Factors Influencing the Level of Customer Involvement and Complexity of the Decision Buying Process - Essay Example

High and low Involvement This paper will examine my personal experience in high and low involvement, in the purchase of products, he degree and extent of purchasing a product is what determines the level of level of involvement in the purchase decision buying process. The extent determines whether the involvement in the buying process is high or low. The customers' involvement in the buying decision is affected by the customers' interest and the importance of that product to the customer. High involvement in the purchase decision is where the customers carries out an extensive research and evaluation of the product, the extent of personal involvement and the degree of the perceived product in the purchase decision is high. A high involvement purchase decision involves much of individual risk and expenditure; the customer is highly involved in the purchase decisions; eventually the customer develops personal attachment towards the product. This paper will evaluate the purchase decision of a smart phone, Samsung galaxy S4. A low involvement in a purchase decision is a purchase decision that involves a simple purchase decision process. The customer is not highly involved in the buying decision process; the customers' involvement is low. The extent and the degree of personal involvement in the purchase decision process are low; the customer does not engage in research and deep involvement in the purchase of the product. In low involvement buying process, this paper will examine the factors that influence the decision to buy snacks. High Involvement The purchase of a smart phone involves the dissonance reducing buying behaviour, here; the consumer does not see any main significant differences between brands. Therefore, to avoid situations where the customer will see that other brands are much more superior to the product, the customer embarks in researching to find out more about the product. The personal and socio-cultural factors that affect the high involvement decision buying process includes; the cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Personal Personal factors and character have a significant impact on the consumers buying process; this factor is derived from a person's own self-concept that describe how people see themselves and how they perceive themselves to be (Dens 2010). The rapid change and advancements that exist in the smart phone market have a significant effect on the way consumers buy and associate themselves with a product. The superiority of the product in smart phone market is truly important; this distinguishes whether the products is going to be out in front or not. The customers' personal associations with a smart phone are largely dependent on the different offerings that the product has, over the other competitors (Dens 2010). Consumers, personal characteristics and self-concept, can lead to the product that the customer can buy, it all depends with whether the product identifies with the customers own preferences, attitudes and lifestyle. The Samsung galaxy S4 is the best smart phone that exists in the market currently, the release of this product created, buzz internationally over the features and the different offerings that the product will have. The customers’ lifestyle and attitude are largely hinged to associate with the best product; the different reviews that exist about the product have created anticipation among various customers in the world (M 2003). The smart phone is designed to make it human friendly, its can read certain human cues and behaviour and enable it to behave and function accordingly. The cue and drive generated by this is immense; the anticipation that most consumers had, over the Samsung Galaxy S4 product is huge. The response of the huge drive and cue that has been generated is the response that the company got from the purchase of the product; customers lined up in queues to purchase the product. The personal attributes of customers associating them with the best smart phone, and differentiation of the brand from the others in the market is the drive behind the buying decision. The personal factors that affect the buying behaviour include things like age, occupations, lifestyle, and economic conditions (S 1984). The age is one of the principal factors that influence personal buying decisions; the youth and young adults are most of the people that are driven in buying smart phones. The human life cycle ensures that most people associate with certain products based on the need and functions that they can derive from the smart phones. With features that Samsung galaxy S4 packs, this generated much interest in most young adults and youths worldwide. The economic condition describes whether the customer has the money to purchase the product; the customers' decision to buy Samsung galaxy S4 means that she or he has the capability and money to buy the product. Lifestyle is the way the person stays; this has an enormous effect on the customers buying decision; the customer likes to associate himself with the best products, and smart phones. Lifestyle makes the customers associate him or herself with a certain status and image; lifestyle is the association a person has, with his or her immediate environment (S 1984). Associations with the surroundings, image and status of the customer affects the buyers' decision buying process the involvement shows that the customer has, with the product. People have their own unique personality; the difference in personality affects the buying behaviour; the uniqueness and personality enable customers associate with products differently. Persons attribute affected the level of involvement in the purchase decision; they play a significant part in determining the level and extent of involvement. The high involvement of this customer is direct hinged to his personal attributes and associations (Dens 2010). Social The social nature of human beings plays a significant role in affecting the customers' involvement in the purchase decision. Most of the person's immediate surroundings affect the nature of involvement in the purchase decision. The mad buzz and reviews the anticipation created that of the product made the product the talk in most media outlets; this increased the level of involvement of the customer towards the product (S 1984). The customer hears the specifications about the product from their immediate surroundings; the immediate societal surrounding includes the following, family, friends, close relatives and other reference groups. Since this product has not been used by most people in the society much of this buzz and anticipation that is created on the rumours and the leaked reports about the product, the society affects the level of involvement depending on the level that the individual occupies in the society. The customer being a youth, the level of involvement is high; he or she is being involved into the product through the level in which the society around them is talking about the product. The society and the surroundings around young people are technological savvy; hence, they talk about the smart phone. Much of the buzz created about the product can trace their roots on the young and technological savvy people (S 1984). The level of involvement and the buying tendency depends on the role the customer plays in the society (Dens 2010). Culture The culture is a way of life that shapes the way the customer behaves; the cultures are one of the factors that determine the way a customer will behave and shape their buying behaviour process. The way of life of an individual is nothing but the values that the immediate surrounding affects on an individual. An individual’s value plays a significant role in determining the level of involvement and the buying decision (S 1984). The family and the background of the individual play a significant role on determining the culture, and the way of life of the individual. In a culture there are various sub cultures that exist, that include religion, status and gender. Certain religious upbringings can bring associations of an individual to certain products and their involvement. The status that the person occupies in the society brings the associations that a person portrays towards a certain product; the upper and the middle class are much more likely to associate with the emergence of Samsung galaxy S4. The Samsung galaxy S4 is a premier product that attracts attention from all levels of the society; the middle class and the upper class are more likely to be highly involved in the technological innovation that is unparalleled in the universe. Feature such as the play and stopping of video play back when a user look and looks away from the screen of the phone, creates interesting feature about the product that creates deep involvement. The gender of the people affects the involvement; men are more likely to be highly involved in the purchase of the product than women (M 2003). Psychological Psychological factors affect the motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes of the customers buying process. What motivates a customer to be deeply involved in the purchase of Samsung galaxy S4 is puzzling, most of the motivations is likely to be the unique features that the products has, and the superiority of the product over all other products in the market. The perception that the product has created among various in the marketplace is particularly high. Customers positioning of the product is extremely superior among all other products in the markets (Dens 2010). The product positioning and learning about the product can be derived from experience that the Samsung has brought to the market. Samsung previous smart phone products have created the superiority that the products have in the market. Most of the smart phones market customers have a high involvement in the purchase of their products because of their nature. Most customers are usually deeply involved in the purchase of their smart phones, and they do background research and checks to determine the function ability of the product. The beliefs and attitudes towards the purchase of the product have a large bearing of the level of involvement of the product, the image that is attached to the Samsung galaxy S4 have an impact on the beliefs and attitude towards the product. The customers' high involvement in the purchase decision is based on the opinions that they have on their product. The customer superior perception of the product has increased the level of involvement towards the product. There is a high involvement in the purchase decision towards the smart phone (M 2003). Low involvement The low involvement in the purchase of products is directly affected by the brand; if the customers know the brand they will continuously purchase the product. In the experiences of the low involvement in the purchase of the product, is based on the customer knowledge of the brand whether it offers superior brand quality or not. Customers repeatedly purchase a product based on their experiences of the product whether they are other high qualities and superior that exists or not (Dens 2010). The factors that influence the low involvement of the product include the following; Uniqueness and innovation The uniqueness and the standing out of the product greatly affect the low involvement of the product. The uniqueness of snacks may differentiate a product from another, but it does not exceedingly affect the high involvement of the product. Most customers will buy the snack because it is unique and stands out from the rest, but not because of its superior quality. Most of the snacks are tailored to have an appeal to customers, this appeal attracts customers. Customers who do not have an experience in buying another product will purchase the product, at first, just to test it (M 2003). The low involvement in the purchase of snack is hinged on the idea that customer purchase snacks with little effort and time. The personal identity that the consumer has been in other based on the uniqueness that the product has; the dynamic nature reflected this that most products have in trying to shape the customers preferences. The effective and the cognitive responses that the consumer has on these low cost products follow the exterior design of the product. The purchase of snack from the shelves of the store is associated with the customer just picking them up from a wide variety of snacks that are available (S 1984). Quality Customers have a low involvement in the purchase of snacks despite their quality. If the customer had no experience in the purchase of the product, the customers purchase decision will be based on the customers' view of whether it is of superior quality or not (S 1984). The quality of the product will be based on the products exterior outlook and exposure. Snacks are usually uniquely design to represent a superior in quality over other products. There are various ways that a customer can determine the quality of a product, all the ways are through the perception that the customer has, over the product, and they include, the perceived durability, serviceability, conformity, and features that are tailored into the product. Quality is a significant factor that determines the level of involvement (Dens 2010). Price A customer's level of involvement is directly affected by the products prices; customers are usually looking for a fair price for their products. Customers in making their purchase decisions will compare the prices of various snacks and pick the one that best suits them. The purchase of snacks is heavily dependent on the last price the customer paid for the product, the last prices forms the reference price that the customers form a base in comparing the future price levels. The expected price is a factor that determines the buying decision and the level of involvement that the customer has (M 2003). Packaging Customers that exhibit low involvement in the purchase of products usually purchase a product based on their packaging of the product. Customer makes their buying decisions based on the perceived attributes that the product has. The packaging of the product forms an interface through which the customer interacts with the product; products that have superior packaging attract more customers to buy the snacks. Low involvement purchase decisions do not involve any research and knowledge about the product; hence, the interface that the product has, over the other products determines the buyer decisions (Dens 2010). Reference groups Family, media and other close people have an effect on the product buying decisions and the level of involvement in the purchase of the product. Direct references from the external surrounding have a significant play on the level of involvement. Most customers receive direct references from other people in order for them to buy a product, they; hence, purchase the products based on other people experience with the product (S 1984). Company image The credibility of the company has a significant role to play in the purchase of a product. Customers usually have low involvement in the purchase of certain products; the image of the company that make them is sometimes the cause that determines the purchase of the product. Companies that have a superior image have an influence in determining the purchase of the product. Customers like to associate themselves with companies that have a good track record and superior image (M 2003). Conclusion The high and low level of customer involvement is influenced by variety of factors. These factors play a role in determining the purchase decision that a customer is going to make. The high involvement decisions usually involve the purchase of a costly product while, the low involvement involve the purchase of a less costly product. The complexity of the decision buying process depends on the level of involvement of the customer. Reference Dens, NADPP 2010, 'Consumer response to different advertising appeals for new products: The moderating influence of branding strategy and product category involvement.', Journal of Brand Management, vol 18, no. 1, pp. 50-65. M, B 2003, The Marketing Book, 5th edn, Butterworth Heinmann, London. S, MJAH 1984, 'Consumer involvement: Definitional issues and research directions", in Advances in Consumer Research', Association for Consumer Research, vol 11, pp. 193-196. Read More