Relying on Consumer Behavior - Essay Example

Coupons, repeated advertisements, free samples, and other promotional gimmicks can and do influence consumer preference. Marketers can also employ different kinds of appeals to endeavor a product to a consumer. Appeals include fear appeals, comparative appeals, emotional appeals, value expressive, and utilitarian appeals all of which perform to make the customer want the product or service offered. The point is that there are many factors that can change what the consumer would want. Another risk in relying on what the consumers say they want is that it can change over time and the time span can be radical or sporadic.

For example, Greenwald (2003) conducted a study on the behavioral shift of UK consumers belonging to the 16-24 age bracket and found that some preferences or attitudes change as fast as 3 days or as long as 5 years. Relying on what consumers say they want appears to be very risky especially for marketers. Nonetheless, as Wolfe (2002) would point out, it is better to have some basis for decisions than to have none. Marketing analytics was not made to achieve 100% certainty on predicting marketing outcomes.

It was made to reduce the variance between predicted and actual outcomes. In other words, it is better to obtain data on consumer behavior than to have none at all. The key is using and analyzing the data in conjunction with other factors in 'real-life settings'. This is the reason why we have analytical frameworks such as PEST (Political, Environmental, Social and Technological) and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). The learned market analyst would not base his predictions solely on what the consumer says they want but would also involve developments in other fields which can directly influence consumer preferences.

In any case, it is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong. Our discussion reveals that while consumer preference can be a helpful indicator of future market trends, it should not be used as the sole basis. It is therefore not right to say that customers are 100% sure of what they actually want. It is more proper to say that they have some grasp of their preferences and it is up to the marketer to influence them to fully favor or endear a product.