Short slideshow describing the basic elements and importance behind evaluation of consumer behavior.

1. Consumer Behavior
The Core of All Marketing

2. Getting inside the consumer’s head
• At the very root of all decisions is a person’s
psychology
• Applying the work of psychologist Kurt Lewin to
marketing, Consumer Behavior involves the interplay
of your interpersonal influences (your social
environment) and your own personal factors
(attitude, perception, knowledge)

3. Social Environment Influences
Consumption Decisions
The 3 Interpersonal Determinants of consumer behavior are:
• Cultural Influences – broadest; some cultural values
change over time, but core values are fairly steady; trends
must be monitored and can differ among demographic groups
• Social Influences – Group membership drives norms,
status, and roles, and people also follow norms of reference
groups and social classes, often looking to opinion leaders for
signals
• Family Influences – close and continuous interactions
of family members make this the most important influence

4. Personal Factors Influence
Consumption Decisions
The 5 Personal Determinants of Consumer Behavior are:
• Needs & Motives – the mindset to take action to close the
gap between an actual and desired state
• Perceptions – the meaning you attach to the input you gather
about a product
• Attitudes – an enduring evaluation, feeling, or tendency toward
something; can be positive or negative
• Learned Responses – reactions to a set of cues or drives
that are reinforced/rewarded over time and shape future behavior
• Self-Concepts – we choose behaviors that are consistent with
how we like to see ourselves (ideal self)

5. Solving Unmet Needs: Six Steps
• Even though we might do it so naturally that we’re
not aware of it, we generally go through six steps
when we make purchase decisions
• As expected, we generally invest more time and
effort in the high-involvement decisions that have
major consequences, involve a lot of money, or can’t
easily be reversed

6. Step 1: Recognizing the Problem or
Opportunity
• Some unmet needs are more clear and some are
more subtle
• If you are lacking something basic, your need is
obvious and it is easier to look for solutions (e.g. you
are hungry and need food)
• Sometimes, you are not as satisfied as you’d like to
be and so you are looking for change or
improvement (e.g. you want food you like better, or
you want a luxury such as faster internet service)

7. Step 2: Searching for Options
• Identify and then gather information about different
products and brands that can meet your need
• Can consider past experiences (internal search)
and/or do an external search, which is especially
important for high-involvement decisions
• The size of the Evoked Set (# of alternatives
considered) varies depending on the situation and
the person

8. Step 3: Evaluating Alternatives
• You must develop CRITERIA for how to choose
among your alternatives
• Your evaluative criteria might be complex or
simple, but would typically include price,
availability, and product attributes most
important to you
• Finding information about product features is
important. If it is not available, consumers may
eliminate that option without fully considering it

9. Steps 4 & 5: Deciding and Buying
• After evaluating, you generally will have a first choice
that you’d like to buy
• It’s also possible you’ll have a few back-up options if
you’re first choice ends up not being available
• Then you will decide where to buy it (which may be
part of the evaluation process) and make the actual
purchase

10. Step 6: Post-Purchase Evaluation
• After you buy the product, you will generally be satisfied
or unsatisfied based on whether the product meets (or
exceeds) your expectations and needs – or not
• You may experience Cognitive Dissonance if the product
is not what you expected or if you feel you paid too
much. This is more likely to happen for a high priced,
high involvement, or complex purchase where
information is hard to find
• The option to return a product can help reduce cognitive
dissonance and make decisions easier to make

11. The 6 Steps may be Simplified or Expanded
Based on Decision’s Frequency & Complexity
• Routinized Responses: You know the options and you’ve
already evaluated them – you go with your usual and the decision is
simple (Frequent decision/Simple Options)
• Limited Problem Solving: You see something new and
evaluate it using your previous criteria – you get more involved in
order to determine your preference (Frequent decision/ Somewhat
more complex options)
• Extended Problem Solving: Products or solutions are
unique and harder to compare, involving more searching and
developing criteria for evaluation (Infrequent decisions, very
complex options)

12. Summary
• Many factors impact consumers’ behavior and purchase
decisions
• It is important to understand how a product will meet a need
and be perceived by both the consumer and his/her social
environment
• It is also important to understand how involved the decision is
and how routine vs unique/complex it is in order to know how
much & what kind of information is needed to sway the
consumer
• Finding the right aspects to leverage (“buttons to push”) can
make all the difference in driving a consumer’s ultimate
behavior