WGU D077 Concepts in Marketing, Sales, and Customer Contact-Module 7

Steps in the consumer decision-making process

Need recognition, search information, evaluation, purchase decision, act/buy, post-purchase

Need

First, you recognize that you will need a place to live.

Search

Next, you gather information about buying a house. You might research information about financing, available homes, styles, locations, or communities.

Evaluation

Then you evaluate alternatives. For example, you might eliminate all homes that cost over $150,000 or are more than a 30- minute drive to work. You also might consider renting instead of buying a home.

Purchase decision

Decide which home you would like to buy.

Buy

If you decide to buy, you complete the purchase of your home.

Post-purchase

Once the purchase is complete, you assess the decision itself and your satisfaction with the purchase, which would include not only the home, but the buying experience as well.

Personal influences

decision-making processes that are unique to each individual consumer.These factors include needs, motivations, perceptions, learning, and attitudes.

needs

Human requirements that range from basic physiology to safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization

motivations

Level of inner drive or pressure to satisfy a need

perceptions

Process by which a consumer identifies, organizes, and interprets information to create meaning

learning

Changes in behavior that result from previous experiences

attitudes

Positive, negative, or ambivalent evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or anything else in the environment

Interpersonal influences

the effects of people and groups influencing one another through family, culture, and society

Family

different ______ members may be in the role of the primary decision-maker or influencer

Culture

The customs, arts, social institutions, beliefs, and value systems of a particular people, nation, or social group

syncretic decision-making

A purchase decision where in a family both partners have an equal say

reference groups

Formal or informal group of people whose shared attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, and values are adopted by a consumer

opinion leaders

Highly influential people who help set the attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, and values of a reference group

consumer behavior

The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use, and disposal of goods and services

Two key questions a marketer needs to answer related to consumer behavior

How do consumers go about making purchase decisions? What factors influence their decision process and in what way?

routine problem-solving

Automatic, low-involvement purchase decision process based on limited information or information gathered in the past

extended problem solving

Complex, high-involvement purchase decision process with significant investment in information searching and product comparison

Limited problem-solving

Moderately involved purchase decision-making process where a consumer has some prior knowledge but still conducts light research

high-involvement decisions

Complex purchase decisions that are important to the consumer and involve some risk

Low-involvement decisions

Straightforward, often routine purchases that require less effort and pose lower risk to the consumer

fair trade

Organized social movement that seeks to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions while promoting sustainability

Ethical consumerism

Type of consumer activism where ethical products are favored and unethical products or companies are avoided

supply chain transparency

Company disclosing how its products (and their components) are sourced and made

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Way of conducting business with commitment to the values, norms, and expectations of society for social responsibility