in a marketing context, are we free to be ourselves?

We are but we will most likely be judged if we stray from the status quo

• music, food, clothing, brands, community

• this shapes our purchases and behavior whether we notice it or not

when we ask about a product, who do we consult and allow to influence our decision?

1. friends and family

2. influencers and creators

3. reviews and communities

4. algorithms and platforms

algorithms and platforms: how do we interact w them when it comes to products?

• we feed it information about what we like, what we want, and it stores the information and combines it w all the other info it has on us

• LLMs have the power to learn more about us, in a way we cant even learn about ourselves

  • Computers as social actors = CASA

  • They know us better than we do, bc we tell it everything

  • Ai becomes an echo chamber = feeds itself more info thru you

LLMs can have ___ ___ like humans do

sensory bias

• the practice of using subconscious sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches to influence how consumers perceive and buy products

• AI agents are the new marketplace intermediary

3rd construct: algorithm aversion

Not wanting to use ai bc of fears about it being unreliable, creepy, and not human

4th construct: dehumanization

when companies perceive humans as numerical data points and treat them that way.

• this trend has become especially prominent with the emergence of big data in marketing.

• Companies have increasingly started ignoring people’s unique human qualities and reducing them to data points.

marketing and culture shape each other. what happens when we use GenAi to market our products?

it lowers the cost of producing and personalizing culture

processes have changed: ownership is now a subscription, mass messages is now personalization, search is now conversation, human only decisions are now…

ai-mediated decision

as AI asks for information, and then tries to persuade you, and then nudge you to make a purchase, what can it quickly snowball into?

manipulation → its not a human, how would it know where to draw the line?

what is part of the dark side of consumer behaviour?

• addictive consumption

  • problematic dependence

• compulsive consumption

  • repeated, difficult to control buying

• harmful overconsumption

  • excessive or risky consumption

• illegal/harmful consumer activity

  • counterfeit, theft, harmful markets

what do emerging ai based methods still need?

human validation against real consumer behavior