Consumer Behavior Insights: Marketing and Social Dynamics

Perceptual Theory/Model

Consumers actively interpret sensory stimuli based on their personal experiences, needs, and expectations, constructing meaning through selective perception.

Experience marketing post-Covid

Increased focus on digital and hybrid experiences, safety-conscious design, virtual events, online communities, and personalization.

Key lessons from digital experiences during Covid

Importance of accessibility, emotional connection at a distance, immersive digital storytelling, and the rise of convenience as a core value.

Learning in consumer behavior

A relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience.

Behavioral learning theory

Through stimulus-response associations; repeated exposure leads to habit formation (e.g., classical and operant conditioning).

Cognitive learning theory

observational learning through imitation

Associative networks in memory

Mental pathways linking related concepts and memories together.

Creating associative networks in marketing

By consistently linking brands to positive emotions, key attributes, or cultural symbols through messaging and storytelling.

Ways to facilitate retrieval of information from memory

Through distinctive branding, repetition, emotional engagement, and by using retrieval cues like slogans or jingles.

Nostalgia marketing

Using consumers' longing for the past to connect emotionally with them.

Retro-branding

Reviving old brands by blending nostalgia with modern relevance.

Brand heritage

Emphasizing a brand's long-standing history, traditions, and authenticity.

4 A's of retro-branding

Allegory - symbolic stories
Aura - nostalgic aura through authenticity
Arcadia - idealised view of past
Antimony - inherent paradoxes between old and new

Role of consumers and brand communities in retro-branding

They co-create meaning, validate authenticity, and spread brand stories organically.

Lifestyle in marketing

A pattern of consumption reflecting a person's choices about how they spend time and money.

Lifestyle marketing

Marketing that targets groups based on shared lifestyle patterns and activities.

Psychographic approach

Studying consumers based on psychological traits, values, and lifestyles rather than demographics.

Psychographic profiles vs demographic ones

Psychographics focus on motivations and values, while demographics focus on measurable factors like age or income.

Consumer attitudes

They are evaluations of objects, people, or ideas that guide consumer decisions and choices.

Hierarchy of effects model (ABC Model)

Standard learning hierarchy, low involvement hierarchy, experiential hierarchy

Formation of consumer attitudes

Through experience, social interactions, and marketing communications.

Attitudes are not created equal

They vary in strength, accessibility, and resistance to change.

Cognitive dissonance theory

psychological discomfort from conflicting beliefs

Self-perception theory

Inferring attitudes from actions.

Balance theory

Seeking consistency in relationships.

Fishbein Model

A multi-attribute attitude model predicting attitudes based on beliefs about attributes and importance weights.

Extended Fishbein Model

It adds subjective norms and intentions to predict behavior more accurately.

Types of consumer decision-making

Cognitive, emotional, and habitual.

Cognitive (information-processing) model

A stepwise model: Problem Recognition → Information Search → Evaluation of Alternatives → Purchase Decision → Post-Purchase Evaluation.

Impact of AI on consumer decision making

AI streamlines information search and evaluation, automates routine choices, and personalizes offers.

Key implications of AI for marketing

Need for brands to integrate seamlessly into digital ecosystems and manage trust, data privacy, and consumer control.

Consumer behavior in groups

Group norms, social pressure, and group identity significantly influence decisions.

Types of social power

Referent, Information, Legitimate, Expert, and Reward/Coercive power.

Social media's impact on social power

It amplifies referent and informational power while reducing traditional hierarchical influences.

Normative influence in marketing

subtler drivers of behaviour based on social norms, such as shame, blame, pride, belonging, social approval

Normative vs. instrumental control

Normative control relies on shared values and peer regulation, while instrumental control uses formal rules and incentives.

Core elements of brand communities

Shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility.

Access-based consumption

Temporary access to goods/services without ownership, typical of the sharing economy.

Access models: Zipcar vs. Airbnb

Zipcar emphasizes control and structure, while Airbnb focuses more on interpersonal trust and flexibility.

Consumer relation to non-owned products

With more functional and situational attachments rather than emotional ownership.

Motivations for joining car sharing services

Convenience, cost-saving, environmental concern, and flexibility.

Brand positioning for sharing economy services

A mix of utility (convenience, flexibility) and community (sustainability, belonging).

Normative controls for Zipcar

By promoting community rules, peer enforcement, and emphasizing shared responsibility.

Social class

A societal rank based on income, education, and occupation that shapes preferences, spending patterns, and brand choices.

Consumption styles: working vs. affluent classes

Working classes prefer practical and functional goods; affluent classes focus on symbolic and experiential consumption.

Consumer confidence

Economic optimism affecting spending.

Discretionary income

Money left after necessities.

Social stratification

Structured ranking of individuals.

Achieved vs. Ascribed status

Status earned vs. inherited.

Mass class

Rising group with middle-class consumption ability.

Social mobility

Movement between social classes.

Social/economic/cultural capital

Resources from networks, wealth, education, and tastes.

Cultural capital's influence on consumption

It shapes preferences for cultural goods, lifestyle choices, and defines elite consumption patterns.

Income vs. social class

class includes cultural and social capital, not just income.

Social media's effect on status display

It democratizes status signaling, making it more performative and visible, posing challenges for traditional luxury brands.

Standard learning hierarchy

cognition > affect > behaviour > attitude

Low involvement hierarchy

cognition > behaviour > affect > attitude

experiential hierarchy

affect > behaviour > cognition > attitude