Manipulating Perceptions of Price and
Value
Perception and Consumer Behaviour
TWO DEFINITIONS OF PERCEPTION:
"A complex process by which people select, organize and
interpret sensory stimulation into a meaningful picture of
the world."
R. J. Markin, (1974) Consumer Behaviour. New York:
Macmillan.
"The process by which an individual selects, organizes and
interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherant picture of
the world."
L. G. Schiffman, and L. L. Kanuk. (1978) Consumer
Behaviour. Prentice-Hall.
STIMULI AND SENSORY RECEPTION
• Sensory Inputs
• Sensory Receptors
The Process of Perception
Horizontal-Vertical Illusion
Which line is longer?
ILLUSIONS IN MARKETING
•
•
•
•
•
a) SIZE:
b) QUALITY:
c) QUALITY AND SIZE:
d) COLOUR:
e) PRICE PERCEPTION:
AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION
• ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD
• THE DIFFERENTIAL THRESHOLD: (OR THE JND
- THE 'JUST NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE'
• WEBERS LAW
• USE OF WEBERS LAW IN MARKETING AND
CONSUMER RESEARCH
• OTHER MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF THE
'J.N.D.' PRINCIPLE
Sensory Thresholds
Absolute Threshold
The minimum amount of
stimulation that can be detected
on a sensory channel.
JND: ‘Just Noticeable Difference’
Weber’s Law
Differential Threshold
The ability of a person’s
sensory system to detect
changes or differences
between two stimuli.
Sequential changes in the ‘Betty Crocker’
symbol apparently fall below the JND
Stimulus Generalization/Perceptual Confusion
Health Warnings
SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION
• J. K. Adams, (1957) "Laboratory Studies of
Behaviour Without Awareness." Psychological
Bulletin, 54, pp. 383-405.
• Timothy E. Moore, (1982) "Subliminal
Advertising: What You See Is What You Get."
Journal of Marketing, 46, Spring, pp. 38-47.
• Del Hawkins, (1970) "The Effects of Subliminal
Stimulation on Drive Level and Brand
Preference." Journal of Marketing Research, 7,
Aug., pp. 322-326.
Amstel Lager
Tennents Lager 1
Tennents Lager 2
MARKETING STIMULI TECHNIQUES
• 1: CONTRAST:
• (See): Bernard Berelson and Gary A Steiner,
(1964) "Human Behaviour: An Inventory of
Scientific Findings." New York: Harcourt, Brace
& World, p. 95.
• NOISE CONTRASTS IN T.V. COMMERCIALS:
• (See e.g.): John Koten, (1984) "To Grab
Viewers' Attention, T.V Ads Aim for the
Eardrum." The Wall Street Journal, 26, p. 33.
• 2: EXPECTATIONS
• 3: INTENSITY AND SIZE:
• 4: POSITION:
J Yamanaka (1962) "The Production of Advertising
Readership Scores." Journal of Advertising Research, p.
2.
(See): Media/Scope. (1964) How Important is Position
in Consumer Magazine Advertising?" June.
• 5: MOVEMENT:
• 6: REPETITION:
Perceptual Set and Context
• What you see in the centre figures depends on the order in
which you look at the figures.
– If you scan from the left, see an old woman. If you scan from the
right, see a woman’s figure
• We use other cues in the situation
to resolve ambiguities
• Is this the letter B or the number
13?
• PERCEPTUAL BLOCKING:
• GROUPING AND CLOSURE:
The Closure
Principle
“Schhhhh . . . . . You know who.”
The Principle of Closure
BRAND IMAGE
PERCEPTIONS OF BRAND IMAGE AND QUALITY
• Makens (1965)
• Brown (1958)
Marlboro Cigarette Ads
Perceptual Mapping
Perceptual Mapping is a tool for visually
depicting and determining consumers’
perceptions of a product in the
marketplace and their prioritizing and
differentiating of different brands and
their attributes in that marketplace .
Mapping is typically based on axes
representing dimensions that are
believed to be important to consumers.
Average Rating
Snake Plot of Brand Ratings
1
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
Design
Stylish
Comfortable
Fashionable
I feel Good
Ideal Swimming
Designer Label
Easy to Swim
In Style
Appearance
Comfortable to
Swim
Desirable
A Look I like
Like the Colours
Functional
2
3
4
5
Aqualine
Sunflare
Islands
AR PERCEPTUAL MAP OF SWIMSUIT BRANDS
Comfort
Aqualine
Islands
Gap 1
Molokai
Fashion
Splash
Sunflare
Gap 2
Positioning Map: Fast Food Restaurants
Source: adapted from James H. Myers.Segmentation and Positioning for Strategic Marketing
Decisions (American Marketing Association,Chicago, 1996), S. 187
Perceptual Map of U.S.A. Beer Market (Products and
Attributes)
Heavy
Heavy
•
Budweiser
Full Bodied
Old Milwaukee
•
Meister Brau
•
Good Value
Miller
•
Popular
with
Men
Beck’s
•
Stroh’s
Budget
• Heineken
Special
Occasions
•
Coors
Blue Collar
•
Dining Out Premium
Premium
• Michelob
•
On a
Budget
•
Pale Color
Old
Milwaukee Light
Light
Miller
Lite
Light
•
Coors
Light
Less Filling
Popular
with
Women
Consumer Perceptions of Food Risks
FAMILIAR
Salmonella
Saturated Fats
Sugar
C Botulinum
NOT DREADED
DREADED
Colouring
Organic Produce
BSE
Pesticide Residue
Hormone Residue
Nitrates
Genetically Altered Foods
UNFAMILIAR
(Fife-Schaw and Rowe, 2000)
Banner Types - Non-Picture Banners
Banner Types - Lottery / Game Banners
Movement – Shaking Banners
Flashing vs. Non-Flashing CTA
eHome Copy Comparison
(2938 Bytes)
CTR = 0.33% (303:1)
(3668 Bytes)
CTR = 0.06% (1667:1)
Banner Syle and Format Test
2:
CTR = 3.03% (33:1)
3:
CTR = 2.52% (40:1)
4:
CTR = 2.20% (45:1)
5:
CTR = 2.16% (46:1)
1:
CTR = 1.55% (64:1)
6:
CTR = 1.43% (70:1)
Basic Eye Manipulation to the CTA
Involvement - Eye Manipulation to CTA
Involvement - Eye Manipulation to CTA (Poor Examples)
Visual - Attention Grabbing Visual
Visual - ‘Click Here’ Strategy
Elementary Copy Errors - Poor Colour Contrast
Better Colour Contrast
Additional Materials
Gestalt Organizational Principles
Sensation and Perception
• Sensation:
– The immediate response of our sensory receptors (eyes,
ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to basic stimuli such as light,
color, sound, odors, and textures
• Perception:
– The process by which sensations are selected, organized,
and interpreted
• The Study of Perception:
– Focuses on what we add to raw sensations to give them
meaning
Sensory Systems
• External stimuli, or sensory inputs, can be
received on a number of different channels.
• Inputs picked up by our five senses are the
raw data that begin the perceptual process.
• Hedonic Consumption:
– The multisensory, fantasy, and emotional aspects
of consumers’ interactions with products
Attention
Attention: extent to which processing activity is
devoted to a particular stimulus
• Competition for our attention
– 3,500 ad info pieces per day
– Sensory overload: consumers exposed to far
more information than they can process
• Younger consumers can multitask—process
information from more than one medium at
a time
• Marketers need to break through the clutter
Prentice-Hall, cr 2009
2-47
Attention to Stimuli
• Interpretation:
– The meaning that we assign sensory stimuli.
• Schema:
– Set of beliefs to which the stimulus is assigned.
• Priming:
– Process by which certain properties of a stimulus
typically will evoke a schema, which leads
consumers to evaluate the stimulus in terms of
other stimulus they have encountered and believe
to be similar.
Attention
• Attention:
– The extent to which processing activity is devoted
to a particular stimulus.
• Attention economy:
– The Internet has transformed the focus of
marketers from attracting dollars to attracting
eyeballs.
• Perceptual selection:
– People attend to only a small portion of the
stimuli to which they are exposed.
Selection
• Selective attention: filtering out and attending only
to important sensory messages.
• Feature detectors: specialized cells in the brain that
respond only to certain sensory information
• Habituation: tendency of the brain to ignore
environmental factors that remain constant
Personal Selection Factors
• Experience:
– The result of acquiring and processing stimulation over
time
• Perceptual vigilance:
– Consumers are aware of stimuli that relate to their current
needs
• Perceptual defense:
– People see what they want to see - and don’t see what
they don’t want to see
• Adaptation:
– The degree to which consumers continue to notice a
stimulus over time
Personal Selection (cont.)
• Perceptual vigilance: consumers are more likely
to be aware of stimuli that relate to their current
needs
– Example: you’re in the market for a car—so you tend
to notice car ads more than before
• Perceptual defense: people see what they want
to see—and don’t see what they don’t want to
see
– Example: heavy smoker may block out images of
cancer-scarred lungs
2-52
Stimulus Selection Factors
• Size:
– The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the
competition helps to determine if it will command
attention.
• Color:
– Color is a powerful way to draw attention to a product.
• Position:
– Stimuli that are present in places we’re more likely to look
stand a better chance of being noticed.
• Novelty:
– Stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places tend to
grab our attention.
Advertisements Appeal to Our Sensory Systems
• This ad for a luxury car emphasizes the contribution made by
all of our senses to the evaluation of a driving experience.
Barriers to Successful Risk
Communication
• Optimistic bias
– I am less at risk form a specific hazard than a comparative other
– I also have more knowledge and more control about the hazard
• Habitual behaviour
– (where an individual behaves in a set pattern without conscious
deliberation).
• These effects are most prominent in lifestyle or frequently
repeated behaviour (Fischer & De Vries, submitted)
Optimistic Bias - Risk Ratings
Alcohol
Fat
Food poisoning (home)
Food poisoning (outside)
Pesticides
Microwave ovens
Irradiation
GM animal
GM micro-organisms
GM plants
0
Frewer, Shepherd & Sparks (1994)
10
20
30
society
40
50
60
other people
70
80
90 100
personal