Managing consumer behavior is an important marketing task. Its importance is especially growing in highly competitive markets, where the choice of goods is great. In order to influence consumer behavior, it is necessary to understand how the process of making a purchasing decision by a client proceeds and what methods can push him to the desired decision at different stages.
Background
As an independent field of research , consumer behavior is formed in the middle of the 20th century. Amid growing interest in motivational research, at the intersection of psychology and marketing, a new field of knowledge appears. Its object of study is the behavioral characteristics of the consumer, including the process considered by us in the article - the decision to purchase. American scientists J. Angel and R. Blackwell stood at the origins of science, they wrote the first textbook Consumer Behavior, which is now a classic, and created one of the first models of the purchasing decision-making process. The goal of the science of consumer behavior was to find effective methods for influencing decision making.
Consumer Behavior Management Principles
Marketing in its desire to influence the decision of the buyer should proceed from the following basic tenets:
- the consumer is independent in his decisions, his sovereignty should not be violated;
- consumer motivation and the described process (purchasing decision) are learned through research;
- consumer behavior can be influenced;
- influencing a consumer’s decision is socially legal.
These principles were formulated at the stage of formation of the science of consumer behavior and are unshakable.
The concept of buying in marketing
Purchase is the main and desired goal of marketing programs. The essence of the purchase is to exchange money for goods and services. Moreover, for a consumer, a purchase is most often associated with stress: the higher the price, the more difficult it is for a person to decide to make a purchase. The price of the goods is expressed in money, and they, in turn, are perceived by the consumer as part of himself, because he spends his resources to get money: time, skills, knowledge. Therefore, parting with money is often given to the consumer is not easy. The task of the marketer is to facilitate this process, to help a person enjoy the purchase and remain satisfied with his purchase. To solve this problem, the marketer needs to have a good idea of ​​how the process of making a purchasing decision by a buyer occurs. Today, such types of purchases stand out as:
- A fully planned purchase when the consumer knows exactly the brand, price and place of purchase. Usually this type is associated with the acquisition of expensive durable goods.
- A partially planned purchase, when the consumer knows what product he would like to purchase, but he has not decided on the brand and place of purchase. This type most often applies to everyday goods, such as milk or bread.
- Impulse purchase, when a consumer buys something under the influence of momentary desire. Usually, inexpensive things are bought this way, and it is these purchases that are stimulated, for example, by the “hot” checkout area, where up to 90% of impulse purchases are made.
Purchase Decision Process Models
Despite the individual differences of people, their behavior as consumers lends themselves to schematization. Therefore, in marketing it is customary to apply models of consumer behavior. They greatly simplify the understanding of the sequence of actions of the buyer and allow you to determine the best place to influence the consumer. Historically, the first model was F. Kotler’s scheme called “The Black Box of Buyer Consciousness”. In this model, the incoming incentive factors fall into the black box, in which they are converted into customer response. Kotler could not clarify the essence of the decision-making process and called it a “black box”, but his merit was that he pointed to the existence of such a behavioral area. The first complete model of the purchasing decision process was created by Angel and his team. It presented the sequence of actions of the person making the decision: from the occurrence of a motive to purchase to a feeling of pleasure or displeasure after its completion.
Today, there are at least 50 different models for making a purchasing decision, they vary in degree of detail, but they can all be reduced to the five main stages of this process.
Need awareness
Each process by which a buyer makes a purchasing decision begins with the appearance of a motive and awareness of the need. Any person is constantly attacked by various desires, and the consumer can choose the most relevant one not only based on their real needs, but also under the influence of various external and internal factors. The goal of marketing programs is to help consumers realize their desire. Advertising, for example, is able to not only tell a person what he can buy to satisfy a particular need, but also to form a desire. For example, housewives did not need multicookers until an advertisement told them about the capabilities of this appliance.
A person has not so many natural needs, and marketing seeks to push a person towards maximum, rather than necessary, consumption. The modern resident of the metropolis is no longer enough clothes to save him from the cold, he needs a fashionable thing of famous brands to satisfy the need for prestige in accordance with fashion trends. It was the efforts of marketers that led to these needs. In the framework of marketing communications, the consumer is influenced by which he inclines in favor of one or another option to satisfy a conscious need.
Search for information
All stages of the purchasing decision process can lead to a purchase. In some cases, the consumer can make a purchase already at the stage of need, for example, he wanted to drink, he immediately saw a vending machine with water and bought a product to quench his thirst. This is often possible in the case of a low cost of goods and with slight differences between the goods. If the purchase requires relatively serious costs, then the consumer inevitably begins to collect information about possible options for meeting the need. The search for information has certain patterns. If a problem occurs, a person first turns to his internal information resources (knowledge stored in his memory), and only if he does not receive an answer there, he turns to external sources - media, friends, to points of sale. In practice, it looks like this: a person wanted to buy a sandwich - he remembers where there are points of sale for this product nearby. If you managed to remember, he will not turn to other sources of information. If not, he can ask friends, look on the Internet, etc. Therefore, marketers strive to fill a person’s memory with information about the product, as well as organize an accessible information environment so that, if necessary, the consumer can learn about the product from various sources.
Assessment of alternatives
When the search for information provided several relatively equivalent options for satisfying needs, the decision-making process on the purchase of goods enters the next stage - comparison of options. Evaluation criteria can be different, and the stage can be in the form of a simple comparison (fresh and yesterday's milk), or it can turn into a real expert assessment with the involvement of outside people and building a system of criteria (for example, buying an expensive phone). The more expensive and prestigious the purchase, the more complicated the process of comparing options. At the same time, the influence of advertising, brand, recommendations of the seller or authority can have a decisive effect on decision-making.
Purchase decision
The described process — the decision to make a purchase — can be completed at any stage if the person has received strong arguments in favor of taking the action or refusing it. The final decision on the purchase comes at the point of sale, and here the important factors of influence are the atmosphere of the store and the person of the seller, as well as competent arrangement of the point of sale: product layout, navigation, cleanliness, ease of payment, etc. Packaging of the product and its importance are important organoleptic properties.
Post-purchase behavior
The main goal of marketing - customer satisfaction - are all stages of the consumer decision-making process. Buying is preceded by doubts, evaluation of alternatives, choice, but it does not end there. Having brought the goods home, the buyer continues to doubt the correctness of his choice. If the product in operation does not bring satisfaction and pleasure, then the consumer will begin to disseminate negative information about the product, which will negatively affect the decision of other customers. Therefore, marketers take care to convince the buyer of the right choice after the purchase, for this an additional service is offered, guarantees, supporting advertising.
Consumer Behavior Management
The complex process of consumer decision-making on the purchase is the object of action of the marketer. At each stage, you can influence the outcome of this process. At the stages of awareness of needs and information retrieval, factors such as social and cultural values, reference groups, characteristics of the social class and consumer lifestyle are involved. At the stage of comparing alternatives and at the post-purchase stage, an important role is played by the brand, its image and advertising. Marketers, in fact, never leave their attention to the consumer, they smoothly lead him up the steps of the ladder of customer readiness for purchase, and then immediately involve them in the new process. Making a purchase decision at each stage should have its own results - this is awareness, knowledge, attitude, involvement, loyalty. These results are the result of a large, comprehensive work that begins and ends with studies of consumer behavior.
Significance of consumer behavior research
The study of the decision-making process on the purchase of goods is the starting point for the formation of any marketing programs. Not knowing how and where the consumer will look for information, what factors influence his choice, it is impossible to carry out competent media planning and the wording of the advertising message. And the stages of the purchasing decision-making process are the subject of a thorough marketing analysis. Moreover, it should be remembered that decision-making models vary depending on the life cycle of the product. So, people buy a novelty and a well-known mature product in different ways. Models of behavior in the wholesale and retail markets differ, and these differences are revealed only in the course of research.
Examples of purchasing decision processes
Without realizing it, every day several times we are faced with the problem of choice: what to buy for lunch, where to go to relax, what gift to buy for a loved one, etc. The process of making a purchase decision, examples of which each person can find in their practice, is conventional and often automatic. It is common for any consumer to save his resources, including temporary, energy and intellectual. Therefore, we strive to transfer any process into the area of ​​the familiar and stereotypical. If we once spent time and energy on the choice of juice and he completely satisfied us, then we are unlikely to think about the same problem again only if we are not forced to do this, but buy the same juice. An example of complex search behavior can be called buying a car, most often in such a situation a person goes through all stages of the decision-making process, compares options for a long time and is sensitive to post-purchase service.