Consumer Behavior Chapter 3

3.1 Explain how consumer behavior is often shaped by sensory appeals that are often unnoticed

We rely on colors, odors, sounds, tastes, and even the feel of products when we evaluate them. Not all sensations successfully make their way through the perceptual process

3.2 Outline the three

stage of perception that translate raw stimuli into meaning

Perceptual map

A widely used marketing tool that evaluates the relative standing of competing brands along relevant dimensions

Subliminal persuasion

Evidence of subliminal persuasion is nonexistent; consumers still believe it is a technique used in advertising

Perceptual selection

Factors that determine which stimuli gets perceived include amount of exposure, how much attention it generates, and how it is interpreted

Gestalt

We classify and organize stimulus, which is called a Gestalt

Closure principle

A grouping principle where consumers tend to fill in missing parts of a stimulus to perceive a complete image

Similarity principle

A grouping principle where consumers group similar elements together

Figure

ground principle

Interpretation

The final step in the perceptual process

Symbols

Help us make sense of the world by providing interpretation

Symbolism

The degree to which the symbolism is consistent with our previous experience

3.3 Discuss how the field of semiotics helps us understand how consumers create meaning out of symbols

A semiotic analysis involves the correspondence between stimuli and the meaning of signs

Semiotics

The study of how consumers create meaning out of symbols and signs

Literal meaning

The intended meaning of a sign may be literal

Indexical meaning

The intended meaning may be indexical if it relies on shared characteristics

3.4 Describe how consumers play an active role in shaping brand meanings

Marketers try and communicate brand meanings by positioning themselves in a way with cues that they hope consumers will interpret in the intended manner

Brand meanings

Ultimately meanings reside in consumers’ minds, so brand meanings take on a life of their own in the market

Absolute threshold

The minimum level of stimulation needed for a stimulus to be detected

Adaptation

A decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus after repeated exposure

Aesthetic bias

A product that looks better is assumed to work better

Antifragility

The ability to become stronger or better when exposed to stress or disorder

Attention

How much processing they actually give it. Exposure without attention is wallpaper

Audio mining technology

Technology used to analyze and extract information from audio

Augmented reality (AR)

Technology that overlays digital information or objects onto the real world

Brain drain

A deficit of cognitive resources; a tired consumer is a worse consumer for you, not a better

Closure principle

The tendency to fill in missing parts of a stimulus to perceive a complete image

Color forecasts

Predictions about future popular colors used by marketers and designers

Color palette

A selected range of colors used in a product, brand, or design

Congruence

The elements have to agree. A luxury price on a busy neon package confuses the schema and kills trust

Contamination effect

When one attribute or association negatively affects how consumers perceive the whole product

Contestations

Disagreements or competing interpretations over the meaning of a symbol or message

Contrast

A difference between stimuli that makes one stimulus stand out from another

Cross

modal effect

Differential threshold

The smallest difference between two stimuli that a person can detect

Endowment effect

Once you hold it, you value it more. Ownership starts before the transaction does

Exposure

A stimulus comes within range of their senses. If it never gets there, nothing else matters

Extended reality

A combination of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies

Eyeball economy

The competition for consumers’ visual attention

Figure

ground principle

Gastrophysics

The study of how sensory and psychological factors influence the experience of food and eating

Gestalt

The way people classify and organize stimuli into meaningful wholes

Haptic

Related to the sense of touch

Haptic effect

The influence of touch on how consumers perceive and evaluate products

Hedonic escalation

Each bite of something you love is rated slightly higher, up to a point, then it drops

Icon

A sign that resembles or visually represents the thing it refers to

Illuminance

How much light lands on the object

Index

A sign that has a direct or causal connection to what it represents

Inferences

Conclusions consumers draw based on available information

Interpretation

What they decide it means. This is the part you influence but do not control

Joint vs. separate presentation

The way products are evaluated when presented together versus separately

Just noticeable difference (J.N.D.)

The smallest difference between two stimuli that a consumer can detect

Location

Position, spacing, and movement relative to everything else. Shelf placement is a perception call

Materiality

Visual texture; matte reads premium, high gloss reads cheap or playful depending on category

Mental stimulation

Seeing it on yourself does some of the work that holding it used to do. A partial fix for the touch deficit

Metacognitive inference

A consumer’s judgment about their own thought process or confidence in their judgment

Multiscreening

Attention split across devices; it lowers attention to your ad and lowers their defenses against it

Multitasking

Performing or processing multiple activities or stimuli at the same time

Natural user interface

An interface that allows users to interact with technology in ways that feel natural or intuitive

Need for touch (NFT)

The consumer’s desire to obtain information through physical contact with a product

Object

The thing or entity that a sign represents

Olfactory cues

The scent signals a brand uses on purpose

Perception

The process through which consumers select, organize, and interpret sensory information

Perceptual selection

The process of choosing which stimuli receive attention and are processed

Pitch

size effect

Positioning strategy

A strategy used to create a distinctive place for a brand in the consumer’s mind

Pre

attentive processing

Processing fluency

The ease with which information is processed

Psychological ownership

The feeling of mine without a receipt. Test drives and free trials are built on it

Psychophysics

The study of how physical stimuli are related to psychological sensations and perceptions

Relational processing

Processing information by considering relationships among elements

Rich media

Digital content that uses interactive or multimedia elements to engage consumers

Schema

The set of beliefs you file a stimulus under; it decides which criteria you judge it by

Semiotics

The study of signs and symbols and how they create meaning

Sensation

The immediate response of sensory receptors to stimuli

Sensorialization

Building a scent into a product that has no functional reason to smell

Sensory marketing

Marketing that appeals to consumers through their senses

Sensory overload

More stimuli than anyone can process, so the filter tightens and most messages never register

Sensory threshold

The minimum level of stimulation needed for a sensory system to detect a stimulus

Shape

The space the object occupies, set by its outer boundary

Shrinkflation

A change engineered to sit just under the just noticeable difference

Sign

Anything that communicates meaning or represents something else

Similarity principle

The tendency to group similar elements together

Sound symbolism

Hard consonants read sharp, small, and fast. Round vowels read soft, large, and slow. Consumers also recognize brand names starting with hard k or p more easily, which is why so many of them do

Subliminal perception

Perception of stimuli that occurs below the level of conscious awareness

Surface color

The single fastest signal a brand has; it reaches the brain before the name does

Symbol

Something that represents or stands for something else and helps us make sense of the world

Vestibular system

The sensory system responsible for balance, spatial orientation, and awareness of body movement

Vicarious haptic effect

Seeing a hand touch a product transfers some of the effect. It is why product shots

Virtual reality (VR)

A computer

Weber’s Law

The principle that the just noticeable difference between stimuli is proportional to the original stimulus intensity