Chapter 13 - Situational Influences
Ch 13 (in downloads)
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Consumer Behavior Model: Decision Process
○ Problem recognition → information search →
alternative evaluation and selection → outlet
selection and purchase → postpurchase
processes
Consumer Decision-Making Journey
○ Problem recognition (perceiving a need) →
information search (seeking value) → alternative evaluation (assessing value) →
purchase decision (buying value) → postpurchase behavior (realizing value)
■ Each stage represents a touchpoint to influence consumers
■ Apple example in ppt
The nature of situational influence
○ The influence of context (situation) on the consumer decision-making journey
○ Particularly during:
■ Experience of the stimulus
■ Making the purchase decision
○ Specifically - the stable factors of the context
○ Situation (4 contexts in which situational influence can
occur) → situation characteristics (5 factors affecting
degree and direction of situational influence) →
marketing activity → individual characteristics (how
consumer responds depends on individual
characteristics) → consumption responses
○ Four contexts in which situational influence can occur (situation)
■ Communications - where/when encounter ads or other marketing
communications
■ Purchase - effect of store or site layout
■ Use - experience of the use of the product or service
■ Disposition - disposing of packaging of item when no longer needed
○ Five factors affecting degree & direction (situation characteristics)
■ Physical features - surroundings: sound, light, smell, decor, layout of
merchandise
■ Social surroundings - other people present: parents, friends, reference
group members
■ Temporal perspective - time available: urgency, convenience, time of
day/night
■ Task definition - purpose/reason: for self, as a gift, routine, occasional
■ Antecedent states - temporary conditions influenced by mood,
circumstances, etc.
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Physical Surroundings
○ Atmosphere influences consumer judgements, also applies to internet (clothes
store example)
○ Time spent in facility (short, moderate, extended) and consumption purpose
(utilitarian → hedonic)
Social Surroundings
○ Social surroundings concern who you are with at the time
■ Social surroundings influence intent, location, time, selection, usage…
especially when influence is negative
■ How does this relate to self-concept?
● Private vs social self, actual vs ideal self-concept
Temporal Perspectives
○ Temporal perspectives deal with the effect of time on consumer behavior
■ Amount of time available: limited purchase time often limits search,
increases impulse
■ Time of day and convenience: internet shopping growing rapidly - quicker
and more flexible hours
Task Definition
○ Task definition is the reason for consumption
■ Major distinction between purchases for self versus gift
■ Consumers give gifts for many reasons:
● Social expectations, to return favors, ritualized situations
○ Ritual situations
■ A ritual situation is a social defined occasion that triggers a set of
interrelated behaviors that occur in a structured format that have a
symbolic meaning
Antecedent States
○ Antecedent states are temporary states of mind or being that precede the
purchase decision
■ Moods
● State of mind: not generally tied to specific event or object
● Eg: happy, sad, lonely, generous
■ Momentary conditions
● State of being: often tied to specific event or object
● Eg: tired, ill, extra cash, broke, family coming to visit
Susceptibility to situational influences
○ 1. What product categories seem most susceptible to situational influences and
why?
○ 2. What are some of the commonalities that these product categories share in
terms of the purchase decision and purchase experience?
Scent marketing
○ Examples: M&M store, Nike using scent to guide toward more expensive procuts,
pet scent marketing
Chapter 14 - Consumer Decision Process and Problem Recognition
Ch 14 (in downloads)
● Purchase Involvement
○ Is the level of concern for, or interest in, the purchase process
○ It is a temporary state influenced by the
interaction of:
■ Individual characteristics
■ Product characteristics
■ Situational characteristics
● Types of consumer decision-making
● Nominal decision making
○ Nominal decision making (aka habitual decision
making) in effect involves no decision per se
■ Very low involvement
■ Often routine/habitual purchase
■ A completely nominal decision does not even include consideration of the
“not purchase” alternative
■ Two kinds: loyal and repeat
■ Example: consumer buys Campbell’s without considering other brands
● Limited decision making
○ Limited decision making involves recognizing a problem for which there are
several possible simple solutions and making a decision with only minor
evaluation of alternatives
■ Internal and limited external search
■ Few alternatives considered
■ Simple decision rules on few attributes
■ Little post-purchase evaluation
● Extended decision making
○ Extended decision making involves high level involvement with whether to
purchase and what to purchase
■ Extensive internal and external search
■ Multiple alternatives considered
■ Complex decision rule son many attributes - often emotional
■ Extensive post-purchase evaluation (buyer’s remorse likely)
■ Examples: a cruise, which involves emotional and expensive decision
making
● Characteristics of types of decision making
○ Characteristics of the consumer purchase
decision process
○ Consumer involvement
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The process of problem recognition
○ 1. Desired lifestyle and current situation
influence consumer perception of their desired
state and their actual state
○ 2. Consumer perceives a gap between the
desired and actual states - ie they are not
aligned
○ 3. Consumer then considers the nature and size
of the gap between desired and actual states
○ 4. Gap must exist but importance of closing gap
is key to purchase intent, not the size of the gap
○ 5. If closing gap is important to consumer, effort
to address this through purchase is initiated
Type of problem: active or inactive
○ Active problem
■ One where the consumer is aware of or will become aware of in normal
course of events
○ Inactive problem
■ One of which the consumer is not aware and most likely will not become
aware
Marketing communication for active and inactive problems
○ Active problem marketing response:
■ Consumer already knows they need product - just a matter of which
■ Convince consumer you have best product/brand for their need
○ Inactive problem marketing response:
■ Convince consumer that they have the problem first
● Move them from inactive to active by pointing out a gap they did
not know they had or by increasing size or importance of known
gap
Motion to resolve the problem
○ A small gap for a very unimportant problem would have the lowest motivation for
resolution
○ A large gap for a very important problem would have the greatest motivation for
resolution
Problem recognition and marketing
communication
○ What would be the marketing
communication strategy for each?
■ Not immediate, immediate,
expected, unexpected
■ Routine, planned, emergency
or impulse, emerging
Alternative framework: Taylor’s Six
Segment Strategy Wheel
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Informational
■ 1. Rational
● Consumers need a lot of information and are willing to spend the
time researching
■ 2. Acute Need
● Consumers have no time to research - they need a solution now!
■ 3. Routine
● Consumers have no motivation to research - they always
purchase the same
○ Transformational
■ 4. Ego
● Consumers build strong emotional attachment because brand
affirms them
■ 5. Social
● Consumers make purchases to fit in or gain acceptance with
certain social groups
■ 6. Sensory
● Consumers experience the brand benefit through one or more of
their five senses
Marketing communication strategy and problem recognition
○ Four drivers of marketing communication strategy:
■ 1. Discovering consumer problems
■ 2. Responding to consumer problems
■ 3. Helping consumers recognize problems
■ 4. Suppressing problem recognition
1. Discovering consumer problems
○ Activity analysis (how encounter the problem - the steps of the activity and the
points of frustration) → product analysis (the experience of using the product;
what currently using to solve the problem) → problem analysis (what brands
have this problem; what could eliminate problem) →
○ Also: human factors (functional/ergonomic issues encountered) & emotion
research (emotional reactions and coping strategies)
○ Example: asking targeted questions
2. Responding to problems - Southwest Airlines
3. Helping consumers recognize problems - generic vs. selective
○ Generic problem recognition
■ Variety of brands can solve the problem
■ Increase in problem recognition drives sales of whole market
○ Selective problem recognition
■ Only one brand can solve the problem
■ Increase in problem recognition drives sales of only that brand
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Problem recognition and the product life
cycle
3. Helping consumers recognize problems
○ Activation
■ Ex: earplugs
○ Association
■ Ex: flowers, vitamins, oil
change, smoke alarm
batteries, check-up, ac filters
○ Motivation framing
■ Positive framing
● Emphasizing desirability of
product/service by showcasing
benefits
○ Widens the gap between
actual and desired states
(horizontal axis)
■ Negative framing
● Emphasizing undesirability of
problem by showcasing
implications
○ Raises the importance of finding a solution (vertical axis)
4. Suppressing problem recognition
○ Ethical ways
■ Reassurance on or in package
■ Customer service post purchase
■ Effective quality control
■ Eliminating out-of-stock situations
○ Less ethical ways
■ Not mentioning the downsides
■ Minimizing required warnings
■ Deceptive copy and visuals
Chapter 15 - Information Search
Ch 15 (in downloads)
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Types of information search relative to type of decision
○ Teal chart
Nature of information search
○ Three types of information search:
■ 1. Internal → what you know already
● Nominal decisions, some limited decisions
● Post-problem recognition when needing immediate solution
■ 2. External → what you can find from other sources
● Extended decisions, some limited decisions
● Post-problem recognition when not requiring immediate solution
■ 3. Outgoing → what you are interested in
● Both pre and post problem recognition
CI: Value of information at point of sale
○ Migros is the largest retailer in Switzerland with strong consumer relationships
○ Problem: consumers wanted an expanded line of eco-friendly products
○ Results:
■ Migros responded and offered more up-market, eco-friendly products
■ Products merchandised alongside standard products
■ Managers were surprised when the eco-friendly products did not sell
○ Research showed:
■ Purchase decisions were strongly influenced by information available at
point of sale
■ When detailed information was added at the point of sale, sales went up
and profitability went up
○ Why?
■ When minimal info available → decision
based on price
■ When detailed eco-friendly info put up →
consumer rationalized the higher price
Sources of information
○ Primary sources fall into 5 buckets:
■ 1. Memory
■ 2. Independent sources
■ 3. Personal connections
■ 4. Marketing activity
■ 5. Experience or interaction
Alignment between sources of info & marcom tactics
○ To reach people using __ , use the following
marcom tactics:
■ Memory/internal sources → any low involvement learning tactics such as
classical conditioning
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Independent sources/groups → any influencers, including bloggers,
people of authority, celebrities, brand communities
■ Personal connections → any social media, personal referral, brand
ambassadors, other social networks
■ Experience or interaction → any opportunities to get the product or
service into the hands of consumers, ie trial
■ Ongoing search → deep website combined with SEO/SEM, articles in
publications, content marketing
What goes into brand selection for sneakers?
Evaluation
○ Existence of alternatives, performance of
alternative on criteria, evaluation criteria
Influence of search on consideration process
○ All potential brand alternatives →
unknown brands, familiar brands →
awareness set, unawareness set
Selection
○ After search, consumer considers the narrowed down set of alternatives, called
the evoked set or consideration set, and makes a decision
■ All potential alternatives, awareness set and unawareness set, evoked
set, inert set, inept set, specific alternative purchased, alternatives
considered, but not purchased
Marketing communication strategies based
on type of decision and evoked set
○ Two things influence search patterns
and how marketers should respond:
■ Type of decision
■ Whether brand is in or out of
evoked set
Marcom for NOMINAL decisions
○ In the evoked set
■ Objective: maintenance
■ Counter disruption tactics of competitors
● Advertising that reminds and reinforces
● Keep brand image consistent with target values
● Ads online and offline
● Locators
● Occasional promotions
● Ratings
○ Not in the evoked set
■ Objective: disruption
■ Get in the mix
● Attention grabbing advertising/promotion
● Persuasion at point of purchase (POP)
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● Geo-targeting, behavioral targeting
● Comparative ads
● Mobile coupons
● Use of apps and beacon technology
● POP coupons/rebates
● Ads offline with strong call to action
Marcom for LIMITED decisions
○ In the evoked set
■ Objective: capture
■ Incentivize repeat purchase
● Continuous POP communication
● Reward repeat purchases; loyalty programs
● POP displays/incentives/advertising
■ Email marketing
■ Comparison tools
○ Not in the evoked set
■ Meet them where they are
● Intercept ads, eg billboards, pop-up/pop-under
● Lifestyle marketing
● Geo-targeting, behavioral targeting
● SEO/SEM campaigns
■ Repositioning, repackaging, remerchandising
■ Comparative ads
Marcom for EXTENDED decisions
○ In the evoked set
■ Objective: preference
■ Provide reasons why
● Peer, expert, celebrity recommendations
● Info rich and interactive website
● Detailed info at POP eg brochures and QR codes
● Blogs and reviews
● Interactive displays
■ Trial promotions
○ Not in the evoked set
■ Objective: acceptance
■ Minimize risk of decision
● Info rich websites and advertising
● Money back guarantee, free shipping/returns
● Deep customers reviews
● Comparative ads online or offline
■ Strong SEO/SEM campaigns
■ Exposure to product in other contexts/venues
Online search
○ Internet is a major search avenue - use for the right demographic
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■ Usage is gender neutral
■ Whites and Asians trend higher usage
■ Usage decreases with age
■ Usage decreases with income
■ Usage decreases with education
Online search - keyword optimization
○ Consumer language and keyword optimization are critical to being found
■ Generic search dominates 3-12 weeks out
■ Branded search dominates just prior to, or at marketing mix (SEM)
■ SEO of website also essential
Online search - website design and flexibility
○ Navigation, layout, translation across devices, links, updates, forums, etc.
Connecting consumers with online content
○ Driving online info to consumers
■ Online ads
● Banner, pop-up/pop-under, pre video
■ Behavioral targeting to push content out to consumers
■ Permission based email marketing
■ Social media
○ Driving consumers to online info
■ Offline ads
■ Search engine optimization
■ Click bait
■ Behavioral targeting to pull consumers in
■ Google AdWords campaign
■ In-text links
■ QR codes
Chapter 16 - Alternative Evaluation and Selection
Ch 16 (in downloads)
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Consumer choices
○ Often not rational in sense of finding logical best decision
○ Often not optimal due to cognitive effort and time limitations
○ Often inconsistent, changing based on situation
■ Consumer choices are circular, emotional, and incomplete
Consumer choice processes
○ Attribute based choice → attitude based choice → affective choice
○ Three commonly used bases for consumer decision making
○ Often more than one is at work in consumer decision processes
○ Note - consumers do not necessarily make decisions on rational choice
Affective (emotion-based) choice
○ Nature of the choice
■ Made on “how I feel” or “how it will make me feel”
● Often made on a whim
■ Tend to be holistic decisions - features and benefits not examined
individually
■ Little to no comparison shopping
■ Often lower price sensitivity
○ Marketing implications
■ Highest potential for post-purchase dissonance
■ Best learning processes:
● Vicarious learning
● Classical conditioning
■ Situational factors and antecedent states can play a key role
■ Decision often interdependent with self concept, often impulse decision
Attitude based choice
○ Nature of choice
■ Made on ‘what I believe” or “what I already know about the brand”
■ Tend to be reactionist decisions - features and benefits are examined and
weighed individually
■ A lot of comparative shopping
■ Takes the most time and effort
○ Marketing implications
■ Medium potential for post-purchase dissonance
■ Best learning processes:
■ Deep, rich information and comparisons to other brands play key role
■ Usually extended decision
Attribute based choice
○ Nature of the choice
■ Made on “what I have found out” or “what others have witnessed”
■ Tend to be reductionist decisions - features and benefits are examined
and weighed individually
■ A lot of comparative shopping
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■ Takes the most time and effort
○ Marketing implications
■ Medium potential for post-purchase dissonance
■ Best learning processes:
● Analytical/analogical reasoning
● Vicarious learning/modeling
■ Deep, rich information and comparisons to other brands play key role
■ Usually extended decision
Case Discussion: what choice process would consumers use?
○ Nissan targets dog lovers car example
Underlying purchase reason governs type of choice process
○ Consummatory reason
■ Experience of the product or service is the benefit in and of itself
■ More likely to be affective choice
■ Sometimes attitude based choice
■ Ex: massage
○ Instrumental reason
■ Use of product or survive achieves a secondary goal that is the benefit
■ More likely to be attribute-based choice
■ Sometimes attitude-based choice
■ Ex: dog toothpaste
The paralysis of choice overload
○ Faced with choice overload, consumers may exhibit choice paralysis
○ A few choices increases propensity to buy
○ Too many choices has negative consequences
■ Increases shopping cart abandonment rates
■ Increases post-purchase dissatisfaction
■ Increases likelihood of no decision - “walk away”
Marcom tactics to reduce choice paralysis
○ Determine the optimal number of alternatives for your category
■ Better to change options more often but have fewer options at a time
○ Communicate meaningful differences between the choices
■ Provide specific information on what the differences mean
○ Provide information in consumer-friendly language
■ Be careful not to provide too much granularity/unnecessary detail
○ Help with decision through personal shoppers, sales assistants, chatbots or live
chat, relationship marketing, etc.
○ Reduce decision time to move consumer from prevention-focused mode to
promotion-focused motive
Understanding and measuring consumer choice
○ To understand and measure why the consumer is making the choices they are,
you need to find out:
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■ What evaluative criteria the consumer used
■ How the consumer assessed the brand performance on those criteria
■ Which criteria are the most important to the consumer
What evaluative criteria the consumer used
○ Research tools and frameworks
■ Direct → surveys, interviews, focus groups
■ Indirect → projective questioning, observation
○ Manifest motives, consumption behavior, latent motives
How the brand performed on these criteria
○ Research tools and frameworks
■ Visualization → perceptual mapping
■ Scales → rank ordering scales, semantic differential scales, likert scales
○ Perceptual maps
Which criteria are the most important
○ Research tools and frameworks
■ Scales → rank order scales, constant sum scale
■ Comparative analysis → conjoint analysis
○ Scales
■ Rank ordering
● Please rank the following theme parks for excitement
■ Fixed or constant sum
● In choosing a toilet soap, indicate the importance you attach to
each of the following aspects by allocating points for each to total
100 points in all
■ Conjoint analysis (trade-off)
● Comparative analysis of combination of features
Situational influences on consumer choice
○ Choices are not independent of the contest
■ Situational influences are real
○ Two context effects:
■ 1. Center stage effect
■ 2. Decoy effect
Center stage effect
○ Where a product us physically located (in store or on web page)
○ Consumers often move away from the extremes towards the center option
○ Example: middle choice on a website or front display in a store
Decoy effect: Starbucks latte example
○ Involves placing another and clearly sub-optimal option in the choice set to
influence choice outcomes
○ Coffee and apartment example