CHAPTER

FIFTEEN
Consumer
Decision Making
and Beyond
 Learning Objectives

1. To Understand What a Consumer Decision Is.

2. To Understand the Three Levels of Consumer
Decision Making.
3. To Understand Four Different Views or
Models of Consumer Decision Making.
4. To Understand in Detail the Model of
Consumer Decision Making Originally
Introduced in Chapter 1.
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 Learning Objectives (continued)

5. To Understand the Nature and Scope of

Consumer Gift Giving.
6. To Understand the Significance of Consuming
and Possessing.
7. To Understand the Need for Relationship
Marketing.

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What Would a Pet Owner Need to Know in Order to
Make a Decision About Buying Pet Insurance?

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 Do I Need It? How Do I Get More
Information?

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 Levels of Consumer Decision Making
Not all consumer decision-making situations are the same and marketers
generally put them into these three groups

• Extensive Problem Solving

– A lot of information needed
– Must establish a set of criteria for evaluation
• Limited Problem Solving
– Criteria for evaluation established
– Fine tuning with additional information
• Routinized Response Behavior
– Usually review what they already know
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Models of Consumers: Four Views of Consumer
Decision Making
There are four types of models which explain why consumers act the way
they do

• An Economic View
• A Passive View
• A Cognitive View
• An Emotional View

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 The Economic view
Rational Customers Have To …

• Be aware of all available

product alternatives
• Be capable of correctly ranking
each alternative in terms of its
benefits and disadvantages
Why is the Classical Economic Model
Considered Unrealistic?

• People are limited by

their existing skills,
habits, and reflexes
• People are limited by
their existing values and
goals
• Passive View: Submissive to self serving interests and
promotional efforts of marketers
• Cognitive View: Consumers as Thinking Problem Solver.
Focuses on the process by which consumers seek and
evaluate information about selected brands and retail outlets.
Unlikely to obtain information about every choice.
• Emotional View/ Impulsive View: Joy, fear, love,
fantasy and even a little “magic”

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Figure 16.2 A Simple Model of Consumer Decision Making
External Influences
Sociocultural Environment
Firm’s Marketing Efforts
1. Family
1. Product
Input 2. Informal sources
2. Promotion
3. Other noncommercial
3. Price
sources
4. Channels of
4. Social class
distribution
5. Subculture and culture
Consumer Decision Making
Psychological
Field
Need Recognition 1. Motivation
2. Perception
Process Prepurchase Search 3. Learning
4. Personality
Evaluation of Alternatives 5. Attitudes

Experience

Postdecision Behavior
Purchase
Output 1. Trial Postpurchase
2. Repeat Evaluation
purchase
 Process - Need Recognition

• Usually occurs when consumer has a

“problem”
• Need recognition styles
– Actual state
• Consumers are hungry
– Desired state
• Consumers seek out choices in food

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 Prepurchase Search

• Begins with internal search (memory, past

experience)) and then moves to external
search(ad, Reference group)
• The impact of the Internet
• There are many factors that increase search
– Product factor( Frequent style change or price change)
– Situational factors (First time purchase, product is new)
– Social acceptability (Gift)
– Consumer factors (Well educated, low dogmatism)

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 Evaluation of Alternatives
The specific brands that the consumer
• Evoked set considers is called the evoked or
consideration set
• Criteria used for evaluating brands
• Consumer decision rules
• Decisions by functionally illiterate population
• Going online for decision-making assistance
• Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy
• Incomplete information
• Applying decision rules
• Series of decisions
• Decision rules and marketing strategy

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 The Evoked Set
Figure 15-5

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 Brands that a consumer
Inept Set excludes from
purchase consideration.
 Brands that a
consumer is indifferent
toward because they
Inert Set
are perceived as
having no particular
advantage.
 Issues in Alternative Evaluation
Usually product attributes such as auto focus,
• Evoked Set flash, lens type, size and weight for a new digital
camera
• Criteria used for evaluating brands
• Consumer decision rules and their application
These rules
• Decisions by functionally illiterate population are also
• Going online for decision-making assistance referred to
as
• Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy information-
• Incomplete information processing
strategies
• Applying Decision Rules
• Series of decisions
• Decision rules and marketing strategy

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 Consumer Decision Rules

• Compensatory
– the consumer will evaluate each attribute and add
them up for the brand.
– The belief is that the consumer will choose the brand
with the highest rating.
• Noncompensatory
– the consumer does not balance positive attributes
against negative, but every attribute must reach a
minimum level or it will be disqualified
– Conjunctive, disjunctive and Lexicographic Rule.

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 A noncompensatory
decision rule in which
consumers establish a
minimally acceptable
Conjunctive cutoff point for each
Decision attribute evaluated.
Rule Brands that fall below the
cutoff point on any one
attribute are eliminated
from further
consideration.
 A noncompensatory
decision rule in which
consumers establish a
Disjunctive
minimally acceptable
Rule
cutoff point for each
relevant product
attribute.
 A noncompensatory
decision rule -
consumers first rank
product attributes in
Lexicographic
terms of importance,
Rule
then compare brands
in terms of the
attribute considered
most important.
 A simplified decision rule
by which consumers
make a product choice
Affect
on the basis of their
Referral
previously established
Decision
overall ratings of the
Rule
brands considered,
rather than on specific
attributes.
Table 16.7 Hypothetical Use of Popular Decision
Rules in Making a Decision to Purchase an Ultralight
Laptop
DECISION RULE MENTAL STATEMENT
Compensatory rule “I selected the computer that came out best when I
balanced the good ratings against the bad ratings.”

Conjunctive rule “I selected the computer that had no bad features.”

Disjunctive rule “I picked the computer that excelled in at least one

attribute.”
Lexicographic rule “I looked at the feature that was most important to me
and chose the computer that ranked highest on that
attribute.”
Affect referral rule “I bought the brand with the highest overall rating.”
 Issues in Alternative Evaluation
• Evoked Set
• Criteria used for evaluating brands
• Consumer decision rules and their application
• Decisions by functionally illiterate population
• Going online for decision-making assistance
• Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy
• Incomplete information
• Applying Decision Rules
• Series of decisions
• Decision rules and marketing strategy

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Fifteen Slide 25
 Issues in Alternative Evaluation
• Evoked Set
• Criteria used for evaluating brands
• Consumer decision rules and their application
• Decisions by functionally illiterate population
• Going online for decision-making assistance
• Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy
• Incomplete information
• Applying Decision Rules
• Series of decisions
• Decision rules and marketing strategy

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Fifteen Slide 26
 Coping with Missing Information

• Delay decision until missing information is

obtained
• Ignore missing information and use available
information
• Change the decision strategy to one that
better accommodates for the missing
information
• Infer the missing information

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 Issues in Alternative Evaluation
• Evoked set
• Criteria used for evaluating brands
• Consumer decision rules and their application
• Decisions by functionally illiterate population
• Going online for decision making assistance
• Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy
• Incomplete information Marketers must be aware of these
• Applying Decision Rules decision rules so they can send the
right messages through the correct
• Series of decisions channels at the best time to reach the
consumer
• Decision rules and marketing strategy
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Output of Consumer Decision Making
• Purchase behavior
– Trial purchases
– Repeat purchases
– Long-term commitment

• Postpurchase
evaluation

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 Postpurchase Evaluation

• Actual Performance Matches Expectations

– Neutral Feeling
• Actual Performance Exceeds Expectations
– Positive Disconfirmation of Expectations
• Performance Is Below Expectations
– Negative Disconfirmation of Expectations

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Fifteen Slide 30