Consumer Behavior, Module 3

Before an ad, a tweet, a product sample, or a store display can affect consumers, they must be

Exposed to it

Exposure is

The process by which the consumer comes in physical contact with a stimulus

Marketing stimuli is the

Information about commercial offerings communicated either by the marketer (like in ads) or by nonmarketing sources (like word of mouth)

The best products and services fail to be successful if

Consumers are not aware of them

Marketers want consumers to be exposed to stimuli that

Portray their offerings in a favorable light or at a time when consumers may be interested in such products

Various factors can influence the likelihood that consumers will be exposed to the marketer’s brand:

• Position of an ad within a medium

• Product placement

• Product distribution and shelf placement

Selective exposure is defined as when

Consumers actively seek out certain stimuli and avoid or resist others

Skipping is when a consumer

Avoids exposure by leaving the room during commercials

Zipping is when a consumer

Fast-forwards through or skips commercials and ads

Zapping is when a consumer

Avoids ads by switching to other channels during commercials

Cord-cutting is when a consumer

Drops cable or satellite subscriptions in favor of streaming services

Opting out is when a consumer

Chooses not to have cookies placed on computers or phones

Blocking is when a consumer

Uses ad blockers on computers or phones

There are several implications for marketers:

• Select media and develop communications for targeted consumers

• Keep innovative products on the market long enough for consumers to be exposed multiple times and to develop a positive impression

• Advertise in unexpected and new ways

• Offer coupons, apps, offers, contests, and other content viewed on consumers’ phones

• Reach out through media that aren’t yet saturated with messages

• Use targeted e-mail marketing to communicate regularly with consumers, offering product updates, promotional deals, and other content

• Build buzz with previews/teasers, mobile marketing, and social media promotions

• Give consumers some choice about what and how they watch

• Expose consumers to messages according to where their “customer journey”

Attention is defined as

The amount of mental activity a consumer devotes to a stimulus

There is a certain amount of attention necessary for information to be perceived to

Activate people’s senses

Attention enables consumers to

Learn more efficiently from their exposure to marketing stimuli and make more informed decisions

85% of ads fail to reach the

“Attention threshold” needed to have an enduring impact

Approximately how long is the attention threshold?

Three seconds

“Attention economy” is where

Marketers compete with one another for consumers’ attention

The four characteristics of attention:

• Limited

• Selective

• Divided

• Habitual

When attention is limited

Consumers may miss some stimuli, especially when in unfamiliar surroundings

When attention is selective

Consumers decide what to focus on at any one time, choosing not to focus on or mentally process other stimuli

When attention is divided

Consumers can allocate some attention to one task and some to a different task, or rapidly switch between tasks

When attention is subject to habituation

Consumers can become so familiar with marketing stimuli that they no longer pay attention to them

Marketers can use various research methods to

Gauge consumers’ attention to ads, packages, and products

Marketers can attract consumers’ attention by making the stimulus:

• Personally relevant

• Pleasant

• Surprising

• Easy to process

Prominence is

The intensity of stimuli that causes them to stand out relative to the environment

Concreteness is

The extent to which a stimulus is capable of being imagined

Perception is defined as

The process of taking in/encoding a stimulus using vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch

Sensory memory is defined as the

Input from one or more of the five senses stored temporarily in memory

Echoic memory is the

Sensory memory of things we hear

Iconic memory is the

Sensory memory of things we see

Olfactory memory is the

Sensory memory of things we smell

The following factors can combine to impact consumers’ visual perceptions of marketing stimuli:

• Size and shape

• Lettering

• Pictorials

• Color

• Appearance

Perception of sound (auditory stimuli) depends on

Its intensity

Sonic identity is when a consumer

Uses specific music or sounds to identify a brand

Consumers make more risk-averse choices when exposed to

Low-pitched sounds

A brand name with sound repetition evokes

Positive feelings

A moderate level of ambient noise stimulates

Abstract thinking, which can enhance the likelihood that consumers will buy an innovative product

Effects of smells on physiological responses and moods:

• People feel energetic/relaxed depending on whether (and which) scent is present

• Some of our most basic emotions are linked to smell

Effects of smell on liking:

• Smells can attract consumers

Effects of smell on product trial:

• Smell can entice consumers to try/buy a food product

Effect of smell on buying:

• A pleasant-smelling environment can encourage consumers to pay attention to stimuli that they encounter and linger longer, thus encouraging buying

Consumers can like some products because of

Their feel

When considering products with material properties consumers prefer

Goods they can touch in stores

Touching a product can increase a consumer’s

Psychological ownership of the item

Standing (v. sitting) exerts greater stress on the body which reduces how

Sensitive consumers are to other sensory cues

Sensory marketing is

The process of systematically managing consumers’ perception and experiences of marketing stimuli

Color can make consumers believe

They are buying products that are very current or spark nostalgia for earlier times

The type of music being played can

Affect shopping behavior

Marketers try to monitor consumers’ taste perceptions through

Taste tests

Using ambient scents can be advantages because they

Enhance the in-store experience and lead consumers closer to making a purchase

Many retailers and manufacturers offer

Trial sizes, samples, and opportunities to handle products

Absolute threshold is defined as

The minimal level of stimulus intensity needed to detect a stimulus

If images or words in a commercial are too small or the sound level is too low

The stimulus will not be consciously percieved

Differential threshold/just noticeable difference (jnd) is defined as

The intensity difference needed between two stimuli before they are percieved to be different

Weber’s law is where

The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as different

Sometimes marketers do not want consumers to notice

A difference between two stimuli

Comprehension is defined as

The process of extracting higher-order meaning from what we have perceived in the context of what we already know

Source identification is defined as

The process of determining what the perceived stimulus actually is, that is, what category it belongs to

What kind of process is source identification?

Rapid and automatic

Source identification helps consumers

Rapidly determine which of the numerous stimuli in their environment are relevant to them

After only 100 milliseconds, consumers know something is

An ad rather that something else

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires

Advertorials, infomercials, and sponsored tweets to be clearly labeled as such

Marketers and policy makers are concerned with the following:

• Objective and subjective comprehension of messages

• The possibility of incomprehension

• The effect of motivation, ability, and opportunity on comprehension

• The effect of culture

Objective comprehension is

The extent to which consumers accurately understand the message a sender intended to communicate

Subjective comprehension is

What the consumer understands from the message, regardless of whether this understanding is accurate

Miscomprehension is when

Consumers inaccurately construe the meaning in a message

Marketers can improve objective comprehension in several ways:

• Keep the message simple

• Repeat the message

• Present the same information in different modes

• Design a message to be consistent with a consumer’s prior knowledge

• Convey information about a new product effectively by drawing an analogy between the product and something with similar benefits

Inferences are

Conclusions consumers draw or interpretations they form

Types of inferences:

• Brand names and symbols

• Product features and packaging

• Price

• Marketing messages

• Retail atmospherics, displays, and distribution

• Comprehension, inferences, working memory

Working memory (WM) is

The portion of memory where incoming information is comprehend in the context of existing knowledge and kept available for more processing

Things imagery can do:

• Improve the amount of information that can be processed

• Stimulate future choice

• Improve consumer satisfaction