This document discusses post-purchase consumer behavior and managing expectations. It describes post-purchase dissonance that consumers may experience after a difficult purchase decision. It also discusses factors that affect post-purchase dissonance and how consumers can reduce dissonance. The document then covers how consumer expectations, a product's performance, and satisfaction are related. It provides approaches for effectively handling customer complaints to improve the customer experience. Finally, it discusses methods for measuring brand loyalty, including using the proportion of purchases that go to a particular brand over time.

1. POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOR
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2. Post-Purchase Consumer Behavior

3. Post-purchase Dissonance
• Doubt or anxiety experienced after taking a difficult
purchase decision.
• Factors Affecting Post-Purchase Dissonance:
• No. of alternatives being considered
• Difficulty in choosing one of the alternatives
• Substitutability – near equal alternatives to choose from
• Attractiveness of foregone alternatives
• Degree of familiarity with the product
• Information available at the time of purchase
• Time and comfort with which the purchase was made
• Expected negative reactions from others

4. Post-purchase Dissonance (Contd..)
• Consumers may regret the purchase made due to:
• Product/brand purchased fails to live up to expectations
• Positive post-purchase information about foregone
alternatives (upward comparison)
• Negative post-purchase information about alternative
chosen – consumers may actively look for information
• “Consumption guilt” – for using products that may be
potentially unhealthy or harmful in some way
• Product usage/non-usage influences post-purchase
dissonance
• May use product incorrectly or in a new way
• May buy a product without much thought and may not use
it or discontinue using it after a short period – a product
purchased is not necessarily a product consumed

5. Post-purchase Dissonance
• Approaches to reduce dissonance:
• Increase desirability of the brand purchased
• Decrease desirability of rejected brand
• Decrease importance of the purchase
• Reverse purchase decision (return before use)

6. Disposal Alternatives

7. Expectations, Performance & Satisfaction
Perceived Performance Relative
to Expectation
Consumer Reaction
Better Satisfaction
Same Non-satisfaction (neutral)
Worse Dissatisfaction
• Satisfaction is a function of expectation – hence manage
expectations; do not make false promises
• Satisfaction is not to be confused with repurchase intention &
customer loyalty. Satisfied customers too switch brands in
search of better alternatives
• Dissatisfied customers may make repeat purchases due to lack
of better alternatives or resistance to /cost of switching
• Therefore focus on total customer satisfaction and not on
immediate repurchase intention

8. Service Quality - Expectation & Satisfaction
• Zone of tolerance or zone of accommodation is the
difference between ‘desired’ and ‘acceptable’ service
levels
• If service falls below ‘acceptable’ level, consumers are
likely to switch
• Common reasons for switching to other brands in
service industries:
• Failure of main service, including service delay
• Service counter failure – impolite behavior
• Deceptive pricing or unfair price increase
• Inappropriate employee response to service failure
• Better service/pricing by competitors
• Ethical issues – unsafe & unhealthy services, etc.

9. Dissatisfaction Response – Customer Complaint Behavior
Passives
Voicers Irates Activists

10. “To err is human– to recover, divine”
• Listen to the squeaky wheel
• Look for complaints -- make complaining easy
• Anticipate needs for recovery
• Accept responsibility (do not refuse to recognize the problem)
• Quick action, e.g.,
• Replacement
• Repair
• Refund
• Exchange
• Opportunity to improve customer experience – customer
delight
• Empower and train employees
Effective Handling of Complaints

11. • The proportion-of-purchases method measures brand
loyalty in terms of some arbitrary proportion of
purchases (by a consumer) going to a particular
brand. For example, if more than 75 per cent of a
consumer’s purchases are of a particular brand
during a given time period, that consumer could be
considered as loyal to the brand.
• The basic premise is that brand loyalty is not an all-or-
nothing phenomenon. Instead, it is viewed as a
continuum from complete loyalty to complete brand
indifference.
Brand Loyalty – Proportion-of-Purchases
Method

12. Undivided loyalty: AAAAAAAA
Occasional switch: AAABAAAB
Switch loyalty: AAAABBBB
Divided loyalty: AABABBAB
Brand indifference: ABDCBACD
The different buying patterns, in which A, B, C and D
are competing brands, can be portrayed as follows:
Brand Loyalty – Proportion-of-Purchases
Method (Contd..)