3. Postpurchase processes, customer
satisfaction and consumer loyalty
• Postpurchase process
• Postpurchase dissonance
• Why product use is important to
marketers
• Why product disposal is important to
consumers
• Concept of customer satisfaction
• Concept of consumer loyalty
7-3
4. Postpurchase processes
• Postpurchase dissonance
• Product use and non-use
• Disposal
• Purchase evaluation
• Customer satisfaction, repeat purchase
behaviour and consumer loyalty
7-4
5. Post purchase dissonance
• Some purchases are followed by post
purchase dissonance
• Probability of post purchase dissonance
and the magnitude of dissonance is a
function of the:
– degree of commitment and/or whether the
decision can be revoked
– importance of the decision to the consumer
– difficulty of choosing among the alternatives
– individual’s tendency to experience anxiety
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7. Postpurchase Dissonance
After the purchase is made, the consumer may utilize one
or more of the following to reduce dissonance:
Increase the desirability of the brand purchased
Decrease the desirability of rejected alternatives
Decrease the importance of the purchase decision
Reverse the purchase decision (return before use)
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8. Postpurchase Dissonance
Consumption guilt - when
guilt feelings are aroused by
the product/service use.
Marketers need to focus on
validating the consumption
for “high guilt” products.
Indulging in chocolate for some can cause
consumption guilt
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9. Postpurchase Dissonance
What If?
Marketers often encourage counterfactual and prefactual
thinking (e.g., in state lottery ads).
Counterfactual thinking Prefactual thinking is the
refers to imaging the same as counterfactual
outcome if a different except it occurs before a
decision had been made in decision is made.
the past.
What ethical issues, if any are there with state lotteries
encouraging counterfactual and prefactual thinking about
winning the lottery?
7-9
10. Product use and non-use
• Product use
– use innovativeness
– regional variations
– multiple vs single use
• Packaging
• Defective products
– product recalls
7-10
12. Product Use and Nonuse
Product Use
Marketers need to understand how consumers use their
products.
Use innovativeness refers to a
consumer using a product in a new
way.
Marketers who discover new uses
for their products can greatly
expand sales.
Classic example of how use
innovativeness helped A&M
increase sales!
7-12
13. Applications in Consumer Behavior
The Arm & Hammer
web site provides
another avenue for
marketers to
communicate new
uses!
Courtesy Church & Dwight Co., Inc.
7-13
15. Product Use and Nonuse
Product Use
Many firms attempt to obtain relevant information on
product usage via surveys using standard questionnaires.
Surveys can provide useful information, but often deeper
insights can be produced via
• observation
• depth interviews, and
• case studies
7-15
16. Product Use and Nonuse
Product Use
Retailers can frequently take advantage of the fact that
the use of one product may require or suggest the use
of other products, e.g., dresses and shoes.
Retailers can promote such items
• jointly
• display them together, or
• train sales personnel to make
relevant complementary sales Displaying complementary products
together
7-16
17. Product Use and Nonuse
Product Use
Stringent product liability laws have made firms
responsible for harm caused by products not only
when the product is used as specified by the
manufacturer, but
in any reasonably foreseeable use of the
products.
When marketers discover confusion about proper use,
they should engage in communications to increase the
chances of proper use.
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18. Product Use and Nonuse
Product Nonuse
Product nonuse occurs when a consumer actively
acquires a product that is not used or used only sparingly
relative to its potential use.
The division between the initial purchase decision and the
decision to consume is particularly strong with catalog and
online purchases.
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20. Disposition
Disposition of product or product container may occur
before, during, or after use. Or, for products that are
completely consumed, no disposition may be involved.
A physical product often continues to
exist even though it may no longer
meet a consumer’s needs.
Exploding demand and short product
spans for high-tech items is creating a
growing concern over e-waste.
Refrigerator dump site in the United Kingdom
7-20
22. Product disposal and
marketing strategy
• Recycling
– product
– package
• Trade-ins
– to motivate replacement
• Second-hand markets
– E.g. textbooks, clothes
– ‘Cash converters’
7-22
23. Disposition
Product Disposition and Marketing Strategy
Five major ways disposition decisions that can affect a
firm’s marketing strategy:
1. Reluctance to purchase a new item until they have
“gotten their money’s worth” from the old one.
2. Requiring disposition to occur before acquiring a
replacement due to space or financial limitations.
7-23
24. Disposition
Product Disposition and Marketing Strategy
3. Consumer selling, trading, or giving away used
products may result in a large used-product market.
4. Many consumers are concerned with waste and how
their purchase decisions affect waste.
5. Environmentally sound disposition decisions benefit
society as a whole, including the firms that are part of
that society.
7-24
28. Purchase Evaluation and Customer
Satisfaction
The Evaluation Process
Determinants of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction
Instrumental performance relates to the physical functioning of
the product.
Symbolic performance relates to aesthetic or image-
enhancement performance.
Affective performance is the emotional response that owning or
using the product or outlet provides
7-28
29. Dissatisfaction responses
• Possible outcomes of a negative purchase
evaluation:
1. Taking no action
2. Switching brands, products or stores
3. Warning friends and colleagues
7-29
31. Actions taken by consumers in
response to product dissatisfaction
7-31
32. Dimensions of performance
• Customers switch ‘away’ from service
providers rather than ‘to’ providers.
• In one study the reasons were:
– Core service failure (44%)
– Service encounter failures (34%)
– Inconvenience (21%)
– Response to service failures (17%)
– Attraction to competitors (10%)
– Ethical problems (7%)
– Involuntary switching (6%)
7-32
33. Four types of response styles associated
with dissatisfaction have been identified:
• Passives (14%)
– Seldom take action, younger group, don’t see a benefit from
complaining
• Voices (37%)
– Seldom take private or public action, usually complain directly to
the firm, older group, believe they are providing a social benefit
• Irates (21%)
– Take above average levels of private response and average
levels of direct action, but low levels of public action
• Activists (28%)
– Likely to get involved in private, direct and public action, believe
they are providing social benefits by complaining
7-33
34. Marketing strategy and dissatisfied
consumers
• Marketers need to satisfy consumer
expectations by:
1. creating reasonable expectations
through promotional efforts
2. maintaining consistent quality so
that these reasonable
expectations are fulfilled
7-34
35. Dissatisfaction Responses
Marketing Strategy and Dissatisfied Consumers
When a consumer is dissatisfied, the most favorable
consequence is for the person to communicate this
dissatisfaction to the firm but to no one else.
Unfortunately, many individuals do not communicate their
dissatisfaction to the firm involved.
Companies often make it difficult to complain or are
unresponsive to complaints.
7-35
36. Dissatisfaction Responses
Marketing Strategy and Dissatisfied Consumers
Toll free call centers and hotlines are one approach used by
many companies.
Consumers increasingly expect to be able to express
complaints via email - firms that respond quickly to such
complaints can great increase customer satisfaction.
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37. Importance of customer satisfaction
• The business of business is getting and
keeping customers.
(Drucker, 1979)
• Delivering high-quality service and high
customer satisfaction is closely linked to
profits, cost savings, and market share.
(PIMS, Profit Impact of Market Share, 1970s)
7-37
39. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Creating Committed Customers
Is Increasingly the Focus of Marketing Strategy
7-39
40. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Repeat purchasers continue to buy the same
brand though they do not have an emotional
attachment to it.
Switching costs are the costs of finding,
evaluating, and adopting another solution.
Brand loyalty involves commitment to the brand –
it is a biased behavioral response expressed over
time.
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41. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Repeat Purchasers, Committed Customers, and Profits
A churn is a turnover in a firm’s customer base.
Reducing churn is a major objective of many firms today.
It typically costs more to obtain a new customer than
to retain an existing one, and new customers generally
are not as profitable as longer-term customers!
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42. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Sources of Increased Customer Profitability over Time
7-42
43. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Repeat Purchasers, Committed Customers, and Marketing
Strategy
Developing a marketing strategy for a particular segment includes
identifying specific objectives to be pursued, such as
1. Attracting new users to the product category
2. Capturing competitors’ current customers
3. Encouraging current customers to use more
4. Encouraging current customers to become repeat
purchasers
5. Encouraging current customers to become committed
customers
7-43
44. Repeat purchase behaviour
Note the difference between:
• Brand loyalty
– Implies a psychological commitment to the brand
and
• Repeat purchase behaviour
– simply involves the frequent repurchase of the
brand
7-44
45. Brand loyalty is
• Biased
• A behavioural response
• Expressed over time
• A consumer selects a brand over
alternative brands
• A function of psychological processes
7-45
46. Value of customer loyalty
1. Increased purchases of the existing product
2. Cross-purchases of your other products
3. Price premium due to their appreciation of
your added-value services
4. Reduced operating cost because of
familiarity with your service system
5. Positive word-of-mouth that refers other
customers to your firm
7-46
47. “Loyal customers expect a good price,
but they crave value most of all.”
(Palmer, 1996)
7-47
48. • Rule No. 1
The customer is always right.
• Rule No.2
If the customer is not right, then refer to
Rule No. 1!
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49. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing is an attempt to develop an ongoing,
expanding exchange relationship with a firm’s customers.
Relationship marketing involves:
• databases
• customized mass communications, and
• advanced employee training and motivation
7-49
50. Customers Satisfaction, Repeat Purchases,
and Customer Commitment
Relationship Marketing
Customer loyalty programs, such as frequent-flier
programs, are designed to generate repeat purchases.
However, they do not necessarily create committed
customers.
Generating committed
customers requires a
customer-focused attitude
in the firm.
7-50
51. Relationship marketing
Five key elements:
1. Developing a core product/service on which
to build
2. Customising the relationship to the
individual customer
3. Augmenting the core product/service with
extra benefits
4. Pricing in a manner that encourages loyalty
5. Marketing to employees so that they
perform well for customers
7-51
52. Using technology
• Modern information technology makes
possible these close, ‘customised’
relationships that add customer perceived-
value to the product/service
– E.g. preferred seats on a airline,
– Type of hotel suite
– Car servicing details
7-52
54. Summary of key topics in the
chapter:
We have discussed:
• The post purchase process
• The post purchase dissonance
• Why product use is important to marketers
• Why product disposal is important to
consumers
• Concept of customer satisfaction
• Concept of consumer loyalty
7-54
