UNC BUSI562 Consumer Behavior

consumer behavior

the study of the processes involved when individuals/groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs & desires

consumer behavior process/stages

selection, purchase, use, disposal

motivations to consume

people often consume not for what the consumption item does but for what the consumption item means & how it makes us feel

needs

what we need to survive/reach a goal

wants

how we manifest these needs

utilitarianism

function/use

hedonic

emotional/feel

demographics

observable things we can see about a consumer

psychographics

interests, activities, opinion

consumer brand relationships

we form relationships with brands the same way we form them with people

role theory

following normative behaviors within a specific role

self-concept attachment

we consume in ways to show who we are

nostalgic attachment

we consume to take us back to a time when things were simpler/easier

interdependence

becomes part of our routine; interdependent on it for daily activities

love

we can consume in ways so much that we form really strong bonds with products

horizontal revolution

communication top down where business/brand tells us what to think about their items vs consumers teaching other consumers about items/brand

metaverse

don't have to consume in phsyical environment (online w/ virtual community)

PESTLE

political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental

cultural jamming

strategy to disrupt efforts by the corporate world to dominate our cultural landscape

market access

extent to which a consumer has the ability to find & purchase goods & services

cancel culture

phenomenon of the public calling out companies for missteps & recommending that consumer's boycott the guilty brands

intention behavior gap

we have good intentions --> "blah maybe later"

SHIFT framework

social influence, habits, individual self, feelings & cognition, tangibility

social marketing

promotion of causes & ideas (social products), such as energy conservation, charities, and population control

cause marketing

a strategy that aligns a compnay/brand with a cause to generate business & societal benefits

greenwashing

when companies make false/exaggerated claims about how environmentallly friendly their products are

sustainability

an emphasis on creating & maintaining the conditions under which humans & nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, & other requirements of present & future generations

consumption

all facets of the consumer behavior process, including how they choose & purchase things, & how they communicate their identity & sense of self in society

stages of perception

(1) exposure: when a stimulus comes within range of someone's sensory receptors

(2) attention: extent to which processing acitivity is devoted to that particular stimulus

(3) interpretation: where the perceiver decides what the stimulus means

sensory marketing

stimulate purchases by playing on consumer's sensations & provoking emotional & cognitive reactions (vision, scent, sound, touch, taste)

*marketers that can appeal to 2+ senses have a greater ability for consumers to remember

schema

set of beliefs based on experiences you've had before

sensory threshold

when a stimulus is strong enough to make a conscious impact on one's awareness

weber's law

the stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a change in the stimulus must be for us to notice it

attracting attention

size, color, position, novelty, experience

perceptual vigilance

we're going to pay attention to things we want to look at/that are relevant to us

perceptual defense

block out stuff not interested in (offensive/triggering/alarming)

adaptation

the degree to which consumers continue to notice a stimulus over time

intensity

how strong the stimulus is

discrimination

to what extent are we willing to analyze/discriminate/process

relevance

pay attention to tings relevant to us; adapt to things that are not

semiotics

how can i match a meaning/feeling/interpretation to a sign?

(1) object: message focus

(2) sign: sensory image that represents the intended meanings of the object

(3) interpretant: meaning we derive from the sign

brand positioning

attributes; relative to competitors; where you're at & where you can move to; opportunities

incidental learning

casual, unintentional acquisition of knowledge

behavioral learning

focuses on stimulus-response connections

classical conditioning

a stimulus that elicits a response is paired with another stimulus that initially doesn't elicit a response on its own

instrumental conditioning

individual learns to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes & to avoid those that yield negative ones

halo effect

take something we've been conditioned to associate positively

brand equity

a brand has strong postiive associations in a consumer's memory & thus commands loyalty

repetition

keep concepts at forefront of the brain, strengthen connections, store in longterm memory, activate network

stimulus generalization

tendency for stimuli similar to a conditioned stimulus to evoke similar, unconditioned responses (family branding, product line extensions, licensing, lookalike packaging)

consumer socialization

process used to acquire skills & knowledge (parental influence)

associative networks

the other products we assocate with an individual product influence how we will remember it

levels of knowledge

we code elements at different levels of abstraction & complexity

nostalgia

the memories that arise when we view the past

forgetting

decay, interference, motivated forgetting

types of memory

(1) sensory: temporary storage of information received from the senses [capacity: low; duration; < 1 sec - a few seconds]

(2) short-term: brief storage of information currently being used [capacity: limited; duration: < 20 secs]

(3) long-term: relatively permanent storage of information [capcity: unlimited; duration: long/permanent]

motivation

the processes that lead people to behave as they do

goal

desired end-state

drive theory

biological needs that produce unpleasant states of arousal (degree of motivation depends on distance between your present state & the goal)

utilitarian

objective, tangible attributes (functional)

hedonic

subjective, experiential

hedonic consumption

refers to the multisensory, fantasy, & emotional aspects of consumer's interactions with products

maslow's hierarchy

physiological, safety, social, esteem, self-actualization, self-transcendence

motivational conflict

approach-approach; approach-avoidance; avoidance-avoidance

involvement

a person's perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values, & interests

types of involvement

product, message, situational

increasing involvement

mass customization, DIY, co-creation, gamification

increasing message involvement

novel, prominent, celebrity, values, new media platforms

increasing situational involvement

personalization, high tech, subscription boxes

perceived risk

monetary, functional, physical, social, psychological

attitude

a lasting, general evaluation of people, objects, advertisements, or issues

attitude object

anything toward which one has an attitude

utilitarian function

relates to rewards & punishments

value-expressive function

expresses consumer's values or self-concept

ego-defensive function

protect ourselves from external threats/internal feelings

knowledge function

need for order, structure, or meaning

attitude commitment

intenralization, identification, compliance

consistency principle

we seek harmony among our bleiefs, attitudes & behaviors

multi-attribute models

attribute models identify specific components & combine them to predict a consumer's overall attitude toward a product/brand

salient beliefs; evlauation of each of the important attributes; object-attribute linkage

*The Fishbein Model

marketing applications of the multiattribute model

(1) capitalize on relative advantage

(2) strengthen perceived linkages

(3) add a new attribute

(4) influence competitor's ratings

persuasion

(1) reciprocity - obligation to give when you receive

(2) scarcity - desire to have those things that are limited because they are dwindling, scarce, limited in availability

(3) authority - desire to trust & agree due to expertise/credibility/competence

(4) consistency - desire to behave as you stated you would

(5) liking - desire ot agree w/ ppl who resemble / share values w/ you

(6) social proof/consensus - desire to follow the lead of a similar other

memory

(1) encoding (2) storage (3) retrieval

communications model

identifies several important components for marketers when they try to change consumers' attitudes toward products & services (source, message, medium, consumer, feedback)

mood

temporary positive/negative affective states accompanied by moderate levels of arousal

mood congruency

idea that people's judgments tend ot be shaped by their moods

theory of reasoned action

an updated version of the Fishbein multiattribute attitude theory that considers factors such as social pressure & the attitude toward the act of buying a product, rather than simply attitudes toward the product itself

cognitive consistency

belief that consumers value harmony among their thoughts, feelings, & behaviors & that they're motivated to maintain uniformity among these elements

balance theory

considers relations among elements a person might perceive as belonging together, & people's tendency to change relations among elemnts to make them consistent or "balanced"

rational decision making

(1) problem recognition

(2) information search

(3) evlauate alternatives

(4) product choice

(5) post-purchase evaluation

evoked state

the alternatives a consumer knows about

consideration set

the alternatives a consumer seriously considers

evaluative criteria

dimensions we use to judge merits of competing options

determinant attributes

features we actually use to differentiate among our choices

habitual decision making

describes the choices we make with little or no conscious effort

inertia

decisions we make with little thought

brand loyalty

conscious decisions to repeatedly purchase the same brand

heuristics

mental rules of thumb that lead to a speedy decision (covariation, country of origin, familiar brand names, higher prices)

mental accounting

framing a problem in terms of gains/losses influences our decisions (sunk-cost fallacy & loss aversion)

priming

cues in the environment that make us more likley to react in a certian way even though we're unaware of these influences

nudging

a deliberate change by an organization that intends to modify behavior