The document discusses consumer decision making and alternative evaluation. It describes 3 types of consumer choice processes: affective choice based on emotions, attitude-based choice using general impressions rather than attributes, and attribute-based choice involving direct attribute comparisons. It also discusses evaluative criteria that consumers use to evaluate alternatives, including determining the criteria, measuring brand performance on criteria, and determining criteria importance. Finally, it outlines several decision rules consumers may use for attribute-based choices like conjunctive, disjunctive, elimination-by-aspects, and lexicographic rules.

1. PART IV: CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS
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2. CHAPTER 16
ALTERNATIVE
EVALUATION
AND
SELECTION
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3. Consumer Behavior In The News…
Amazon is coming up with simpler packaging that
uses less plastic and wire.
This makes it cheaper for Amazon, better for the
environment, and easier for consumers to open.
Which are the features and which are the benefits?
 Features:
 Benefits:
Which will sell better?
Source: T. Iezzi, “Amazon One-Ups Santa Claus with Frustration-Free Packaging,” Advertising Age, November 17, 2008, p. 17
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4. Consumer Behavior In The News…
Which are the features and which are the benefits?
 Features: less plastic and wire
 Benefits: cheaper, green, easier to open
Which will sell better?
 If you said Benefits you are correct!
 Direct consumer benefits key…green is indirect
and many don’t care.
 Has been labeled “Frustration-Free Packaging”
to emphasize the direct consumer benefit.
Source: T. Iezzi, “Amazon One-Ups Santa Claus with Frustration-Free Packaging,” Advertising Age, November 17, 2008, p. 17
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5. Alternative Evaluation and Selection
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6. How Consumers Make Choices
In reality, all consumers have bounded rationality
A limited capacity for processing information.
Consumers also often have goals that are different from, or
in addition to, selecting the optimal alternative.
A metagoal refers to the general nature of the
outcome being sought.
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7. How Consumers Make Choices
Metagoals in Decision Making
• Maximize the accuracy of the decision
• Minimize the cognitive effort required for the decision
• Minimize the experience of negative emotion
• Maximize the ease of justifying the decision
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8. How Consumers Make Choices
Three types of consumer choice processes:
1. Affective Choice
2. Attitude-Based Choice
3. Attribute-Based Choice
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9. How Consumers Make Choices
Affective Choice
Affective choices tend to be more holistic. Brand not
decomposed into distinct components for separate evaluation.
Evaluations generally focus on how they will make the user feel
as they are used.
Choices are often based
primarily on the immediate
emotional response to the
product or service.
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10. How Consumers Make Choices
Attribute- versus Attitude-Based Choice Processes
Attribute-Based Choice Attitude-Based Choice
•Requires the knowledge of •Involves the use of general
specific attributes at the attitudes, summary
time the choice is made, impressions, intuitions, or
and it involves attribute-by- heuristics; no attribute-by-
attribute comparisons attribute comparisons are
across brands. made at the time of choice.
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11. How Consumers Make Choices
The Eton Radio ad
provides consumers
all the great features of
its radio and uses the
tag line “Tune in: to
independence.”
This is an example of
attribute-based
decision making.
©2008 Eaton Corporation. All rights reserved.
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12. Evaluative Criteria
Nature of Evaluative Criteria
Evaluative criteria are typically product features or
attributes associated with either benefits desired by
customers or the costs they must incur.
Evaluative criteria can differ in
 type
 number
 importance
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13. Evaluative Criteria
Measurement of Evaluative Criteria
Involves a determination of:
 The Evaluative Criteria Used
 Judgments of Brand Performance on Specific Criteria
 The Relative Importance of Evaluative Criteria
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14. Evaluative Criteria
Determination of Which Evaluative Criteria Are Used
1. Direct methods include asking consumers what criteria
they use in a particular purchase.
2. Indirect techniques assume consumers will not or cannot
state their evaluative criteria.
• Projective techniques - allow the respondent to
indicate the criteria someone else might use.
• Perceptual mapping - researcher uses judgment to
determine dimensions underlying consumer
evaluations of brand similarity.
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15. Evaluative Criteria
Perceptual Mapping of Beer Brand Perception
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16. Evaluative Criteria
Determination of Consumers’ Judgments of Brand
Performance on Specific Evaluative Criteria
Measuring consumer judgments of brand performance on
specific attributes can include:
Rank ordering scales
Semantic Differential Scales
Likert Scales
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17. Evaluative Criteria
Determination of the Relative Importance of
Evaluative Criteria
The importance assigned to evaluative criteria can be
measured either by direct or by indirect methods.
The constant sum scale is the most common direct
method.
Conjoint Analysis is the most common indirect
method.
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18. Individual Judgment and Evaluative
Criteria
 Accuracy of Individual Judgments
 Use of Surrogate Indicators
 The Relative Importance and Influence of
Evaluative Criteria
 Evaluative Criteria, Individual Judgments, and
Marketing Strategy
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19. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
 Conjunctive Rule
 Disjunctive Rule
Non-compensatory
 Elimination-by-Aspects Rule
 Lexicographic Rule
 Compensatory Rule
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20. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Conjunctive Rule:
Rule
Price 3
Establishes minimum required
Weight 4
performance for each evaluative
criterion. Processor 3
Battery life 1
Selects the first (or all) brand(s) that
meet or exceed these minimum After-sale support 2
standards. Display quality 3
If minimum performance was:
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21. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Conjunctive Rule
Lenovo, Acer, Dell, and Toshiba are eliminated
because they fail to meet all the minimum standards.
Minimum
3
4
3
1
2
3
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22. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Disjunctive Rule:
Rule
Establishes a minimum required Price 5
performance for each important Weight 5
attribute (often a high level). Processor Not critical
Battery life Not critical
All brands that meet or exceed the
After-sale support Not critical
performance level for any key
attribute are acceptable.
Display quality 5
If minimum performance was:
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23. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Disjunctive Rule
Acer, Compaq, and Dell meet minimum for at least
one important criterion and thus are acceptable.
Minimum
5
5
-
-
-
5
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24. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Elimination-by-Aspects Rule
First, evaluative criteria ranked in Rank Cutoff
terms of importance Price 1 3
Weight 2 4
Second, cutoff point for each Display quality 3 4
criterion is established.
Processor 4 3
After-sale 5 3
Finally (in order of attribute support
importance) brands are
Battery life
eliminated if they fail to meet or 6 3
exceed the cutoff.
If rank and cutoff were:
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25. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Elimination-by-Aspects Rule
Step 1: Price eliminates Lenovo and Toshiba
Step 2: Weight eliminates Acer
Step 3: Of remaining brands (HP, Compaq, Dell),
only Dell meets or exceeds display quality minimum.
Minimum
3
4
3
3
3
4
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26. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Lexicographic Decision Rule
Consumer ranks the criteria in order of importance.
Then selects brand that performs best on the most important
attribute.
If two or more brands tie, they are evaluated on the second
most important attribute. This continues through the
attributes until one brand outperforms the others.
Acer would be chosen because it performs best on Price, our
consumer’s most important attribute.
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27. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Compensatory Decision Rule
The compensatory decision rule states that the brand
that rates highest on the sum of the consumer’s judgments
of the relevant evaluative criteria will be chosen.
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28. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Compensatory Decision Rule
Importance Score
Price 30
Assume the following Weight 25
importance weights: Processor 10
Battery life 05
Using this rule, Dell has the After-sale support 10
highest preference and Display quality 20
would be chosen. Total 100
The calculation for Dell is:
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29. Decision Rules for Attribute-Based
Choices
Summary of Resulting Choices from Different
Decision Rules
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