This document discusses consumer motivation and the various needs that drive consumer purchases and consumption. It describes physiological and psychological needs, as well as more specific needs like safety, love, financial security, social image, pleasure, possession, giving, variety, and information. It explains how satisfying one need often comes at the expense of another, causing motivational conflict. Prioritizing needs and understanding unconscious motivation are also discussed. Companies motivate consumers through incentives, loyalty programs, managing perceived risk, and arousing curiosity.

1. Consumer motivation
CHAPTER 8

2. Consumer motivation
Represents the drive to satisfy both physiological
and psychological needs through product
purchase and consumption
Gives insights into why people buy certain
products
Stems from consumer needs: industries have
been built around basic human needs

3. Types of consumer needs
Safety and health needs
– Threats to our safety and health motivate purchases
for personal security and protection
– Protecting our personal information and computers
represents new types of safety needs
– Businesses provide a variety of products and services
to appeal to safety and health conscious consumers
Need for love and companionship
– Humans are social creatures who need to experience
and express love and companionship
– Services and products help individuals find and attract
others
– Products are often used as symbols of love and caring
Psychological needs: Fundamental human
needs, including food, water, and sleep

4. Types of consumer needs
Need for financial resources and security:
A need that includes others important to the
individual
Social image needs:
Conspicuous consumption,
purchases motivated to some
extent by the desire to show
other people how successful
they are
Companies reinforce the
notion that products enable
users to communicate their
social image

5. Types of consumer needs
Need for pleasure:
Products, services
and consumption
activities provide
fun and excitement

6. Types of consumer needs
Need to possess:
Consumers often acquire products
simply because of their need to own
such products,
e.g. collectors
Plays a role in impulse buying,
where consumers unexpectedly
experience a sudden and powerful
urge to buy something immediately

7. Types of consumer needs
Need to give:
– Give something back to others or reward ourselves
– Self-gifts let us motivate, reward and console ourselves
Need for variety:
– Marketers may introduce different versions of original brand
– Variety may become focus of product positioning

8. Types of consumer needs
Need for Information:
– One reason we read or watch TV
– Fuels Internet usage
– Plays an important role
in persuasion – if an ad
appears when consumers
need information, they are
more likely to pay attention
than when they don’t need
the information

9. Motivational conflict and
need priorities
Satisfying a need often comes at the expense of
another need – these trade-offs cause motivational
conflict
Types of motivational conflict:
– Approach-approach: deciding between two or more
desirable options
– Avoidance-avoidance: deciding between two or more
undesirable options
– Approach-avoidance: behaviour has both positive and
negative consequences

10. Motivational conflict and
need priorities
Resolving motivational conflicts requires prioritising
needs
Maslow’s hierarchy
– Some needs take precedence over other needs –
physiological needs take top priority
– Differences in the importance attached to various needs
affects how consumers evaluate products
Because of consumers’ different motivational
priorities, companies use benefit
segmentation: dividing consumers into different
market segments based on benefits they seek
from purchase and consumption

11. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

12. Motivational intensity
Motivational intensity: how strongly consumers
are motivated to satisfy a particular need. Depends
on need’s importance
Involvement: degree to which an object or
behaviour is personally relevant
Motivational intensity and involvement determine
amount of effort consumers exert in satisfying
needs

13. The challenge of understanding
consumer motivation
Reasons underlying consumer motivation are not
always ‘obvious’
Research is necessary to discover real
motivations behind behaviours
People don’t always want to disclose real reasons
for their actions
People don’t always know why they do what they
do – unconscious motivation
Motivations change over time

14. Unconscious motivation

15. Motivating consumers
Motivating with money
– Price cuts,
specials, rebates
and coupons
motivate purchase
– Resulting sales
may increase, but
profits may not
– Attracts
consumers less
likely to repeat
– Price reductions
may increase price
sensitivity

16. Motivating consumers
Provide other incentives:
Premiums, free products,
contests and sweepstakes
are designed to motivate
consumers to purchase
There are limitations and
shortcomings for this
strategy in addition to the
products offered as a
premium being valued less
(value-discounting
hypothesis)

17. Motivating consumers
Implement a loyalty program
– Motivate repeat buying by providing rewards to
customers based on how much business they do with the
company
– Tracks consumer purchases and provides estimates of
Customer Lifetime Value

18. Motivating consumers
Enhance perceived risk
– Perceived risk:
consumers’ apprehensions
about the consequences of
their behaviour (buying and
consuming the product)
– Greater perceived risk
increases search
– Educating consumers
about risks may motivate
them to make more informed
choices that reduce exposure
to risk

19. Motivating consumers
Arouse consumers’ curiosity
– For new products,
educating potential
customers is crucial
– Curiosity often leads to
an enhanced need for
information
– May advertise a benefit
that is not normally
associated with the
product