The document discusses consumer learning as the process by which individuals acquire knowledge and experience influencing their future behavior, highlighting elements like motivation, cues, responses, and reinforcement. It covers various learning theories, including behavioral and cognitive learning, and explains concepts such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning, emphasizing marketing applications. The text also addresses brand loyalty, brand equity, and strategies for effective marketing communication.

1. CONSUMER LEARNING
By Balachandar K

2.  “Learning is defined as the process by which individuals
acquire the purchase and consumption knowledge and
experience that they apply to future related behavior”
 “It is a relatively permanent change in behavior caused by
experience”
 Learning is a process. It’s the result of Knowledge or
Experience. It serves as the feedback and affects future
behavior.
 Learning can be intentional or incidental.

3. ELEMENTS OF LEARNING
 Motivation: Unfulfilled needs leads to motivation. Motives
serves to stimulated learning.
 Cues: Stimulus that directs the motives. Marketers must
provides cues that don’t upset their expectation.
 Response: How individual react to drive or cue – how they
behave – constitute their response.
 Reinforcement: Reinforcement increases the likelihood that
a specific response will occur in the future as the result of
particular cues or stimuli.

4. LEARNING THEORIES
 Behavioral Learning
 Cognitive Learning

5. BEHAVIORAL LEARNING THEORIES
 Classical Conditioning:-
 IVAN PAVLOV EXPERIMENT

6. DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING

7. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR APPLICATION
 Unconditioned Stimulus – Brand Name
 Unconditioned Response – Previously acquired
Consumer Perception
 Conditioned Stimuli – Versions (product or service)
of the same brand.
 Conditioned Response – Consumer Trying the
product.
Examples: Amul, Tata, Birla group, Microsoft.

8. COGNITIVE ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
 From this viewpoint, classical conditioning is not
reflexive action, but rather the acquisition of new
knowledge.
 Optimal Conditioning – Creating strong association
between the conditioned stimulus(new product from
same brand) and unconditioned stimulus(Brand
name).

9. HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE:-
 Step 1:- Forward conditioning – CS should precede US.
 Step 2:- Repeated pairing of CS and US.
 Step 3:- CS and US should logically blend together
 Step 4:- CS that is novel and unfamiliar
 Step 5:- US that is biologically or symbolically salient.
This model is called Neo Pavlovian Conditioning

10.  In Neo Pavlovian theory, consumers are viewed as
Information seekers (who use logical and
perceptual relationship among events). They do
have preconceptions.
 Conditioning is the learning that results from
exposure to relationship among events.
 Exposure creates expectations.

11. STRATEGIC APPLICATIONS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
 Repetition
 Stimulus Generalization
 Stimulus Discrimination

12. REPETITION
 HSBC AD 1
 HSBC AD 2
 More repetition will lead to Advertisement wear out.
 Substantive Variations should be given to
consumers.
 For same products develop two ads stressing two
different attributes in a product.

13.  Three hit theory: Three repetitions are required
 To make consumer aware of the product/ service.
 To show consumers relevance to the product
 To remind benefits
 Repetition depends on the competitive ads. If more
competitors are there, consumer may forget your
product.

14. STIMULUS GENERALIZATION
 Learning depends not only by repetition but also on
the ability of individuals to generalize.
 Marketing Applications:-
 Product Line, Form and Category Extensions.
 Family Branding
 Licensing

15. PRODUCT FORM EXAMPLE
Dove Shampoo and Conditioner, Colgate Paste and
Mouthwash. Laptop and Desktops

16. PRODUCT LINE EXAMPLE – P&G

17. PRODUCT CATEGORY EXTENSION

18. FAMILY BRANDING

19. LICENSING

20. STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION
 Opposite to Stimulus Generalization and that
results in the selection of specific stimulus from
among the similar stimulus.
 It’s key in developing positioning strategy. To create
a distinctive image in the minds of the customers
about your product.

21. PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

22. OPERANT CONDITIONING
 Learning occur through trail and error basis.
 VIDEO.
 According to B.F.Skinner, “Individual learning
occurs in a controlled environment in which
individuals are rewarded for choosing an
appropriate behavior”.

23. REINFORCEMENT OF BEHAVIOR
 Positive reinforcement – Events that strengthen the
likelihood of a specific response.
 Ex: Using Shampoo – if you feel good, you will buy it
again.
 Negative reinforcement – Unpleasant or Negative
outcome that also serves to encourage a specific
behavior.
 Ex: The Atlantic – Are you missing what is important?
 The Economist – Get a world view.

24. FEAR APPEAL IN ADS
 VIDEO
 Ads related to toothpaste, mouthwash, headache
use negative reinforcement.
 Punishment should not be confused with negative
reinforcement.

25. EXTINCTION AND FORGETTING
 Extinction – When a learned response is not longer
reinforced, it diminishes to the point of extinction.
 Eg) UTI bank to Axis bank. Where extinction is highly
necessary.
 Forgetting is often related to passage of time.
 Eg) Visited a restaurant long back.

26. MARKETING APPLICATIONS
 Customer Satisfaction:
 Relationship Marketing.
 Reinforcement Schedules
 Total ( or Continuous)
 Systematic ( or Fixed Ratio) – every nth time.
 Random (or Variable) – lotteries, sweepstakes, gambling.
 Shaping – Reinforcement performed before the desired
consumer behavior actually takes place.
 Eg) Test drive, Discounts for few products in the showroom
which tends people to buy non discounted products.

27. MASSED VS DISTRIBUTED LEARNING

28. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 Also called as Modeling or Vicarious Learning

29. EXAMPLES OF LEARNING IN DAILY LIFE
 Classical Conditioning – Soap, Paste, Food.
 Operant Conditioning
 Positive reinforcement – Dad buys a cycle for getting
first mark.
 Negative reinforcement – Dad ask you to get good
marks or study well else you will not get good college or
job.
 Punishment – Dad beats you for coming late to home.
 Observational Learning
 You want to wear dress like the hero who comes in the
movie.

30. COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORIES
 Information Processing:-
 Sensory Store
 Short term store
 Long term store
 Rehearsal and Encoding
 Retention
 Retrieval

31. INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL

32. SENSORY STORE - EXAMPLES
 Retains in the memory for 2 – 3 seconds.
 Using new soap, paste, advertisement music,
pamphlet, fragrance of a retail shop.

33. SHORT TERM STORE
 Looking phone number while dialing.
 If the Short term memory does rehearsal then it
reaches Long term memory.
 Transfer process takes 2 – 10 seconds, and lost in
30 seconds if not Rehearsed.

34. WHICH ONE IS EASY TO LEARN?

35. MEMORIZE THESE LETTERS IN 15 SECONDS –
ENCODING & CHUNKING EXAMPLE
 BGI TAE LTE GDO ETL
Now try this one,
BIG EAT LET DOG THE
Encoding makes it easy to retain information. ( E in
Dell, McD in McDonald.)
Chunking is recoding the information which was
encoded earlier.

36. RETENTION
 Information is stored in long-term memory
 Episodically: by the order in which it is acquired
 Semantically: according to significant concepts
 Total package of associations is called a schema

37. CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT AND PASSIVE LEARNING
 High involvement consumer
 Low involvement consumer
CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL ROUTES OF
PERSUASION
HEMISPHERIC LATERALIZATION

38. OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
 Measurement:-
 RECOGNITION TEST– AIDED
 RECALL TEST – UNAIDED

39. BRAND LOYALTY AND BRAND EQUITY
 Brand loyalty factors:-
 Personal degree of risk aversion or variety seeking
 Brand reputation and availability of substitutes
 Social group influences.
 Loyalty types:
 No loyalty
 Covetous loyalty – no purchase/ strong association
 Inertia loyalty - purchase/ no strong emotional
attachment
 Premium loyalty – high attachment and high purchase

40. BRAND EQUITY
 Brand equity refers to the value inherent in a well
known brand name.
 Well known brand names are referred to as
Megabrands.
 Co branding – two brand names featured on a
single product.