Decision Making
Decision Making

How do you make purchase decisions?
 What factors affect your decision?
 What strategies do you use?

Outline your decision making process for a
significant product/service you recently
purchased
How does Decision Making
relate to other aspects of CB?

What was it?
How much did it cost?
Where did you buy it?
When did you buy it?

Why did you buy it?

Was anyone with you when you
made the purchase?
Do you know anyone who
used/owned the product before
you made your purchase?





How important is this product to
your lifestyle?

At the time of this purchase, was
there another product which you
seriously considered buying
instead of the item selected?
What circumstances led to your
realization that you should buy
the item purchased?



Did you purchase the item at the
first store visited?
Why did you buy at the particular
where you made the purchase?
3 Perspectives on
Consumer Decision Making
1.
2.
3.
Experiential perspective
Behavioral perspective
Decision making perspective
Next day
Focus of today
Decision Making Perspective
SITUATIONS
Problem
Recognition

Rational, informationprocessing approach
 Move through stages in a
linear fashion
Information
Search
Alternative Evaluation
Product Choice
Postpurchase
Processes
SITUATIONS
Purchase vs. Product
Involvement
In groups, tell me…

The difference?

Situations where product involvement is high
and purchase involvement is low.

Situations where purchase involvement is high
and product involvement is low.

Why this matters in studying decision making?
Involvement and Decision Making
Purchase Involvement is:


the level of concern for, or interest
in, the purchase process
triggered by the need to consider a
particular purchase
is a temporary state

not the same as Product

Involvement
Continuum of Buying Decision
Behavior
Step 1: Problem Recognition
1st stage of consumer decision process
Definition: Is the result of a discrepancy between a
desired state and an actual state that is sufficient to
arouse and activate the decision process
Actual state – how you perceive your situation right now
Ideal state – the way you want to feel or be at the present
time
Activating Problem Solving
 In
groups of 3 or 4 figure out the
following…
 How would you activate problem solving in
the following…



United Way blood drive (increasing donations)
Dixon Recreation Center (increasing activity)
A healthier diet
Step 2: Information Search
Information
sources
Internal
information
Actively
acquired
Past
searches
Personal
experience
External
information
Passively
acquired
Lowinvolvement
learning
Actively
acquired
Independent
groups
Personal
contacts
Marketer
information
Experiential
Discussion
 Choosing
a brand/product among
available alternatives requires much of the
effort that goes into a purchase decision.
 Which is the greater problem for a
consumer:

Not having enough choices or having too
many choices?
 Why?
Step 3: Identifying Alternatives
Evoked, inert,
inept:
 Beer?
 Toothpaste?
 fast food?
Describe your next car!
Characteristics of this car, not just brand
What about…

35-year-old couple, both working professional jobs
with 5 preteenage children

55-year-old bank president

Or
Or

30-year-old married, no children, female, school
teacher
How would you make the decision to buy?
Step 4: Product Choice
Evaluative criteria: dimensions used to judge merits of
competing options
Evaluative Criteria
Beer
Identify brands of beer.
What are your evaluative criteria for beer?
Type?
Importance?
Evaluative Criteria
Perceptual Mapping of Beer Brand Perception
How do you decide?
 Several
alternatives, how do you decided
which is the right one for you?
Attribute Based Decision Rules
5 decision rules:
1. Conjunctive
Non-Compensatory
2. Disjunctive
&
3. Elimination
Low-involvement
4. Lexicographic
5. Compensatory
Compensatory
&
High-involvement
Attribute Based Decision Rules: Noncompensatory
Conjunctive:
• Set minimum criteria level for each attribute
• Eliminate alternatives that do not meet that criteria
Disjunctive:
• Set minimum criteria for each important attribute
• Only accept alternatives that exceed this minimum level
Elimination- by aspects:
• Determine the importance of attributes
• Compare alternatives on the most important attribute
• Those not meeting the minimum criteria are eliminated
• The next most important attribute is considered
Lexicographic:
• Consumers determine the most important attribute and select the
brand that performs best on that attribute
Attribute Based Decision Rules
Compensatory:
• a high level on one attribute can offset or compensate
for low values on other attributes
-- high values compensate for poor performance
Example:
basketball game ticket packages
-Seat selection – extremely important
-Price – less important
Step 5: Postpurchase Processes
Postpurchase Dissonance:
 The doubt or anxiety associated with a
purchase
 Based on cognitive dissonance theory
Describe a recent purchase that produced
postpurchase dissonance and one that did
not.
What factors led to these postpurchase
processes?
Characteristics of the Situation Likely to
Contribute to Postpurchase Dissonance

Degree of irrevocability
 Importance to the consumer
 Difficulty of choosing among alternatives
 Individual’s tendency to experience anxiety
How do consumers attempt to avoid anxiety
before a purchase?
 Avoid
the decision
 Delay the decision
 Use a purchase decision rule to minimize
regret
How can Consumers Reduce
Postpurchase Dissonance?

Increase desirability of brand or product
purchased
 Decrease desirability of rejected alternatives
 Decrease perceived importance of the purchase
 Reverse the purchase (return the item)
Think about
 How
can marketers improve consumer
decisions?