Consumer Behaviour
Chapter 8: Customer motivation
Learning Objectives:
Customer motivation
• Explain the nature of motives.
• Explain the process of the arousal of needs.
• Discuss the classification of motives.
• Discuss Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
• Discuss the McGuire’s psychological motives
and the economic and emotional classification
of motives.
• Explain what is meant by psychographics.
• Explain the different motivational research
options.
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Introduction
• Motives inspire everything we do and all the decisions we make
• Motivation is the desire to satisfy needs
• Customer motivation looks at the internal state that drives people to
identify and select products that meet their conscious desires and
subconscious needs
• The specific goals and action taken to meet needs depend on individual
perception (of product and self) and attitude (of product).
• Wants are desires for products customers wish for but are not necessary
• Needs are basic sources of buyer behaviour and have to me stimulated
before the consumer is driven to action
• Innate needs – physiological such as food, water, clothing, shelter
• Acquired needs – psychological as they are learnt in response to our culture,
environment
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Needs arousal
Begins with the presence of a stimulus that causes
the recognition of a need
• Various types:
• Physiological – involuntary physical body cues that create
tension to resolve (e.g. drop in blood sugar level – hunger)
• Emotional – feelings based (e.g. daydreaming about become
a pro golfer – read about golfing and practices technique)
• Cognitive - intellectual response to stimuli (e.g. elderly couple
holding hands – need of being in a relationship)
• Environmental – Needs are activated by specific
environmental cues (e.g. smell of food – hunger)
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The drive state
• Once a need is aroused it produces a drive state.
• A drive state is an affective state (emotional) in
which a person experiences emotions and
physiological arousal.
• This is our drive, meaning, we act in a certain
way to satisfy our need:
• Searching for information
• Talking to friends
• Shopping for the best bargain
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The classification of motives (needs)
The different classifications
of motives (needs) are:
Maslow’s
hierarchy of
motives
Footnote
McGuire’s
psychological
motives
Economic and
emotional
classification
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1) Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
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1) Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
• All humans adopt a set of motives through genetic endowment and social
interaction.
• Some motives are more basic than others.
• The most basic motives need to be satisfied to a minimum level before other,
more advanced motives come into play.
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Types of needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
Physiological needs:
• First and most basic level of human needs.
Safety needs:
• Physical safety but also include order, stability, routine, familiarity and control over one’s life and
environment.
Social needs:
• Expression in the buying of gifts and participating in in-group activities such as sports and other
cultural pursuits.
Ego needs:
• Take an inward or an outward orientation or both.
Self-actualisation:
• Individual’s desire to fulfil her or his potential; in order words, to become everything she or he is
capable of becoming.
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How is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs applicable to
marketing?
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides a useful framework for marketers to
segment the market, and it helps with product positioning in the following ways:

Segmentation applications: The needs hierarchy is often used as the basis
for market segmentation.

Positioning applications: Can also be used in the positioning of products,
that is, deciding how the product is to be perceived by prospective
customers.
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2) McGuire’s psychological motives
• McGuire’s classification consists of two categories: internal and external motives
McGuire’s internal
motives
Application example
The need for consistency
People have a basic desire to have all parts of themselves consistent and they purchase products
that fulfil this need. People that listen to country music will purchase products like cowboy boots and
hats.
The need to attribute
causation
People have the need to determine who or what causes things to happen to them. For example,
some people choose to attribute it to themselves, fate or an outside force like a religious figure.
The need to categorize
Categories allow people to process a large amount of information. Vehicles are categorized into
cars, SUV’s, light trucks, heavy duty trucks, van, sporty, mid-size, hybrid, electric and so on. This
helps consumers quickly narrow down their choices when purchasing a vehicle.
The need for cues
Most people will view others’ behaviour and infer what they feel and think. Clothing plays an
important role in presenting image of a person. People quickly judge others by the clothing they are
wearing and the vehicle they drive.
The need for self-expression
People are known for letting others know who and what they are by their extravagant purchases,
especially clothing and cars. Who really needs a R12 000 pen? What is that saying about that
person?
The need for novelty
People have variety seeking-behaviour and this may be a reason for brand switching and impulse
buys, but that depends on the person. People experiencing rapid life changes will seek stability,
while people in stable life situations will seek change. The travel industry uses this by changing up
their ads and showing adventure vacations where people are actively having fun and some ads
showing relaxing vacations where people are swinging in a hammock.
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2) McGuire’s psychological motives
Economic and emotional classification
• Customers can also be motivated by economic and/or emotional motives:
 Economic criteria
 Emotional criteria – strongly persuasive and even have influence over ‘rational decisions
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Psychographics
• Demographics describe who buys while psychographics help us
understand why they buy
• Psychographics are characteristics that describe individuals in terms of
their psychological, behavioural make-up and lifestyle
• Refers to the why do consumer buy – the motivation.
• Refers to how consumers behave and the psychological factors that
underlie this activity pattern.
• E.g. a person’s need to seek affiliation or peer approval may encourage
him to start playing tennis. Tennis becomes part of their psychographics
and refers to the motivation
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Psychographics
Psychographics and lifestyle
• A person’s motivations determine behavior as well as lifestyle.
• Values determine lifestyle and our lifestyle expresses the goals we live
for, while values are the goals we live for
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Uses of Psychographics
• Market segmentation – They allow marketers to go beyond the simple
demographic or product usage descriptions. Sometimes the stereotype may be
inaccurate, as the actual customer may not match these assumptions. For
example, say the marketers of a particular beer company thought their market
consisted of young professional men between the ages of 25 and 30, but were
then surprised when they realized that their beer is consumed by older family men
between the ages of 40 and 45.
• Emphasizing features – Psychographic information can guide marketers in
emphasizing features of the product that fit in with a person’s lifestyle. For
example, products targeted at people who like the outdoors like hiking boots,
should emphasize that the shoes are durable and have double cushioning for
comfort in the outdoor terrain.
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Uses of Psychographics
• Useful input in advertising – Psychographic details provide advertisers with a
much richer mental image of the target customer to improve their ability to ‘talk’ to
that customer. For example, it was found that women who buy expensive perfume
would like to think that they are unique in wearing their preferred brand. One
perfume brand decided to take advantage of this tendency, and they developed
advertisements with the theme ‘It’s only you’.
• Identifying new product opportunities – Understanding how a product fits or
does not fit into customers’ lifestyles allows marketers to identify new product
opportunities, design media strategies and create environments that are the most
consistent and harmonious with these consumption patterns. For example, Vanish
recognized consumer needs to remove tough stains, which was not being met by
washing powder producers.
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Motivation research
• Motivation research is based on the premise that consumers are not always aware
of the reasons for their action.
• Two useful techniques to uncover motivation:
Depth
interviews
To determine
deep-seated or
repressed
motives.
Focus group
interview.
Projective
techniques
To determine
motives difficult
to express or
identify.
Consumers
might not know
their motives.
Often uses a
situation and
asks consumers
to respond
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