Marketing and Consumer Behaviour - Intentions, Feelings, and Attitudes - Assignment Example

Marketing and Consumer Behaviour

• Intentions, Feelings and Attitudes

All human beings, regardless of their culture or the societies from which they come from, are always making choices about products. Consumer psychology studies people’s behaviours and decisions about the acquisition, consumption and disposal of goods, services, ideas and time (Hoyer & Jacoby, 2010). Intentions, feelings, and attitudes are important variables in understanding consumer psychology.

According to Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2006) plans are personal conclusions by people about their future behaviour. Though sometimes intentions change, people almost always do what they intend to do. Producers will, therefore, be attentive to people’s intentions to spend, purchase or repurchase. Firms are also keen on people’s intentions to search for products or their likelihood to consume what they find. Consumer plans can, therefore, help firms in predicting how much of an existing product they should produce to meet market demand. Firms can also estimate how much of a new product consumers will demand (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006).

Feelings, on the other hand, are termed as affective states or reactions, for example, sentiments experienced during the consumption of a product (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006). A product advertisement or the environment where the product sells activates certain feelings in people which will determine their attitudes towards the product. Feelings aroused during or after consumption can also arouse certain feelings in people who either be upbeat, negative or warm. Producers will, therefore, be interested in what people feel about products from their advertising, shopping, or consumption experiences.

Peter and Olson (2010) describe attitudes as people’s evaluations of different ideas, for example, liking. Attitudes can either be towards the purchasing behaviour or the object itself. Attitude is also determined by how much a consumer prefers one product in comparison to another product. The Fishbein Model proposes that consumers develop approaches based on the set of qualities they believe a product has (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006). Positive attitudes towards products are an essential condition in a consumer’s decision to purchase (Schiffman, Kanuk, & Das, 2006). Firms will, therefore, want consumers’ perceptions of their products to be desirable. Firms will concentrate on making users see the desirable attributes of their products since this will influence their attitudes, and consequently, decisions to purchase.

Factors like increased competition, dropping sales or increased complaints may necessitate changing of consumer attitudes by marketers (Long, 2016). Attitudes of consumers can change by altering their beliefs (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006). Changing what consumers believe can change their attitudes and influence their decisions to buy certain products. Marketers can either change false beliefs about products so they reflect the truth or they change what consumers believe about other competitive brands. Attitudes can also get influenced by altering the importance consumers give to the qualities in a product (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006). Producers can add new desirable qualities that competitor brands do not possess. A firm may also change a product’s ideal points by trying to vary the consumers’ preferences on the qualities of a perfect product (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006). For example, a marketer may try to convince consumers that the ideal cooking fat should contain no cholesterol.

What consumers believe and feel influences their attitudes towards certain products. Their beliefs, in turn, determine their future intentions and ultimately whether they buy or refuse to purchase a product. Changing what consumers believe, therefore, as a paramount effect on what consumers eventually decide to do.

• Effect of Culture on Values and Norms in Consumer Psychology

Values and norms also have a significant impact on consumer behaviour. Values are a person’s innate and persistent beliefs or principles about what is right and wrong (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2015). According to Peter and Olson (2010), values are people’s broad life goals. Zielinski and Robertson (1982) state that values represent the moral, the good and the worthwhile in the society. Values influence what an individual needs, desires and wants. Values determine an individual’s selection and maintenance of goals and regulate the methods they use to achieve these targets (Vinson, Scott, & Lamont, 1977). When individuals understand what they need, desire or want, these factors influence their decisions on want to buy, keep or discard. Firms can, therefore, use their knowledge of personal values to inform their promotional strategies, product planning market analysis and also segmentation.

Norms, on the other hand, are the rules of behaviour, that is, what should or should not be done (Chan, 2013). Norms define tolerable behaviour for attaining values, and they will usually stem from the values they support (Zielinski & Robertson, 1982). Norms help in strengthening an individuals’ values by making them credible. Consumer behaviour depends on whether a brand violates or conforms to what they believe to be right or wrong (Aggarwal, 2004). Customers use what they think as a basis to determine how they react to certain brands. These reactions then guide their actions and influence their general brand evaluations.

According to Peter and Olson (2010), culture refers to the array of learned meanings, morals and behaviours that members of society have in common. Culture will be affected by factors such as government policies, technology, religiosity (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2015). According to Szmigin and Piacentini (2015), culture forms the basis of social and productive activities. People with different cultural experiences have different anticipations, norms and values. These expectations, standards and values influence their judgements, decisions and behaviour (Peter & Olson, 2010). Culture will reflect on the cultural meanings that producers portray while advertising their products (Peter & Olson, 2010). From these meanings, consumers can decide whether the products conform to their ideas of what is right and what is wrong and consequently, make decisions about a product.

People who share common cultural meanings, behavioural patterns and values can be grouped into smaller groups referred to as subcultures (Peter & Olson, 2010). Social class, on the other hand, is a consistent division in the society comprised of people who share lifestyles, interests, wealth, economic positions and behaviour, among other characteristics (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2015). People from different social classes and subcultures will have different values and norms. For instance, considering gender as a subculture factor, women and men will have different consumer behaviours depending on what influences them. Women get drawn to advertisements which are category-oriented and more complex, whereas men get drawn to ads that are simpler and attribute-oriented. The products that they are drawn to purchase will, therefore, differ considerably.

While considering factors such as income, low-income earners will have different values, lifestyles and behaviours compared to high-income earners. What a low-income earner perceives as a luxury, for example, a sports vehicle might be a necessity for high-income earners because they are determined to blend into the social class where they belong. While the low-income earner will be interested in the functional attributes of a car before they purchase it, the high-income earner might be drawn to the prestigious value of the vehicle. The social class to which a person belongs reflects as a type of reference group which guides or influences a consumers’ buying behaviours.

• Reference Groups and Consumer Behaviour

Reference groups are groups that an individual uses in their comparisons and as a basis to form their beliefs, habits and attitudes (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2015). A reference group may be formal or informal depending on the structure. It can also be primary or secondary depending on the kind of interactions, that is whether they are face-to-face or not. These groups can also be membership, aspirational or dissociative depending on whether people join, aspire to join or avoid joining the groups (Peter & Olson, 2010).

Reference groups influence an individual’s behaviour. For example, a person does what can be individuals or groups of individuals who change a person's behaviour. A person might look up to celebrities or people with similar interests for guidance on what to do in particular situations. Reference groups can show a person the kind of behaviour that culminates in either the group’s or the individual’s stability (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2015). Reference groups can either have a utilitarian influence (Peter & Olson, 2010; Szmigin & Piacentini, 2005), where the reference groups control rewards and punishments for the consumer, or where the behaviour is characteristic of the particular group. For example, a person may buy, use or discard items depending on the usual behaviour of his peer group. Reference group influence can also be value-expressive (Peter & Olson, 2010) where people identify with groups that express their “desired meanings”. For example, ladies may buy accessories or make-up products because they associate them with a particular model. Reference groups can also have an informational influence (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2005) on an individual where a person relies on experts’ for information on a particular product or service.

The Financial Times Lexicon defines word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing as the advertising activities that influence public interactions and word-of-mouth between consumers (Lexicon.ft.com, 2016). This kind of marketing can be active where influential customers get free samples. Professionals may also be hired to promote particular brands. Word of mouth marketing can also be passive where consumers follow natural conversations taking place online such as on blogs, social networks and review sites, among others. (Lexicon.ft.com, 2016).

WOM is valuable in creation, sustenance, communication and interaction between the producers and consumers in the marketplace and it plays a significant role in consumers’ purchasing decisions (Severi et al., 2014). Word of mouth marketing creates a trust (Peter & Olson, 2010). Customers trust people who give them recommendations for products because of the assumptions that these people were happy with the products they are recommending. Word of mouth marketing also reaches many people without restrictions (Severi et al., 2014). Some people usually register on “Do Not Call Registries” to avoid unwanted sales. Signing up for such databases may keep consumers from essential products. Word of mouth marketing ensures that relevant information reaches such consumers.

Word of mouth marketing is also more likely to influence a consumer’s buying behaviour compared to traditional forms of marketing because it promotes the brand image (Trusov et al., 2009; Severi et al., 2014). Consumers who have products referred to them through word of mouth usually end up buying the products. Such customers also reflect a sense of brand loyalty (Severi et al., 2014) where they stick with a brand longer and also refer other people. Word of mouth marketing is also cheap and helps to build a brand (Trusov et al., 2009). WOM marketing does not require funding regarding radio and television campaigns. Referral costs are almost non-existent, and a company saves a lot of money by using WOM marketing such email marketing promotions and social networking sites.