Consumer Behavior Exam 1

MKTG 35503

consumer behavior

reflects the totality of consumers’ decisions with respect to the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of goods, services, activities, experiences, and ideas by human decision-makers over time

acquisition/choice

the stage of the consumption process where a consumer selects, purchases, or otherwise gains possession of a product or service

usage

the process by which a consumer actually uses, consumes, or interacts with a product, service, or experience after acquiring it

disposition

the process by which a consumer discards, gets rid of, or parts with an offering (such as a product, service, or packaging) after purchase or use

marketing

creates mutually beneficial exchanges by offering a combination of product, price, place, and promotion that has value to consumers

marketing concept

discover and satisfy wants/needs of customers

General Electric’s marketing concept

the concept introduces marketing at the beginning rather than the end of the production cycle and integrates marketing into each phase of the business

market segmentation

the process of dividing a market into distinct subsets with common needs and characteristics that are different from those shared by other groups

targeting

consists of selecting the segments that the company views as prospective customers and pursing them

positioning

the process by which a company creates a distinct image and identity for its products, services and brands in consumers minds

value

reflects what is important to us or what we consider good or bad

terminal values

desired end states

instrumental values

values held/actions taken to achieve terminal values

the means end chain model

people link product attributes to terminal values (laddering technique)

individual difference variables

individual consumers differ in specific traits and behaviors

personality

an individual’s distinctive pattern of relatively permanent differences called traits and characteristics that guide behavior, useful at individual level, but marketers tend to look at segments

personality traits

the identifiable characteristics that define a person

trait

a single consistent individual difference/characteristic described by facets

trait theory

this approach to personality focuses on the quantitative measurement of personality traits

five factor model (big 5)

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism; consumer’s personalities are a combination of these traits

openness to experience

creative, open to new ideas v. resistant to change

conscientiousness

precise, attention to detail v. impulsiveness, efficient

extroversion

talkative, outgoing v. introverted

agreeableness

patient, sympathetic, less competitive

stability/neuroticism

even keeled, avoids mood swings v. more emotional

need for closure

desire for definite knowledge to reduce ambiguity

need for uniqueness

highly relevant to consumer behavior; people buy things to distinguish themselves

need for perfection

perfectionists are driven by dichotomous thinking, a type of black and white cognitive thinking stylef

frugality

frugal people deny short term purchasing whims; they choose instead to resourcefully use what they already own

risk aversion

people who are risk averse avoid the unknown or taking chances

measurable

quantifiable data about consumers and their characteristics

accessible

ability to reach your target audience

substantial

your market should be a substantial number and clearly defined

differentiable

create tailored strategies number for all segments within your market

actionable

is the marketing strategy practical, profitable, and assessable

segmentation by demographic

grouping consumers based on shared demographics characteristics to create better marketing campaigns

why segmentation by demographic works

requires few data points to implement, collecting data is easy, most cost effective method

psychographic segmentation in marketing

method of market segmentation that involves sorting consumers into groups based on shared psychological characteristics, such as their values, personality traits, activities, interests, and opinions

personas

a fictional, research based profile that represents a specific group of buyers or users

brand personality

separated into sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness

sincerity

down to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful

excitement

daring, spirited, imaginative, up to date

competence

reliable, intelligent, successful

sophistication

upper class, charming

ruggedness

outdoorsy, tough

sensory stimuli

sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures

sensory receptors

eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin

information processing order

sensory stimuli → sensory receptors → exposure → attention → interpretation

sensory threshold

the minimum intensity or change in a physical stimulus that an organism can detect

absolute threshold

the minimum amount of stimulus energy needed for a person to detect that stimulus at least 50% of the time

differential threshold (JND)

the smallest change in intensity between two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time

exceed, below

to be most effective, price discounts have to _______ the JND, while price increases should be _______ the JND

downsizing

the strategy of using an unnoticeable decrease in packaging size or contents while maintaining the same price to combat the rising costs of ingredients

adaptation

becoming desensitized to stimuli we are exposed to through high repetition, simplicity, and low intensity

mere exposure

the more often we see it the more we like it if our feelings towards it were positive or neutral to begin with (Apple product placement)

selective exposure

ad avoidance by fast forwarding through ads, changing channels, muting, using ad blockers, etc.

input variation

as sensory input decreases, our ability to detect change increases and vice versa

perceptual overloading

the inability to perceive all stimuli competing for one’s attention

perceptual vigilance

the ability to disregard much of the stimulation one receives

attention

devoting cognitive resources to a stimulus; it is limited, selective (involuntary/voluntary), can be divided

cognitive misers

the human tendency to use mental shortcuts and simple rules instead of deep, logical analysis when making purchasing choices

difference between exposure and attention

exposure reflects whether a consumer encounters the stimulus, attention reflects how much mental activity they devote to processing it

perception

the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world, constructive

what interpretation of stimulus is affected by

hard wired features of the brain, context, individual differences, motivations, expectations

perceptual maps

a graphical representation of how customers perceive brands in order to learn what is desired by consumers and whether those desires are already being fulfilled and to construct a model for predicting consumer preferences and market share for new or modified products

similarity based perceptual map

attribute based perceptual map

motivation

internal processes that lead people to behave as they do; occurs when a need that someone wants to satisfy is activated

arousal

a tension state resulting from some unmet, unfulfilled need or some unresolved conflict that is causing tension for the individual

direction

what a person wants to achieve or that desired state

intensity

the strength of the motivation manifests in the level of effort we put forth to achieve a goal, or how they will go about it

need

either something a person must have to live or to achieve a goal or a discrepancy between an actual and a desired state

involvement

a person’s perceived personal relevance of an object based on their inherent need, values, and interests

promotion focus

motivated to achieve positive outcomes, focus on hopes, wants, desires, accomplishments

prevention focus

motivated to avoid negative outcomes, focus on responsibilities, safety, avoiding risk

physiological cues

involuntary bodily responses triggered by external marketing stimuli, environments, or product interactions

emotional cues

subtle sensory, visual, or contextual signals that trigger subconscious feelings and steer a buyer's decision-making process, often bypassing strict logic

cognitive cues

specific informational stimuli that trigger mental processing, shape perception, and guide purchasing decisions

environmental cues

external sensory or situational stimuli in a physical or digital setting that subconsciously or consciously influence a consumer's perceptions, emotions, evaluations, and purchasing decisions

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

congruent rewards

if baseline motivation is high, continued motivation = continued behavior

incongruent rewards

if baseline motivation is low, generates motivation = generates behavior

classical conditioning

use existing associations to create positive or negative associations for product or brand

conditions for classical conditioning

repetition, contiguity, contingency, congruity

repetition

the frequency of pairing a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus

contiguity

the spatial or temporal nearness of objects

contingency

the conditioned stimuls should precede the unconditioned stimuluscon

congruity

sequentially presented cues should be related

positive punishment

adding something bad/unpleasant/unenjoyable to decrease behavior

positive reinforcement

adding something good/enjoyable/of value to increase behavior

negative punishment

subtracting something good/enjoyable/of value to decrease behavior

negative reinforcement

subtracting something bad/unpleasant/unenjoyable to increase behavior

vicarious learning

learning contingencies without directly experiencing them through modeling, observational learning, imitative learning

vicarious learning in marketing

development of new responses and inhibition of unwanted responses

inhibition of unwanted responses

modeling wanted behaviors in your marketing avoids problems of direct punishment

structural/orthographic (shallow) processing

encoding only the physical qualities of something (the visual look of a word or string of letters

phonological (medium) processing

the ability to see or hear a word, break it down to discrete sounds, and then associate each sound with letters that make up the word

semantic (deep) processing

occurs after we hear a word and encode its meaning. this causes us to relate the word to other words with similar meanings, research shows this is the superior type of processing

memory

a storage facility like a file cabinet of knowledge about products, services, shopping trips and experiences

encoding

transferring information into memory