Lesson 1 – Introduction to Consumer Behaviour
The science behind marketing
 explaining, rather than predicting consumer behaviour
Reflects totality of consumers’ decision with respect to
acquisition, consumption, disposition of goods, services, times
and ideas by human decision-making units over time
Evaluating Success of Marketing Efforts (CB-style metrics)
Reach, Traffic, Engagements, Impressions, Conversion Rate
 Brand attitude: What do you think of the brand?
 Overall Satisfaction, Competitors’ reaction
 Awareness: Uncued/Cued/Top-of-mind
 Knowledge: What do you know about the product?
What’s special about it?  No trans-fat
Black Box of Consumer Behaviour
 Unobservable psychological variables
1. Motivation
2. Perception/Awareness
3. Learning, Beliefs
4. Memory
5. Attitude
6. Decision-Making
Marketing Mix  Black Box  Sales/Profits/ROI
Lesson 4 – Motivation, Ability & Opportunity
Motivation: Needs, drives, goals, values, affect
Can be physiologically, psychologically, environmentallydriven
 Reaching class earlier than expected: Live very far;
travelling time to ensure reach class on time
 Volunteering; to network with other people
Ability: Intelligence, language, income
“Am I able to use it? Is it too complicated?”
“Can I afford it?”
 Priority on buying resources for facilities in school for
improvement
Opportunity: Time, lack of distraction
First Moment Of Truth
Consumer standing in front of a product display at a
supermarket; the process of making a brand choice in the
next few minutes/seconds
 What are the things that influenced their purchasing
decision? Friends talking about it, wanting to be healthy etc
Zeroth Moment of Truth
“Where do consumers often make their first real
“encounter” with a brand these days?”
 Social media postings, advertisements ran on IG
Motivational Strength
Felt urgency to resolve tension created by a need
Drive Theory:
Underlying biological needs that produce unpleasant arousal
 Homeostasis is reached when that arousal is reduced
Class ends at 11.30, hunger kicks in; not satisfied  I
should get food to eat (Biological need)
E.g: Retail Therapy: An act of shopping restores a sense of
personal control (Donki to listen to the song)
Expectancy Theory:
Cognitive expectations of achieving desirable outcomes
 Based on beliefs (like placebo effect of a drug)
Mixing liquor with Red Bull increase intoxication
 labelling indication accelerates belief that it works
(Expectation)
2. Perceived Risk
Something that is too risky, paying more attention towards it
Products made in China - more alert
3. Affective Responses
Makes you feel something; emotionally
Classification of Needs
Typology 1:
Biogenic: Thirst, hunger, cold (anything that body can physically
feel)
Psychogenic: Need for power, affiliation, status, achievement
(underlying feels)
 Exercise to feel strong
Typology 2:
Utilitarian: Functional needs that are related to the basic
functions of products
 Basic phones ability to call
Hedonic: Emotional, experiential needs that go beyond
functional needs
 Phones have different colours = match with selfrepresentation; loving red
Typology 3:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
What affects Motivation?
1. Personal Relevance
 Self-concept
Our self-perception of who we are
Passionate for sustainability; engage in sustainable
practices
 Needs
An internal state of tension caused by distance from a
desired state
 Goals
Desirable outcomes
 Values
Belief about right/wrong
1. Self-actualisation (Highest)
Ego Needs - Psychogenic
Belongingness - Psychogenic
Safety – Biogenic/Psychogenic
Physiological (Lowest) - Biogenic
Character of Needs (Can be conflicting)
1. Approach-Avoidance (Positive-Negative)
Some positive & some negative about a behaviour
A job with a good pay but long working hours
2. Approach-Approach (Positive-Positive)
Two positives gained
2 dresses that are attractive but can only choose 1; 2 jobs
(mktg/finance) favourable but can only choose 1
3. Avoidance-Avoidance (Negative-Negative)
Two negatives achieved
Quitting a job (creates uncertainty) vs. Staying in the job
(stagnating)
How to tackle conflicting character of needs?
Effect: Cognitive Dissonance
 Not satisfied even after making a decision
Discomfort when you have beliefs/behaviours that conflict with
each other  Want to travel abroad but may cost a lot of
money
Resolve Cognitive Dissonance
1. Approach-Avoidance
 Point an additional positive feature of one choice, or
negative feature of the other
2. Approach-Approach
 Point out an unexpected benefit of one option
3. Avoidance-Avoidance
 Increase attention to benefits, get commitment for
choice before negatives are surfaced
Consumer Values
A belief that some condition is preferable to its opposite
 Fitting in is better than standing out
Products/services help to attain value-related goals
 Seek others that share values/beliefs
Tend to be exposed to information that supports our
beliefs
Core Values
Core values: Values shared within a culture
Every Singaporean has to go National Service
Enculturation: learning beliefs and values of one’s own
culture
 Learning SMU culture; where do people study – LKS/KGC,
how are the classes being run
Acculturation: learning value system & behaviours of
another culture
 Travelling, going to a cultural site; the do’s and don’ts of a
place
Means-End Chain Model
Specific product attributes may be linked at levels of
increasing abstraction to underlying values
1. Attribute (tangible feature)
2. Functional consequence (performance benefit)
3. Psycho-social consequence (psychological/social
benefit that accrues from that performance)
4. Value (Underlying value that is reflected in
psycho-social)
1. Television
Attribute: Large Screen
Functional: Can view in large room
Psycho-social: Can gather a lot of friends/family to watch TV
Value: Belongingness
2. Smartphone
Attribute: 4G Technology
Functional: Smooth Video Calls
Psycho-social: Can keep in touch with family that are longdistant
Value: Family-oriented values
Attribute: GPS
Functional: Can navigate easily
Psycho-social: Feel in control
Value: Self-image  Ahead of time
Perceived Risk
The extent to which consumer is uncertain about the
personal consequences of buying/using/disposing of an
offering
Monetary: Will there be a financial consequence if I buy the
wrong product?
 Buying an interchangeable product; buying a washing
machine, picking a wrong school
Functional: Will the product functioned as promised?
 Laptop’s speed
Physical(Safety): Will there be some physical harm from
usage of product
 Buying a toy for a kid, small pieces; choking hazard
Social: How will I be judged by others for making this
choice?
 Buying a shoe
Psychological: Does this match my self-concept?
Circumstances causing increased risk
1. Lack of Information/newness
 Product is new, you don’t really know anything about it
2. High price
 New product that is priced expensively; doubts about the quality
3. Complex technology
 How tough is it to use the product with its complex tech
4. Brand differentiation
When brands are differentiated, there is a risk of choosing wrong
brand for your needs
 Android vs. Apple
5. News of product recall/failure
 Samsung battery phone recall
Affective Motivation – Types of Affective Responses
1. Evaluations
Without much physiological arousal
 Feelings that some experience is good/bad
2. Moods
With moderate arousal
 Nostalgia, slight irritation, pleasant sensation
3. Emotions
 Anger, happiness, fear
Outcomes of Motivation
1. High effort behaviour
2. High-effort information processing
3. Felt involvement
Felt Involvement
Psychological experience of motivated consumer – the
arousal/interest in an object of involvement
Typology 1:
- Enduring (long-lasting, chronic)
Someone who runs; investing in a long-term running shoes
for his activities  Reads articles, reviews about product
experience
- Situational (caused by purchase/markerer-induced
situation)
Constant laptop crash; need a new replacement  highly
involved for few weeks to identify suitable laptop
Typology 2:
- Cognitive
 Increases thinking
Watching football, doesn’t matter who wins/loses but
encourages thinking based on the strategies that were
carried out
- Affective
 Increases the likelihood of expending emotional energy
Watching football, I want my team to win; having emotions
involved
Level of involvement – From Inertia to passion
Consumption at the low end of involvement; decisions made
out of habit (Lack of motivation)
Flow state occurs when consumers are truly involved:
1. Sense of control
2. Concentration
3. Mental enjoyment
4. Distorted sense of time
Types of Involvement
1. Product (with a product category)
 Enduring involvement (shoes, cosmetics)
Affects Consumer Motivation by:
- appealing to consumers’ hedonic needs
- connect brand/issue to underlying values/consumer selfconcept
- connect brand to ongoing issues of public interest
 Environment-related
- alert consumers about potential risk
- “Do it yourself” options
 Co-creation: consumers help design the product; IKEA
2. Situational involvement (in a retail setting)
 a new vacuum; promoter demonstrates the functions
available to promote the product
 Taking part in a survey; SG Airlines flies to Dubai 3 times
a week; then ads ask a question to viewers – How many
times does SG Airlines fly to Dubai? Answer question to win
a ticket to Dubai
Affects Consumer Motivation by:
- convert shopping into an experience
 Suntec City has an indoor gym playground for adults
- personalised recommendations in store/on website
3. Message Involvement (with an advertising message)
Affects Consumer Motivation by:
- using novel/prominent stimuli
- include celebrity endorsers
- create spectacles/performances
- contests, lucky draws, demos of product
Affect Motivation – Affect
Positive Affect:
- Focuses on experiences rather than material acquisition
- Connecting consumers to each other as a community
- “Customer delight” exceeds expectations
Negative Affect:
- Disgust
 Showing consequences of obesity, smoking, drug use
- Guilt
 Used by charities (can backfire)
- Embarrassment
 Reducing social discomfort
Consumer Ability
1. Product knowledge & expertise
 expert consumers think more deeply than novice
customers
 experts able to process raw attribute information, while
novices process in terms of benefits
Tennis Racquet Company brand extension either golf clubs
or shoes
Novice: Choose shoes; fits well with their usage
Experts: Choose golf clubs; based on the material quality,
the type of graphite used
2. Cognitive Style
- Visual/verbal
 If there’s too much information to be communicated,
better to put in visual rather than verbal
- Language
 Singtel/Starhub have flier campaigns in Hindi, Bengali,
Tagalog, Thai in different parts of Singapore
3. Intelligence/demographics such as education, age
4. Income
 offering small sizes of the product where it is affordable
yet can be used
Affects Consumer Ability
1. Detailed information on product description/usage
 Multiple languages
2. Simple visual cues to guide usage of a product
3. Design of product in a way that it is easy to use
4. Installment schemes to help pay for a product over time
 OR smaller package sizes to enable more cash-strapped
consumers to buy a product
Consumer Opportunity
1. Ease of purchase – distance, time
 Online; can purchase item 24/7 as opposed tor retail &
don’t have to travel around OR pick up nearby
2. Time available for processing information
 Control of information
Broadcast (less control) vs. print (more control)
3. Distraction
 Program/magazine which ad is embedded
4. Repetition of information
Affects Consumer Opportunity
1. Repeat communications
2. Reduce distractions/time pressure
 Late hour shopping
 24-hour online sites
3. Reduce purchasing/using/learning time
 Registration at online sites can speed up purchases in
future
4. Automate processes
 Software updates automatically at night as default
 Subscriptions/contract renewed automatically
Credit Card details are stored in an e-commerce sites for
future purchases
Point 3 -Exposure, Attention & Perception
Exposure
Process through which the consumer comes into contact
with a stimulus (any of the five senses)
Intentional Exposure:
consumers actively search for information through reading
reviews, processing ads, visiting retail outlets
 Wanting to buy a laptop, find information about laptop
by going to malls, watching videos about laptops
Accidental Exposure:
- accounts for the bulk of the exposure to marketer-driven
information
Putting an ad on bus stop while waiting for bus
 Editorial vs. Advertising
Editorial: Work done by journalists
Advertising: Paid communication; what I want to show, I
will pay for it  Unboxing a new camera from influencer (if
she/he is being paid for it)
- key to modern retailing
 To attract shopper to store/mall/restaurant, and then use
the environment to expose products & actively sell to the
consumer
Factors affecting accidental exposure
1. Position of an ad
 Print (ideal spots to get exposure to every reader)
Magazine, newspapers
Newspaper: Front page; first page in Sports; back
page
2. Broadcast
 In a TV program
From suspense in TV shows
“What happens next?” -ad plays3. Website
 Clicking a close part only to bring into another ad
4. Social Media
 Twitter; Promoted Tweets
5. Product Distribution
 Store/Shelf placement within the store
Selective Exposure
Consumers are actively fighting the clutter of ads in their
lives from various media
1. Direct Mail
2. Newspaper & Magazine Inserts
3. Television
 Zipping
 Zapping – digital video record skipping
4. Internet
- Email
 Spam filters
 Opt out/unsubscribe
5. Websites
 Pop-up blockers
 Premium membership with payment (e.g Spotify,
Youtube)
6. Mobile
Measuring Exposure
1. Television
- TV meters
- Day after recall (The next day, “What were the ads shown”)
2. Internet
- Page views
- Click-through
3. Magazine
- response coupons/contests
4. Outdoors
- Traffic count
Maximise Exposure
Intentional Exposure
Through careful targeting of advertisements on various
media
Google Search: Sponsored Ads
Social media sites where consumers exposed a lot
of personal “likes” & reading habits
Location & time-based advertising on phones
Careful package/labelling design
POP displays
Accidental Exposure
Sponsorship (F1 Race – Singtel advertised 
National exposure)
Merchandising
Unusual media vehicles
Product placement
 Native advertising
Embedding advertising into content - Product Placement
Where a movie, TV show, video game has brand names
visible, sometimes with an obvious call to attention
Embedded advertising into content - Native Advertising
Where advertising is formatted to mimic the format of the
medium it is in
A TV ad that sounds like a news report
A magazine ad that is formatted like an article in
the magazine
A facebook ad formatted like a facebook post
Attention
The process by which an individual devotes part of his or
mental activity to a stimulus
Selective:
Conscious decision on what to pay attention to
 Less likely to pay attention to familiar stimuli
 Motivated by goals underlying behaviour
Capable of being divided:
Consumers can multi-task, watching a program while
watching pop-up ads & scrolling info
Teaching but using laptop to browse something else
 But distracted attention is not the best kind of attention
Processing units that can be combined
 visual/spatial information
 processing music
 forming inferences
 drawing conclusions
Affects choice by increasing brand familiarity
Enhancing Consumer Attention By Making Stimulus
1. Personally relevant
 Choice of medium
2. Pleasant
 models, familiar music, honour
Limited:
3. Surprising
 Novel packaging, claims
Factors influencing attention
Affective states
 Arousal
Inverted U shaped relationship with attention
Involvement
 “A motivational state that guides the selection of stimuli
for attention”
Those who are intrinsically motivated, an involving
advertisement/some temporary promotional
device can enhance attention to ad
4. Easy to process
 Prominent, concrete, contrasts with background
Focal & Non-focal attention
1. Pre-attentive processing
Even while the focus is on article/driving, consumers may
process ads/other stimuli in the periphery, without even
being conscious of such processing
What is processed depends on
 Hemispheric Lateralisation
1. Objects on right side are processed on left
hemisphere of brain; easier to process if verbal &
quantitative
 counting
 processing unfamiliar words
 forming sentences
2. Objects on the left side are processed on the right
hemisphere of brain; easier to process if
visual/pictorial
Implications of Attention
1. Defines customer segments
 Diff. kinds of consumers may be differentially affected by:
- novelty/outrageous advertising (cultural differences)
- ease of processing (senior citizens)
2. Habituation
 Over time, consumers may cease to pay attention to
packaging/ads that have become very familiar
 Seeing things everyday, used to it
Marketers often change packaging/malls undergo
renovation to direct attention again
Perception
The process through which incoming stimuli are registered
by one of our five senses
Perception through vision:
1. Size & Shape
 Taller packages & eye-catching shapes influence
packaging that it contains more
500 ml tall bottle vs. 500 ml width bottle
 interesting shapes encourage touching the product;
greater involvement
 Packaging has an outer, intermediate & inner layer
Cardboard box, tube inside box, shape of pills
2. When all 3 dimensions (Height, Width, Length) changes,
size changes appear smaller than when only one dimension
changes
3. Customer tend to believe size labels
 average sized consumers tend to buy large sized raincoats
when labelled as medium size
4. Lettering/Font
 Fonts convey information
A handwritten font can convey “made by hand”
San serif fonts are easier to read
Foreign language labelling info can convey country
of origin/make the product seems foreign
5. Colour
 Colour & psychological responses/moods
Warm colours (Red, Yellow, Orange) encourage
activity & excitement
Cool colours (Blue, Green,) are more
relaxing/soothing
 Colour may include preferences
Handphones/laptops/refrigerators avail in many
colours
Red: Stimulates adrenaline, creates sensation of excitement
(McDonalds)
Vivid pink: Suppresses adrenaline
Yellow: easily processed by the mind (Taxis)
Products seem to have associations
Lemon flavour/scent – Detergent
Spice – Food products/Cosmetics
Soothing – Cologne, toothpaste, aftershave
Speckled – Purple can sense “active” ingredients through
such variations of colour/texture within a plain surface/color
Perceiving Through Hearing
Sonic Identity: Intel Signature, Don Don Donki
Pace of music  affects pace of behaviour in
stores/restaurants
Sound symbolism  may have symbolic meaning
Classical music vs. rock music defines image of a brand in
advert/background music in stores
Perceiving Through Taste
Varying perceptions of what “tastes good”
 strength of coffee for same brand different on West &
East Coast of USA
Consumers can get used to tastes & familiarity becomes
comforting
 Toothpaste, Coke, McD burger
Sampling for taste has big impact on sales of new food
products
 Taste can be influenced by packaging, brand name, price
Perceiving Through Smell
Smell & physiological responses/moods
 Aromatherapists have detailed beliefs about effects of
various smells (Abercrombie & Fitch)
Good mood leads to better evaluation & greater likelihood of
purchase
Product Trial
 Food services
Bakeries, popcorn vendors
 Perfumes: samplers/print ads with scratch & sniff
sections
Scent helps memory for other attributes of product
Some prefer odourless products
Perceiving Through Touch
Touch & physiological responses/moods
 Cultural variations in the acceptability of touching
 Western settings: research shows touching (by
salesperson) enhances evaluation & compliance with
salesperson’s request
Important attribute info for some products
Comprehension (Do consumers understand claim made?)
Relating information presented to previous knowledge in
memory (Making sense of what advert/claim is saying)
 inevitably incorporates believing for at least a short
period of time
“Unbelieving” is effortful, especially under
distraction (“….” Is not true! Xx is actually…”
Factors influencing Comprehension
1. Involvement (motivation)
 Highly involved consumers more motivated to process info
2. Memory/Knowledge (Ability)
 Expert process at a deeper level than novices, and
comprehension is faster, but experts might also tend to
spontaneously argue against a claim
2-sided claims (negative & positive) are more
effective for an expert audience
 Negative info serves as an “inoculation” effect by
suppressing expert’s instinct to counter-argue
“Car might not be the fastest but can consume a lot of
mileage”
3. Situational factors (opportunity)
 Time required to process information
Print ads are processed at consumer’s own pace, and hence
provide more time for comprehension (than broadcast ads)
Common Miscomprehension
1. Pragmatic Inference
 Brand X has ZERO cholesterol, low sugar
(Consumers want to find healthy food = zero cholesterol)
But is Brand X Healthy; can be unhealthy from high
sodium
2. Comparison Omission
 Brand X is better
(Consumers can infer that the particular brand is better than
its competitor = low involvement)
Than what brand?
3. Piecemeal Data
 Brand X is better than A on price, better than B on quality
How does X compare with A on quality, B on
price?
4. Affirmation on the consequent
 P-type consumers use brand X (If X then Y, Y then X)
But do brand X consumers become P-type?
(Famous sportspeople drink Milo; Joseph Schooling)
Low involvement: if you drink Milo, you’ll become an athlete
5. Extreme Product Demonstration
 Under what conditions was the demonstration done?
How generalisable are these conditions?
Miscomprehension
Is it a problem if ads are misunderstood, especially if the
misunderstanding aids your brand?
Learning
Alternative theories of learning
Behavioural learning
(doing)
Learning based from
own behaviour
Cognitive learning (thinking)
Learning by observing from
people’s perspective
Alternative theories of learning
Assume that learning takes place as the result of
responses to external events
Classical Conditioning
A stimulus that elicits a response is paired with
another stimulus that initially does not elicit a
response on its own
→ a parent nagging at you and you’re used to it
→ by ringing a bell, the dog goes to you as they know it is
feeding time ← automatic response; the dog learnt
Unconditional Stimulus
Dog sees food, starts to
drool
Will be relaxed after
“Relax”
Conditional Stimulus
Dog hears the bell, starts
to drool
Will be annoyed after
“Relax”
Factors affecting classical conditioning process
1. Repetition
→ Multiple exposure in the media (YouTube, radio, etc)
2. Effect stronger when the conditioned stimulus and
unconditioned stimulus is new, unique, unfamiliar
A song that is not current being played in an
advertisement will make consumers more likely to
associate the brand/advertisement to the song
UNLIKE
A song that is current being played in an
advertisement will make consumers less likely to
associate the brand/advertisement to the song
3. Effect stronger when conditioned stimulus
encountered outside of the link
If it is a popular brand, it will be difficult to change
people’s opinions based on classic conditioning
UNLIKE
If it is a less popular brand in the market/people have
not seen the product before, connecting them with
music → the effect will be stronger
Unconditional stimulus (UCS) → don’t have to teach;
does things naturally; spontaneous response
Conditional stimulus (CS) → familiarise through teaching
(what I have to learn about)
Stimulus Generalisation
Conditioned responses may generalise to brand
extensions, look-alike packages, etc.
→ Consumers may have learnt to respond to stimuli
that are similar to the conditioned brand
→ E.g: Conditioned with Reese’s brand colours; seeing
Dove - a similar colour = generalised them as similar
Rectify: Make sure messaging is clear where consumers
are not confused between the 2
Stimulus Discrimination
Marketers have to take steps to alert consumers about
look-alike brands
→ But conditioning effect may still generalise to other
brands
Rectify: Separate brands at the point of purchase may
help avoid generalised response to other brands
Instrumental/Operant conditioning - Based on rewards
& punishments
The individual learns to perform behaviours that
produce positive outcomes & to avoid those yield
negative outcomes
→ every time you say something in class = you are
rewarded in class, every time you come late to class =
you are penalised from your finals
Reinforcement
Positive
Offering positive
consequences
 Buy 2 get 1 free
 Zoo animals get
rewarded treats for
performing well
Continuous
Every purchase decision
Every purchase of Happy
Meal, you get a free toy
Negative
Reducing negative
consequences
 Freemium; showing
negative ads
Partial
Fixed & variable ratio
(fixed/random sequence
of purchases)
Every 5 stamps, free
upgrade kat iTea (fixed)
Claw machines, scratch
cards (variable)
Extinction
When behaviour no longer elicits reward, consumer
learns to stop behaviour
→ No longer rewarded for CP in class, stop
participating in class
E.g: Grab with different tiers → bronze, silver, gold,
platinum members
Application:
Encouraging - store & brand loyalty, employee
performance
Social marketing - seeking donations by sponsoring a
marathon participant
“Endowed progress” effect
→ first purchase on a loyalty card may get you 5 stamps
to give consumer a feeling of quick progress
Cognitive Learning Theory
Learn about products by observing others’ behaviour in:
→ advertising, family, social & work life
Shaping
A series of consecutive behaviours could be
influenced through sequential conditioning
Sequential behaviours involved in encouraging:
→ Credit card usage; gain money whenever you use
card to pay – lesser transaction fee
→ Retail patronage
→ Coming to class and expected to class participate
Gamification – creates a dynamic digital environment
similar to games
• Multiple short and long-term goals
• Rapid and frequent feedback
• Reward for efforts - earning badges, virtual
product
• Friendly competition in a low-risk environment
• A manageable degree of uncertainty
Using a professional camera and posting on social media,
commenters ask which camera you use to produce this
quality
Social media have enhanced this process, even for
private consumed goods
How do we learn to be consumers?
→ Consumer socialisation; interacting with friends
→ Parent’s influence
• Authoritarian; telling them what to do, making
their decisions for them
• Neglecting; not paying attention to children in
making decisions
• Indulgent; allowing their children to make their
decision early
3 stages of cognitive development:
1. Limited; children who are younger than age 6
do not employ storage-and-retrieval strategies
2. Cued; children between the ages of 6 & 12
employ the strategies but only when prompted
to do so
3. Strategic; Children 12 & older spontaneously
employ storage-and-retrieval strategies
Memory
Mnemonic → an aid devised to help you remember
E.g: Names, numbers, lists
→ ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo,
Violet)
→ 62-353535, Pizza Hut; 6241 0241, Canadian Pizza - 2
for 1
Stimulus-based
all brands & attribute information displayed
→ Supermarket: cereal aisle; all the brands are available,
nutritional value and price are available
Memory-based
no brand/attribute information displayed, consumer
has to remember brands to consider & attributes
→ doing a project late night in SMU, suggestion to eat
supper → lists the available places based on memory →
knowing McDonalds opens late & nearby
Sensory
Short-term
Long-term
Implicit
 Procedural
Explicit
 Declarative
  Episodic

Semantic
(diagram with
links)
Mixed Choice
choice has to be made between a brand in front of
consumer & another recalled from memory
→ shopping for a car at a dealership and online,
remembering what the salesperson told you & seeing
the car in front of you
5 senses; in shopping mall
Seeing a “Wet floor” sign, memory
processes to be careful
Buying a shoe, had a great service
experience, stores memory for a
lifetime
Directing ways to go to Grandma
house (take this bus, walk this route
etc)
Enhanced by repetition, without
conscious effort to recall previous
recall → How to ride a bicycle?
“What is the capital of France” →
requires extra research effort
Remembering phone number
Stores you visited, restaurants you’ve
eaten – based on experience
General knowledge about a product:
Coca Cola is sweet, unhealthy, is at
USA
Nodes: Coke
Links: Fizzy, sweet, high calories
Propositions: Coke is fun, unhealthy,
cool
Schema: Combining all into 1
The Memory Process
Sensory Memory - Experience through 5 senses without
processing/interpretation that lasts a quarter of second
to few seconds
Echoic: Hearing; Iconic: Seeing
→hearing a Chinese New Year music in malls
Memory
Capacity
Duration
Information Loss
Short-term
5-9 seconds
18 seconds
Rehearsal Failure
Long-term
Unlimited
Permanent
Retrieval Failure
Rehearsal failure: meeting people in party, can’t
recognise who’s Jasmine → often encounters will make
easier association
Retrieval failure - can’t remember during exams
1. External Inputs
→ seeing a big yellow M, smelling breakfast food aroma
→ hearing name “Dominic”
2. Encoding
→ processed it as McDonalds - McDonalds pancakes
→ encoded the name as a Male name
3. Storage
4. Retrieval
→ seeing this person in a party/class
Types of processing:
→ Imagery
Based on 5 senses
→ Discursive/semantic
Processing of information as words
Charmaine as Charming
Singapore Management University - Singapore-based, a
management university
Chunking
Combining small pieces of information into larger ones
747-1234: 4+3 makes 7 & 7 for 7
Spreading activation
How a marketing stimulus (an ad, video, smell, logo)
affects nodes activated may depend upon the
meaning associated with that stimulus
1.Brand-specific → claims that the brand makes;
2. Ad-specific → cues in ads such as models, other visual
elements; model in the ad, music played
3. Brand identification → just the brand name; smelling
coffee, associates with Starbucks
4. Product category → the category that the brand
belongs to; seeing a Heaven & Earth ad, reminds me of
Green Tea category → similar brands
5. Evaluative reactions → positive/negative affect
associated with stimulus; Bangkok - holiday experience
Improving Memory
The Organisation Principle
The better organised memory is, the easier it is for
retrieval → sorting out to groups/cupboard
Retrieval
1. Enhanced by pioneering or “typical” status of a brand
• The brand has been in the market for a long
time
• People identify a particular brand that
exemplifies the product/service category
→ Fast food restaurant = McDonalds
2. Spacing of message enhances retrieval, especially in
different media
• Instead of giving all information in one go, the
information is spread out evenly.
→ Studying an information for 5 hours is not as effective
as studying in 1 hour-break-2 hours-break-2 hours
interval
3. Program context on broadcast media; better recall
• Continuous activity programming (continuous
drama vs game show; soccer vs golf)
→ continuous drama & soccer = story is being
told/action never stops
→ game show, golf, cricket = the action stops,
go, stops and go
•
Better memory if advertisement are shown in
continuous activity programming
→ when there are interruptions, our minds may
wonder on to other stimuli
•
Better liked programs
→ recall is stronger if you like the program
•
Better fit between ad & context
→ recall is stronger if there’s a link (watching
golf then seeing advertisement about golf clubs)
Encoding-specificity theory (state dependence)
When we learn information, we also indirectly learn a
variety of cues present in the environment such as the
sight, smell, sound
→ when learning information, you’re also
unconsciously learning a lot of associations in that
specific environment.
1. If cues present at the time of encoding are also
present at the time of retrieval, memory is enhanced
 E.g: prof is absorbing information of not only my
name and how I look like, but also identifying the
location of where I usually sit
2. Our state of mind (e.g mood) may also be encoded
into our schema for the information
→ good mood to remember it, same cues are present at
another time will make me remember it better
3. Later at the time of retrieval, those associated cues or
moods may help recall the information
 studying at a quiet place such as library; when taking
exam where it is quiet, easier to retrieve information
→ studying at your usual study desk at home; when
taking online quiz, easier to recall information
Encoding specificity & remembering brand information
1. Under what conditions is there learning about brand
names and information about brands?
→ Advertisements from tvs, radios, websites
2. Under what conditions do consumers retrieve
information about brands from their memory?
→ Supermarkets
3. How can a manufacturer use encoding specificity
principle to help memory of their brands at the time of
purchase?
→ Packaging - use celebrity endorser or cartoons as
mascots to represent brand identity
Retrieval Failure
1. Decay
→ the information gets weaker as days goes by; during a
holiday - only remembering strong links on first day
2. Interference
Pro-active
Information learnt earlier
impedes the learning of
new info
→ info learnt up front
makes it difficult to learn
new info
Learning chinese for the
first 15 years of life; when
learning English, it’ll be
tough to pick up because
the knowledge of Chinese
Retro-active
Information learnt later impedes
the retrieval of earlier info
switching to a new teacher →
new teacher says old methods
were wrong & teaches new
methods
Then meets old teacher and
asked to demonstrate old
methods → unable to do it
3. Part-list cue-ing
→ “Apart from Dove, Pantene & Head and Shoulders,
name other shampoo brands”
Memory lapses
1. Illusion of truth effect
→ what is true is familiar - but this leads consumers to
believe that what is familiar, is true
→ repeating a falsehood many times, even when the
consumer knows it is false, can create a familiarity effect,
which can lead it to seem true
→ used to great effect in negative political advertising
campaigns
2. Memories of past experiences of a period of time
→ Peak experiences (lows & highs) are often
remembered better than the average experience
→ Events that evoked unipolar emotions are often even
more polarised in recall
First day in hotel = bad experience = low
• Insects in room
• Raining all day
Third day = good experience = high
• Sunny day
• Able to go for trekking
6 months after the trip; reflected and realised the
trip was an enjoyable trip
→ Encoding specificity comes into play when you go
for a trip again at the same place
Raining all day, insects in room ← these things were
overlooked
Explicit Memory
•
Free/uncued recall: “What brands of soft drinks
have you heard of?”
→ 1st brand mentioned = Top of mind recall
Cued recall: “Which of the following brands….”
• Coke/Pepsi/Sprite…..
Top of Mind <= Uncued <= Cued
•
Implicit Memory
→ Perceptual Fluency
The ease with which you can recognise the physical
features of the brand/logo
→ Recognising Nike brand just by its Swoosh logo
 Response Latency
Time taken to answer a question; measured on
computer → shorter the latency, stronger the memory
link
The more perceptually fluent a brand name is, the
faster will be a consumers’ recognition of the brand
even when elements of the brand name/logo are
distorted
Enhancing Memory (C.R.R.E.S)
• Chunking - a group of items remembered
together
Rehearsal - conscious repetition of an
association will enhance later retrieval
→ a jingle in an ad may be hummed/sung spontaneously
by a consumer; increase likelihood of recall
•
•
Recirculation - repeated exposure without
active rehearsal; repeated exposure to a logo
can enhance recall
•
Spacing - repeating print ad exposure across
longer periods of time
•
Elaboration - thinking deeply about the content
of a message/properties of an ad, relating the
information to a schema
Nostalgia
→ Marketers may resurrect popular characters to evoke
fond memories of the past
Attitudes
Functional Theory of Attitudes
3 Hierarchies of Effects
3 Components – Affect, Behaviour, Cognition
1. Affect - Feel
The way a consumer feels about an attitude object
 People have strong positive affect towards Apple;
people love the iPhone
2. Behaviour – Do
A person’s intentions to do something with regard to an
attitude object
 People buy the product; they recommend the product
on their social media
3. Cognition – Think
Beliefs a consumer has about an attitude object
Search attributes
 Acquiring belief without experience
Can learn by looking at the packaging, facts specification
sheet/website, asking from a friend
• Soft drinks = calories intake, sugar content,
nutritional value, price
Experience attributes
 need experience to acquire belief
Need to taste or consume the drink to experience
refreshness and sweetness of the product
• University = sample class during open house →
atmosphere, teaching style
Credence attributes
 Trust is important; mere experience is not enough
 Even after experiencing the product/service;
consumer cannot evaluate these attributes
• Shoes = wearing them to see if they are
comfortable, but information are shown on the
website
• Surgery = Testimonials, vaccines
1. Utilitarian Function
→ United Airlines; provide easy programs to claim
rewards such as free tickets, even though I don’t enjoy
flying with them; attitude is positive
→ SG-eans don’t want to have kids - low birth rate; Baby
Bonus to incentivise
2. Value-expressive function
→ Likes BodyShop; goes along with my belief of “No to
animal testing”
1. High involvement
→ buying a house, washing machine, car
2. Low involvement (evaluate the feeling after
consumption)
→ buying a candy bar, eating a fast food restaurant
3. Experiential (falling in love with the product first)
→ shirt, shoes, hair salon
3. Ego-defensive function
→ Applies for SMU, but got rejected → then believes
that it’s a good thing got rejection because it’s based on
popular opinion that it is a good university; attitude is
negative
Consistency Principle
 Seeks/values harmony among
thoughts/feelings/behaviours
4. Knowledge function
→ Knows information about the brand → Samsung
washing machine → from Korea, good quality; an
assessment of the product
→ Children is expensive → gov’t shares methods on how
to save money
→ relates to the theory of cognitive dissonance - taking
action to revolve dissonance when attitudes &
behaviours are inconsistent
→ changing components to make them consistent
→ attitudes post choice may be stronger - as attitude
changes to be more consistent with choice, especially
after a difficult high involvement
Dissonance situation:
I Want to study overseas but my parents only allow
me to study in SG.
Convince about the benefits -> Post-purchase
behaviour
Cannot study overseas -> closer to grandparents;
cheaper
Balance Theory
→ considers how a person might perceive relations
among different attitude objects & how he might alter
attitudes to remain consistency
Triad attitude structures:
 Person/ Perception of attitude object/
Perception of other person/object
Attitude Strength
Measured by:
1. Attitude accessibility
→ Response latency - time taken to answer an
attitudinal question; the shorter the latency, the greater
the attitude → Nike response quicker than Mizuno
2. Resistance to competitive efforts
→ Strongly have an attitude; inability to change
regardless → Strong belief towards Nike will make it
tough to change the favoured brand to Adidas
3. Confidence in the attitudinal judgement
→ “How confident are you with the brand”
Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein Model)
Pentax
Canon
Nikon
Attitude Commitment (How strong is your attitude)
1. Internalisation (Highest-level):
Deep-seeded attitudes become part of consumer’s
value system
They are consistent with my values → sustainability,
caring about human rights, behaviour as a mom
2. Identification (Mid-level):
Attitudes formed in order to conform to another
person or group
They like the brand because the brand values provide
identity, popular amongst friends & family
3. Compliance (Lowest-level):
Consumer forms attitude because it gains
rewards/avoids punishments
Liking the brand because it gives them rewards
Fuji
(1 x 7) + (2 x 1) + (2 x 9) + (3 x 9) + (2 x 8) =
70
(1 x 2) + (2 x 9) + (2 x 5) + (3 x 5) + (2 x 7) =
59
(1 x 2) + (2 x 10) + (2 x 4) + (3 x 6) + (2 x 6) =
60
(1 x 6) + (2 x 8) + (2 x 5) + (3 x 5) + (2 x 5) =
57
How to change Nikon’s weight from 6 to 9?
→ Change the perception or decrease its weight
Persuasion: Changing consumer attitudes
Devising strategies for change:
1. Change beliefs
→ About target → influencing that the accessories
makes it heavier
→ About competitor
2. Change evaluations of attributes
Add a new belief → how easy to connect to phone
3. Target normative beliefs
→ brand can be popular amongst family/friends
The Traditional Communications Model
The Sleeper Effect
→ the persuasiveness of a message can increase with
time rather than decrease
• When source is not very credible
What makes a good source?
1. Source credibility (source’s perceived expertise,
objectivity, trustworthiness)
→ Reduces perceived performance risk
2. Source attractiveness: social value (appearance,
personality, social status)
→ Reduces perceived social risk
Message (What is the message about/what way can I
deliver the message)
→ Through humorous, serious, emotional, rational,
celebrity endorser
Medium (Where is it being shown?)
→ YouTube, print ad, radio
70% got it wrong -> either phrased it wrongly, concept
explained incorrectly
Group member not contributing enough -> Medium:
F2F, message individually -> compassion
Messaging individually -> using emoji -> wont be
effective -> wont take it seriously.
2. Humour
→ lessens counter-arguments due to laughter, creates
classical conditioning effects
3. Fear
→ the need to induce moderate amount of fear, &
importantly provide a believable & usable coping
mechanism
Source (Sender; who is giving the message)
→ Effects: the same message rendered by different
people can have different meanings
→ “source” may be chosen due to expertise, fame,
attractiveness, similarity to target consumer
• Celebrities, famous athletes
Should it arouse emotions?
1. Sex appeals
→ may be attention-grabbing but can also be distracting
 Initially, the low credibility inhibits persuasion
 Over time, the link between the source & the message
diminishes, leading to greater credibility
Decisions about messages
One-sided
Two-sided
→ supportive arguments
→ both positive &
only
negative info
→ Explaining this car has a good fuel advantage to a car
expert, the car expert says a con (poor air-conditioning)
to balance the argument
Comparative advertising
Message compares 2 or more recognisable brands on
specific attributes
 Greater brand similarity after repeated comparisons
 Negative outcomes include source derogation, and
free exposure to competing brands
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
Two-sided
• Refutational argument - negative issue is raised,
then dismissed
• Positive attributes should refute presented
negative attributes
• Effective with well-educated & not-yet-loyal
audiences
Should we use pictures/words?
Pictures
Words
Better for aesthetic
Better for conveying
evaluations
factual info
Should it draw an explicit conclusion?
Implicit conclusion (make Explicit conclusion
own conclusion)
Better for experts
Better for novice
Central route:
→ changing beliefs about brands through cognition
(multi-attribute model) & by influencing attribute
importance
Peripheral route:
1. Conditioning
“If I like something, it must be familiar” → “if
something is familiar, I must like it”
→ may work by increasing opportunity to process &
hence through conscious processing of a message
***Marketers need to be wary of wearout effects
→ over-repetition can dullen the senses/even induce
dislike beyond a point
→ variations on the execution of the same theme can
help lessen the impact of wearout
2. Mere exposure of brand name
3. Use of simple heuristics
→ Based on similarity in appearance & name to another
brand (International Tourister vs. American Tourister)
→ High priced brands & brands with attractive packaging
are better quality
→ Brands from certain countries are better (Meiji Milk is
perceived better because it is a Japanese brand name,
even when the milk can be from somewhere else)
→ Frequency heuristic
“The greater the number of stated attributes, the better
the brand”
Even though the attributes are not important/may be
common to all brands, the sheer quantity of attributes
may be impressive
4. Message context & message repetition
Context congruent ads
Sports-oriented ad in sports program/ humorous ad in
comedy → processed easily
5. Repetition
an affect strength & salience of consumers’ belief
resulted in incidental learning
•
Can make claims more believable
The Self
Dimensions of self-concept:
• Content (looks, aptitudes, roles)
→ How do I look like? How’s my role as a leader?
What knowledge do I possess?
•
Self-esteem (positivity)
→ Do I have an overall positive self-concept or
negative self-concept?
•
Stability (over time)
→ From young to older, how we behave at
home & how we behave in school.
Consumers have a sense of self that might derive from:
Race/Religion
Family
Talents
Looks
Gender
Political Views
Age
Socio-economic Nationality
Different aspects of self may be salient at different times
in their lives:
In a family reunion dinner: sense of self as a husband,
son, cousin
Brands that can tap into a significant sense of identity
reap the benefits of CB:
Buying Jordans & using them → identity as HypeBeast
Cultural Influences on the Self:
Eastern cultures
Western cultures
1.The collective self
The independent self
→ person’s identity comes
- individuality
from group (Seeing ourselves
as Asia)
2. The interdependent self
→ person’s identity defined
from relationships with others
Looks:
→ People who viewed attractive images of models in ads
expressed lower satisfaction with their own appearance
based on hair, skin colour
Self-Esteem (low/high):
When self-esteem is threatened, a consumer’s purchase
may be a response
→ Low self-esteem = buying a product to make up for
the low self-esteem
→ Powerlessness = more willingness to pay more for an
item to settle the temporary setback
Ideal Self:
Our conception of how we would like to be
 successful, look good, having a well-rounded family
Actual Self:
our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we have
 not doing well in career, but you want to make
progress by becoming a manager
 Do a Masters to upgrade self
Looking Glass Self:
→ how others see you
Social media → manage impressions of how we look like
→ Impression Management
Products can:
Reach our ideal self
(hedonic products)
→ Gap between ideal and
actual self
Become consistent with
actual self (utilitarian
products)
Extended Self:
→ relationship between a consumer’s self-concept and
his or her possessions
→ belongings represent an extension of ourselves
→ Identifying their identity based on what they wear →
becomes a part of who they are
Bodies → tattoos,
earrings
Consumable goods →
Starbucks guy
Durable goods →
Wearing Man Utd jersey;
proclaims love towards
their club
Property → cleaning
motorcycle to make it
shine
Significant others,
friends, children
Pets
Impression Management:
→ We work to “manage” what others think of us
→ Sticker on laptop = what you want others to know
about you
Appearance Management
→ controlling clothes, grooming, verbal communications,
possessions
Social media:
Image crafting → choosing the best photo out of 40
photos
→ taking photos of all the experiences of life to make
people feel that you’re interesting
Ingratiation
→ set of strategic behaviours designed to gain
benefits/favours from other people
E.g: flatter people during networking sessions;
→ self-deprecation (expressing excessive humility)
E.g: making people think that you’re a better person
than you really are
→ opinion conformity
E.g: conforming to boss’ opinions
• Aligning activities
→ comments that attempt to realign behaviour
with norms
• Disclaimers (I’m no expert but…; I don’t
usually say this but…”
• Excuses
• Justifications
Self-Monitoring
→ extent to which consumers use situational cues to
guide their social behaviour
•
Metrosexuals
→ men who are highly involved in maintaining
physical appearance and fashion
•
Androgyny
→ blurring gender identification through
appearance; fashion brands often feature
androgynous models
•
LGBT
→ small but distinct market segment in many
parts of the world
→ changing their personalities based on social context
High self-monitor
Routinely modify their
behaviour to match the
expectations of others
Low self-monitor
Act primarily on the basis
of their internal beliefs
and attitudes
Acting the same
throughout all situations
and settings
Gender - an aspect of self targeted by marketers
Sex-typed traits → characteristics we stereotypically
associate with one gender or the other
Sex-typed products: take on “masculine” or “feminine”
attributes
Consumption & the Self
→ We buy products to highlight/hide aspects of the self
→ We buy products/brands to compensate when the
sense of self is threatened
Marketing & the Self-concept
→ Congruence with ideal/real self
• Age markers → when a child is ready for his/her
first handphone, laptop,
•
Religion, values, roles → products
purchased/food consumed reflects your religion
•
Status markers → the 5Cs in Singapore (cash,
club, credit card, car, condo)
→ from 3-room, 4-room, 5-room
Multiple Selves
→ Each of us has many selves & roles
→ Marketers pitch products needed to facilitate active
role identities
Sex roles
• Male & Female roles
→ Advertising both serves to respond to these
roles & to react to these role definitions
•
Roles changing rapidly across the world
→ Women entering workforce in larger
numbers
→ Women’s rights movements across the world
→ Men expected to take on more household
responsibilities
• Advertising can lead this
expectation/continue to appeal to
traditional views of gender
Decision Making
Stages in Consumer Decision Making - Classic Model
1. Problem Recognition
→ when consumer has a problem
 Feeling hungry, laptop is spoiled
 Looking at people’s social media post and
realising they need that
2. Information Search
→ how do you solve the problem
 Searching for best washing machine online
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
→ look at different solutions and see which one’s the
best
 Look at online showroom
 Tools to compare products easier
 Reviews
4. Product Choice
→ choosing the best solution
5. Outcomes
→ word of mouth; reviews
→ may buy more in the future/not buy anymore
Smartphones, social media & e-commerce have rapidly
changed this model
Motivation
→ Am I motivated to search? Am I able to search? Is it
complicated?
Opportunity
→ How much time do I have to search?
Ability
→ How can I search?
The internet has greatly increased opportunity & ability
to search
The “Economics of Information” perspective
Consumers consider costs & benefits of search
→ Gathering information about as many brands as
possible
→ as long as search costs are lower than perceived
benefits of a larger search
• What is the main benefit of search?
• What is the main cost of search
Routine Response Behaviour:
→ Buying a green tea, bread
Customers “satisfice”
→ Searching just enough to get a “good enough”
choice, even as the consumer knows that a longer
search may result in an even better choice
Product Knowledge affects amount of Information
Search
Limited Problem Solving:
→ Buying shoes, furniture
Extensive Problem Solving:
→ Buying a computer, washing machine
A foreigner comes to stay in a country for 2 years →
first 2 weeks stay in hotel
→ within 2 weeks must put in school, find an
apartment
• Must find suitable houses → 5 houses so far
(none of them fits your choice)
Consideration to look at the 6th house or settle for 1
of the 5 houses
• 6th house → hoping that it is the better than
the other 5
Cost: Time & effort, frustration if it doesn’t
meet your criteria; frustration of giving up
the 1 of the 5 houses
The internet has greatly reduced the cost of search
Continuum of Buying Decision Behaviour
At low level of knowledge, don’t search a lot
Searching is expensive – invest time to learn = Computer
has specifications & technical terms
Deciding among alternatives
1. Evoked set
→ brands that are spontaneously evoked from internal
search
• Brands that have high uncued recall are likely to
be retrieved into evoked set
→ Nike, Adidas
2. Consideration set
→ brands that are consciously considered before
purchase
→ including brands from evoked set
• Some retail settings, the consideration set is
influenced/determined by retailer
→ Nike, Adidas, Converse, New Balance
Attraction Effect
Introducing C to make the one of the other 2 look better
Same zoom, higher price for C
Zoom
Price
Camera A
10%
300
Camera B
20%
400
Camera C (Decoy) 20%
450
Jumbo is the most optimal choice because:
→ it costs only $0.50 to top up from large
→ can feed a lot of people, enjoy more portion
CONTEXT EFFECT: large size influenced people to get the
Jumbo instead; making the price range favourable for
people to go for Jumbo
Context effects created by Consideration sets
• Regularity
→ if A is preferred over B in choice set (A,B) binary set
• Apples over oranges
→ A > B in choice set (A,B,C), irrespective of
characteristic of C
• Apples, oranges, strawberries → 2
choices that are rational are apples &
strawberries
•
Violated by
→ attraction effect
→ compromise effect
→ trade-off contrast effect
Binary (A,B)
Camera A
Camera B
Zoom
10%
20%
Price
300
400
Lower zoom, same price
Zoom
Camera A
10%
Camera B
20%
Camera C (Decoy) 15%
Price
300
400
400
Compromise Effect
Picking the middle option
Zoom
Price
Camera A
10%
300
Camera B
20%
400
Camera C (Decoy) 30%
600
 B is compromised due to high price range btwn C & B
Trade-off Contrast Effect
Comparing the trade-off price & characteristic
Zoom
Price
Camera A
10%
300
Camera B
20%
400
Camera C (Decoy) 30%
600
Trade-offs:
A to B, 10% zoom, price 100
B to C, 10% zoom, price 200
Decision making rules - a classification
1. Brand-based vs. attribute-based
Brand: one brand assessed at a time across all
attributes
→ Look at Nike first then Adidas, UA – evaluate brand
that has all attributes
Attribute: one attribute assessed at a time across all
brands
→ comfortable: Nike, cheapest: New Balance, variety:
Adidas
2. Compensatory vs. non-compensatory
Compensatory: poor performance on some attributes
can be made up by good performance on others
→ a Poly student does not have a good GPA but has a
good CCA qualifications
• Multi-attribute model (Fishbein)
Non-compensatory: cutoffs placed on some attributes;
not meeting those cutoffs can result in not being
considered for rest of decision making
→ if you don’t have a GPA 3.6, it will not be considered
despite having CCA qualifications
Conjunctive model
→ the “and” rule: minimal acceptable cutoffs on all
attributes need to be met
 A very high cutoff → place must be near MRT
only
Disjunctive model
→ the “or” rule: outstanding by meeting a very high
cutoff on at least one attribute
 Place is near MRT or social life or price
Conjunctive
→ At least 10 in one attribute; Nikon
Attribute-based rules
Non-compensatory attribute-processing models
1. Lexicographic
→ Start with most important attribute & pick
best on that; if tie, then next most important
attribute etc
** difference between lexico & disjunctive →
disjunctive has no important attribute to look
out for
2. Lexicographic semi-order
→ Similar to lexicographic but small differences in
attributes ignored
→ “Transitivity” rule ( if A is preferred to B, and B is
preferred to C, then A should be preferred to C) may be
violated
Having a leeway with small differences in having more
options → I’m willing to look past the 50 price difference
Zoom
Price
Camera A
10%
300
Camera B
20%
400
Camera C (Decoy) 15%
450
Price range of 50 between B & C can be looked past
Zoom is 5% more for B  B.
Lexicographic Semi-Order
→ Weight = Pentax & Nikon (6 is the same as 9)
→ Zoom = Nikon (because Zoom = 1 for Pentax)
Heuristics in Decision Making
→ Search
• Ask a friend who works at Nike for advice, check
reviews and ratings online
→ Choice
• Asking the salesperson the most popular shoes
bought by customers
→ Evaluation
• Country of origin
→ stereotypes about different countries
(Japanese electronics, French wine)
•
Product signals (if the exterior is sleek, the
interior must be good too)
→ if a used car is clean, it must be reliable too
•
Market beliefs (brands advertised on TV are
good qualities)
•
Availability
→ ignoring base-rate information
If it easy to recall, it is more likely (probable)
→ killed by airplane parts or shark attacks
Underlined are those that is more easy to
associate and remember; but it is actually the
other alternative that’s factually correct
If it is easy to imagine, it is more likely (probable)
→ BPL, imagine how Man Utd they will win =
predict that Man Utd will win
Ignore the difference of (-3) in ratings → Weight = Pentax
& Nikon
Lexicographic
→ Weight is the most important attribute: Pentax
•
Representativeness
→ Evaluation based on irrelevant similarity
Judging based on irrelevant information
People judge probabilities “by the degree to which A is
representative of B, that is, the degree to which A
resembles B”
Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very
bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she
was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination
and social justice, and also participated in antinuclear
demonstrations. Which is more likely?
• Linda is a bank executive
Linda is a bank executive and is active in the feminist
movement
the “hot hand” in basketball
→ the belief that a player who scores a number of
baskets in succession is “on a roll” I.e. likely to score
many more baskets in succession
A: x o x o x
B: o o o o o ← Hot hand
 Anchoring & adjustment
→ Anchoring on an irrelevant number, & not
adjusting enough
• People who have strong anchor effect
will likely influence the second number
Other heuristics & bias
→ Consumers’ habit based heuristics
• Zipf’s Law: our tendency to prefer a number
one brand to the competition → stick to Nike
because number one
•
Consumer inertia: the tendency to buy a brand
out of habit merely because it requires less
effort → buying mixed greens because it
requires less effort of waiting
•
Brand loyalty: repeat purchasing behavior that
reflects a conscious decision to continue buying
the same brand
Social Influences
•
Variety seeking: buy something different from
what was bought last → changing different
brands of shampoo after consumption
→ Decision making biases
• Mental accounting: consumers often separate
their expenditures into different mental
accounts
→ We treat gains and losses differently
→ For a marketer, it is better to frame gains (e.g.
bonuses, discounts) individually, and to
integrate losses (e.g. fees, taxes)
•
•
Sunk-cost fallacy: We are reluctant to waste
something we have paid for; and consequently
make bad decisions when it is the future that is
more important → bought $15 movie → but
horrible movie → no choice but to settle in
watching movie because paid already
Confirmation bias: we seek information that
confirms our theories rather than disconfirm
them
Reference Group
An actual/imaginary individual/group that has a
significant influence on an individual’s evaluations,
aspirations, or behaviour
Two influences towards conformity:
Information
Norms
 Unable to have the
 Feeling uncomfortable
time to find out what’s
that other people are
good, so just go along
doing something else and
with the popular choice
risk conform with others
because not liking the
attention
→ Joining the longest
queue in a new food
→ Dressing in a certain
court because there is
way, speaking in a certain
information value in
accent, using certain
others’ choice
brands to follow norms
→ Doing things what
others are doing
Anonymity helps to reduce this group influence
Power that Groups can exert
Referent power
Wanting to be like somebody
→ aspirational influences of
celebrities
Information/expert Finding someone that’s an
power
expert on a matter or product
→ Information/expertise that a
person has makes them an
automatic source/influence for
product information
Legitimate power
→ boss might lay down dress
codes, or a hospital may enforce
prescription practices of doctors
Reward/Coercive
→ school/family reward certain
behaviours (points for
participating in class)
→ punish certain behaviours
(being late for school)
Types of groups
Membership groups (referent, information, legitimate,
reward power)
→ groups you belong to families, clubs, associations
Aspirational groups (referent)
→ groups you aspire to be like, high performing athletes,
artistes
Dissociative groups
→ groups you would like to distance from
• Social marketing programs often use
dissociative influences to discourage certain
behaviours
→ staying away from smoking, drugs
•
Second generation immigrants may try to
assimilate by distancing themselves from their
parent’s cultural influences
Interpersonal influences on behaviour - 7 principles
1. Automaticity
→ consumers, especially in low involvement situations,
often behave “mindlessly”
Heuristics
The because heuristic → even poor reasons given are
accepted because they sound legitimate to a person in a
“mindless” state
2. Commitment and consistency
→ people appear to wish consistent and to adhere to
commitments
• Foot in the door technique
→ asking for a small favour first, and then a
larger favour may be better than asking for the
larger favour alone
• NKF provides health screenings - during
health screenings will ask you to watch
a video about the organisation, then
asks to make a donation
•
Low-balling technique
→ “bait & switch” - committing a consumer to a
sale can cause consumer to go through with
sale even when original conditions causing the
sale are changed
• A salesperson shows a first car and
explained in detail but it isn’t available;
to identify whether people are
committed; a 2nd car available if
committed
→ works because commitment makes
consumers think of several reasons favouring
choice (the “mere thought” effect)
3. Reciprocity
→ consumers feel obliged to return favours, however
small they may be
→ “reasonable” requests should be met with favourable
responses → free health checks
 Door-in-the-face
→ large requests followed by small requests can seem
reasonable
2 years commitment of volunteering → 2 hours only for
that particular week to volunteer
 That’s-not-all
→ just prior to buy-no buy decision, deal is sweetened,
providing an “unarguable” reason to buy
If you buy now, you can get a free watch band as a gift
 Multiple-Deescalating-Requests
→ making repeated smaller requests that go down in
size can help compliance
Offer 100 first, then 80, then 50 then till targeted figure
 Even-a-penny
→ asking for just one cent, may result in larger donations
than one cent
4. Scarcity
→ things that appear to be scarce are more valuable
• “Last car available!” “Limited edition car”
5. Social validation
“I myself buy because other people are buying too”
→ others’ preferences predict my preferences
 Showing a list of previous donations
→ list of names who donated & the amount;
will influence you to donate & how much you
should donate
 Showing large bills in transparent charity box
→ mosques
 Citing a large proportion of previous room
occupants who did not want bedlinen changed
everyday
→ increased proportion of hotel customers
volunteering to use the same bedlinen every
day
• 90% of people did not want their
bedlinen to be changed
 explains why popular restaurants do not
•
increase price to earn additional surplus from
patrons
Long queues/wait times are social validation for
quality
Normative influence: based on the activity where you
don’t want to be FOMO
Informative: based on %, majority
6. Liking
→ affect for the salesperson can translate to affect for
the product
“Getting to try and like you as a person” → “once liked,
you will be drawn to buy”
• Familiarity
• Physical attractiveness → compliments on your
looks
• Similarity → supports the same club as you
• Impression management → saying good things
about you
→ ingratiation
• Messengers of good/bad news → good deals
7. Authority
→ persons in authority/appear to have power to give
rewards/punishments can be persuasive
• Cues such as uniforms, titles can create illusion
of authority
→ Dr., Professor., Vice-President
→ Uniform: being well-dressed vs being casual-dressed;
more authority and legitimate
→ People well-dressed jaywalks, everyone will follow.
People who are not, everyone won’t follow
Organisational Decision Making
Organisational buyers → purchasing goods/services on
behalf of companies usage in manufacturing, distribution,
resale
B2B marketers → specialise in meeting organisational
needs like corporations, gov’t agencies, hospitals &
retailers
Organisational decision making is:
 Involve many people
 Requires precise, technical specifications
 Based on past experience & careful weighing
of alternatives
 May require risky decisions
 Involves substantial dollar volume
 Place more emphasis on personal selling
 Involves teams of buyers, whom may
represent different & sometimes conflicting
interests
Roles in Collective Decision Making in an Organisation
Initiator
Gatekeeper
→ every 5 years change
→ what information is
chairs
suitable
Influencer
Buyer/User
→ helps to make the
decision
→ Responsibility
• Responsibilities for purchase, usage,
maintenance may vary across members
→ somebody who signs the bill
→ Power
• Age, seniority, experience may make some
members more powerful than others
Type of decisions
→ Autonomic decision: one family member chooses a
product
→ Syncretic decision: involve both partners
• Used for cars, vacations, homes, furniture etc.
• As education increases, so does syncretic
decision making
→ Accommodative purchase decisions (compromising)
• Where there may be conflicts among members
Consumer Influencer types
Opinion leader
→ experts who are socially active & expected to be
unbiased may be in position to influence many
“followers”
→ bloggers, vloggers, YouTubers
• Market maven
→ an opinion leader who is a good source of
information on the market → where to shop,
get good deals, brand to consider
Resolving Decision conflicts in Families
→ Interpersonal need
• Level of involvement of different members in
the family
→ mother always travelling, not always involved
Surrogate customer
→ Decisions delegated to someone else
• Domestic helper have flexibility in making brand
choices for household, an admin have
delegation to purchase gifts for farewell party
Household Decisions
→ Consensual purchase decisions (making decisions
together)
• Where there is agreement on the decision
making process and choice
→ Product involvement & utility
• Level of involvement in using the product at
home
→ the member uses the product more often
•
Interior decorators, contractors, professional
shoppers may purchase on behalf of ultimate
customer
•
A.I powered bots could make decision for
human decision makers
How do we find opinion leaders?
•
Self-designating method
→ simply ask individuals whether they consider
themselves to be opinion leaders
→ easy to apply to large group of potential
opinion leaders
→ inflation/unawareness of own
importance/influence
•
Key informant method
→ key informants identify opinion leaders
Sociometric methods
→ trace communication patterns among group members
Network analysis
→ communications in a network can be analyzed
statistically to decipher patterns of influence that can
detect & measure
• Referral behaviour
• Tie strength
Social media influences
→ Peer-peer & opinion leader influencers are rampant
on the internet & take various forms
• At an individual level, asking for advice &
searching for advice among friends
•
Researching user & expert opinion
→ user opinions may be useful for services like
hotels, restaurants
→ expert opinions may be useful for complex
products such as cars & household appliances
•
Consumers who are opinionated & entertaining
sharers regularly may develop large groups of
followers
→ become professional “influencers”
What causes virality
The STEPPS
Social
Make the person sharing look
currency
smart/cool
→ forwarding a trending video to
represent coolness amongst peers
Triggers
Connect to stimuli that are being
talked about currently
→ current trendy event to talk about
Emotions
Evoke feelings
Public
Try to make the behaviour visible in
public
Practical
Make life better in some way
Value
→ Hacks; how to make things simpler
Stories
Weave a story around the
idea/product
→ storytelling
Post Purchase Behaviour
A sale (post purchase) is the start of a relationship
Post Decision Processes
1. Dissonance
 This occurs during a high involvement/expensive product
purchase; unsure whether the purchase decision is right
2. Satisfaction & Dis-satisfaction
 Experiential products; whether people are happy/unhappy
about their consumer experience
3. Consumption
 What are some behavioural issues that the marketer has to
deal with
4. Disposal
 How the product is being disposed after consumption
Dissonance
When a high involvement decision is made between 2 very
good choices, a customer may feel cognitive dissonance
 Discomfort caused by the uncertainty if the right decision
was made
Buying a car but need choose between 2 cars; after choosing
the car and purchased while going home  have feeling
whether you made the right choice
Positive attitude towards both cars; but only 1 behaviour is
condone on the chosen car (purchase)
Resolving Dissonance by:
1. Returning the chosen product
2. Exaggerating the difference between 2 choices
- Increasing attitude towards chosen option
 After buying the car, look for positive reviews
- Decreasing attitude towards non-chosen option
 Look for negative reviews of the non-chosen car
Avoid returns, by following up after sale
 An unexpected post-sale gift
Extended warranty/coupon for accessory
 Diminishes the dissonance faced
Post-purchase Satisfaction
Expectancy-disconfirmation
 An expectation before purchase which is compared with
post-purchase performance
Singapore Airlines (Premium) vs. AirAsia (Discount)
 People have higher expectations for SIA than AirAsia
- When performance != expectations, dis-satisfaction occurs:
1. Product Returns
2. Complaints
- Privately to marketer
- Publicly on social media forums (Google Reviews)
Resolve by:
1. Manage expectations
 “We are short-staffed today, please bear with some delays”
Prevents further dissatisfaction
2. Manage & responding to post-purchase feedback
 Both privately & publicly (Management to take charge to
clarify more)
Consumption
Consumers may face issues during usage period of product
 Unclear instructions, lost manuals
How to use the product? – Different languages?
 Supply of accessories & complementary supplies
e.g: Printer cartridges, spare batteries
 Maintenance
Routine self-maintenance
Repairs & replacement of parts
 Accessible service centres – during weekends
These can affect consumers’ brand loyalty
Product Disposal
In an era of heightened sustainability consciousness
 Resale
- Peer-peer transactions on Carousell, messaging groups, flea
markets
- Trade-in to the manufacturer
 Recycling/upcycling
- Sometimes, products can be refurbished/used as raw
materials for a different product
e.g: used jeans turned into mobile phone pouches, bags,
decorative items
 Safe disposal
- Not all products can be dumped into paper/plastic/glass bin
- Batteries/bulbs are accepted at Supermarkets
- Furniture is bulky & cannot just be left for trash collector
Building a stronger relationship with customers during
consumption & disposal process may lead to next purchase
Marketers’ post-purchase processes
1. Websites, bots, hotlines that provide information
 How to use the product
 How to buy accessories
 How to maintain the product (cleaning, replacing parts)
2. Repair services that are accessible & inexpensive
3. Monitor social media feedback & being seen to be responsive
4. Provide ways of recycling, upcycling, trading back post-use
 Print cartridges can be recycled at service centres
 Starhub has bins for recycling electronic products
Macro & Cultural Influences
Macro-influences
Demographic Trends
Age: birth rates are dropping, baby-boomers are emerging,
youth segments are larger
Income: Middle class is emerging in developing countries
Education: Increased literacy rates, increased education
capabilities, higher computer literacy
Cultural Influences
Shared meaning of members of a:
Ethnicity “Singaporean Malay”
Age “Generation X” culture
Language “French” or “Tamil” culture
Other references group such as: NUS v
SMU culture,
Created by:
-
Common history/shared experiences
Literature, media, myths, folklore,
marketing
Culture as Content
Includes:
1. Beliefs, attitudes, goals & values
2. Rules, customs, norms
3. Meaning of institutions (marriage, school, religious
institutions, Gov’t, political parties)
4. Physical objects used by constitutents
Constantly changing
Hofstede 6 Dimension model of values:
1. Individualism
How people feel independent, as opposed to being
interdependent as members of larger wholes
2. Power Distance
How less powerful members of organisations & institutions (like
family) accept & expect that power is distributed unequally
3. Masculinity
How the use of force is endorsed socially
4. Uncertainty Avoidance
How uncertainty avoidance deals with a society’s tolerance for
uncertainty & ambiguity
5. Long-term orientation
Societies who score low on this, prefer maintaining time-honoured
traditions & norms; viewing societal change as a suspicion
Societies who score high, prefer more pragmatic approach;
encouraging thrift & efforts in modern education as a way to
prepare for future
6. Indulgence
Stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification of
basic & natural human drives related to enjoying life & having fun
Consumer Rituals
1. Acquisition
 Performed in the act of purchasing
Bargaining/bidding
2. Possession
 Performed to celebrate a purchase
Housewarming, “New TV” viewing party
3. Exchange
 Involves giving something to another
Gift-giving
Gifts have a lot of symbolism – varying from
culture
4. Grooming
 Taking care of a possession or oneself
Using cosmetics
Decorating a car
5. Personalisation
 Individualising a possession
Adding a monogram to shirt
Carving initials to a pen
6. Divestment
 Removing meaning before disposal
Removing stickers on a used car before sale