Consumer Behaviour - Motivation and Marketing - Essay Example

?Consumer Behaviour – Motivation and Marketing Consumer behaviour comprises the purchasing inclinations of consumers. This behaviour can be explainedfrom different perspectives since a typical consumer passes through different levels of psychological being before he takes a decision regarding the purchase. These perspectives refer to social, cultural and personal impacts. Theory of consumer behaviour explains these aspects with help of different models. The key factor underlying all these models is the cognitive behaviour or psychological response to the external and internal stimuli. Amongst the internal factors which influence people in making their choice by interpreting market information are: perception, motivation, learning, attitudes, personality, age and lifestyle. Since consumers are the focus of marketers, hence consumer behavioural theories form the basis of marketing. It is important to understand what might influence a consumer to buy a certain product and what might hinder him from the same. This involves an understanding of his feeling about a product or brand and the impact laid by his personal and professional surroundings. This understanding will help in formulating the appropriate marketing theory. The identification of target consumers before offering a particular product is important. For instance, an individual from lower income stratum would not be eager to buy an expensive luxury item. In fact such people from lower economic backdrop would be little interested in buying health supplements like Kellogg’s K and rather concentrate on products essential for daily survival like fruits, vegetables and pulses. Likewise, age group, geographical location, lifestyle and social status of consumers would also be taken into account by marketers. Consumers are also driven by needs which are not satisfied. This acts as their motivation. Motives comprise energy from within oneself which directs an individual towards satisfying his need or to fulfil his objectives (Solomon, 2010). The paper will essentially highlight this aspect of consumer behaviour and show how it is related to marketing. Different models demonstrate various stages and reflect the factor of motivation along with the other aspects which act towards helping a consumer make his purchase decision. Relation between Consumer behaviour theory and Marketing – emphasis on Motivation The first stage of purchasing decision is problem recognition. At this stage a consumer identifies the difference between the current and the desired condition. When there is a gap, the need is identified and in order to meet this unmet need a motivation is generated. At this stage the marketers might help the consumer recognize the problem. The second stage is information search where the consumer begins to search their surroundings for possible clues and the available options. The means of search include personal experience and know-how, associates and friends, websites, advertisements and print media. After researching, the consumers would assess the available alternatives or options on the basis of pros and cons. To make product choice normally external factors like group culture might influence but the criteria might be summarized as heuristics or rules of thumb (brand loyalty, country of origin and personal liking are some examples). Purchase may differ from the decision taken owing to the time lapse and finally after purchase the evaluation of his satisfaction (buyer’s remorse) is important too (Blythe, 2008). This is the last stage of the buying process and this might be dealt with by warranties or after sales interaction with the consumers in order to influence future product or brand loyalty. So it is the motivation which initiates the purchasing process and the last stage in turn motivates future purchase decisions. Let us begin with a general model of consumer behaviour: (Blythe, 2008, p.7) Now, one may study consumer behaviour with respect to the seven Ps of marketing. This relation might be explained as follows: Product: the product forms the initial point for rational decision making since the consumer takes his decision on the basis of evaluating which products are desirable and which ones they are neutral towards. Price: The cost of a product sometimes exceeds the cost mentioned in the price tag. For instance, learning cost might be involved in understanding how to use a product. A simple example of this is a computer. However producers will be concerned only with the price on tag though consumers will take these into account while making decisions. Place: it should be convenient for the consumers to make their purchases. Marketers may try to provide their goods at locations where they are easy to be accessed by the consumers. Producers might impose a premium on location advantage. An example is corner shops which are easy to access than supermarkets being just near to one’s home. The extra charge in such cases might be worth paying for. Promotion: advertisements or other promotional campaign help consumers in their process of learning or information gathering on a particular product by drawing their attention to the benefits and uses of a product or brand. This help in motivating the consumers by generating desires or directing them in making their choice of purchase to meet their desires. People: In service industry people might become products and hence it is important to understand the probable responses of a buyer in specific situation. So people who run their businesses need to understand the situational factors which influence buyers’ decisions. For instance, a consumer might be loyal to a specific hairdresser or doctor. So the marketer needs to identify motives of the consumers in order to bond better with them. Process: The process of service delivery depends upon the involvement of the consumer. For instance a consumer may have lunch at a fast food corner or go for a romantic restaurant. In the later case the consumer is more involved as he wants to get more satisfaction from the lunch and wants to make it perfect. Physical evidence: Physical aspects like colour of the restaurant walls, music, the decor and cutlery might affect the consumers’ choice. Again this factor capitalizes on the motives of a consumer along with taste and preferences which might be influenced by external stimuli such as group culture etc. (Blythe, 2008, p. 10) Overall identifying the motives of the consumer based on the five Ps one can decide the perfect marketing mix. In fact motivation can be categorised into five stages – “latent need, drive, want or desire, goal and behaviour” (Motivation, Mood, and Involvement, n.d.). Motives might be triggered through influence on consumers’ mood and emotions. Consumers’ decisions can be shifted from the actual to desired state. Their subconscious motivation can be instigated and understanding their needs can help in offering the suitable goods for specific target sections of customers. The process in which a product is evaluated or assessed depends upon the consumers’ extent of involvement with the product or service, the marketing tag associated with the good and the purchase situation which contribute an external environmental stimulus. Behavioural Models of Motivation While it is important for the marketers to understand and identify the needs of consumers and the ability of products to satisfy their needs, the reasons which influence the purchasing decisions of people differ. To understand this it is important to recognize the motives of consumers which help in ensuring that a product can meet the necessary needs. Motivation is therefore a process or system which urges people to behave in the manner they do and motivation takes place when there is a need which the consumers wants to meet. As soon as that need is initiated, there is a strain which pushes the consumer to try and eliminate the unmet need. For instance, an advertisement of Soloflex which helps in body building gives the visual effect o a desired strong well toned body of a man and this provokes the consumer to try and achieve the desired state using Soloflex which seems to be the way to the destination. The needs driving motivation might be utilitarian or hedonic. Utilitarian needs lead to the tangible features of a commodity, such as, the fuel efficiency of a car. Again, hedonic needs refer to those based on self esteem, excitement, joy, recreation etc. The Soloflex ad boosts the self esteem of a person (Cortese, 2007, p.139). The strength of motivation is governed by the willingness of a person to spend on one objective rather than the other one. Motivation can be assessed by its strength and direction. Since a goal can be attained using several routes, the target of the marketing strategy of an organization are to convince the client that the path it provides is the best option to achieve the desired objective. Maslow’s Model of Hierarchy Based on different aspects of motivation in the potential consumers Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be demonstrated as follows. This is based on needs based on deficiency and needs for growth: According to the model, the lower needs must be satisfied before shifting to the subsequent level. A person will respond to growth needs only after satisfying the deficiency needs. At the lowest level, survival needs gain priority. The model is based on the rational that all needs cannot be met simultaneously and hence they are met in a specific order. Often the survival products like clothes, houses etc are marketed with focus on other characteristics like flavour, location etc. Products like safety equipments for aviation and boating are purely survival items. As security goods people tend to purchase savings plan, insurance policies etc. In fact to protect health, give up smoking and prevent obesity people purchase a wide range of items designed for the same purposes. At the level of belonging, consumers purchase fashion clothes and spend on memberships in clubs. At the esteem level people tend to purchase items of luxury or those which mark their status. Expensive lifestyle and leisure activities line flying, spending holidays lavishly, etc fall in this category. Esteem/ ego oriented needs depend on the product. For instance, a person buying the magazine Big Issue might do so only because of the ‘helping others’ component and also because this is more conspicuous than a charity donation. In the self actualization stage, consumer might act in order to fulfil his dreams and enrich himself. For instance a person may want to live a “go green style” and prefer to buy a house in the country side and use solar power or cook his own food. However this model is criticized for being too simplistic in structure and logic. This is because a person who is living in a war struck nation for working with the helpless people and giving up a good career for that purpose is clearly not valuing his security or other needs and giving more priority to self actualization. A consumer can move from one stage to another in a single day itself. However this model still offers a good starting point for analyzing consumer behaviour. Researchers found that in nations like UK where living standards are high, people are living more in the self actualization stage. When interpreted in the context of marketing the marketer’s potential to appeal to any one of the drivers of motivation in this model would determine his ability to succeed. For instance the services like massage and spa treatment, or custom tailoring can be marketed to the consumers belonging to the fourth and fifth stage of hierarchy with proper marketing tactics and caption to appealing to the self esteem and individual realization of the consumers. Again a consumer who is at the second stage of the hierarchy is most likely to purchase a car if he is convinced by the marketer that the car’s technology will assure the safety of his family. The fundamental association explained by Maslow to link the marketing with human psychology is applicable in any setting. The best way to connect or relate to the customers is by identifying the need level of an individual and persuade them in a constructive manner. It is also crucial to carry out a process of intermittent evaluation of the marketing tactics since the target audience will not remain same. Mitchell’s Double Hierarchy Model Mitchell’s VALS model shows that after meeting the basic needs some people are inwardly motivated or influenced by internal motives while others are directed by external factors like others’ opinions (Blythe, 2008, p. 38). The first category of people is usually selfish sometimes ignore all oppositions to change the world for the better. The second category of people is those influenced or motivated by group effect. Mitchell proposes that people might adopt an integrated position where there is an amalgamation of concern for others’ opinions as well as knowledge about one’s individual requirements and desires. This lifestyle is observed in UK and USA where people tend to live at the higher levels. In such cases levels of crimes might increase as people tend to be inner directed. (Blythe, 2008, p. 38) Therefore this double hierarchy model is operative mainly for segmentation but the reason for self actualization cannot be clearly explained because at this stage a person can do anything. Herzberg’s Dual Factor Theory Again Herzberg suggested another way of considering motivation. The first group of factors are labelled as “motivators” and the second group as “hygiene factors” (Blythe, 2008, p. 39). The second group was meant to prevent demotivation. For instance salary is a not a motivator and rather a hygiene factor which when removed, causes demotivation or the same occurs if fair pay is not given. His model is useful to marketers as the product differentiation aspect can be rationalised through this. In recent times, for instance, a person would expect a car to have a radio and CD player apart from the basic features of wheels, engine etc. A car that is not designed to accommodate these will act as a demotivating factor to the customers. The following figure better explains this model of dual-factor theory: (Blythe, 2008, p. 39) Conflicts: Outcomes are sometimes in conflict arising from opposing motivation. There are three states/situation of conflict resolution – approach-approach conflict (faced with two equally desirable options), approach-avoidance conflict (facing one desirable and one undesirable options) and avoidance-avoidance conflict (faced with both equally undesirable options). It is important to understand if the consumer is attempting to avoid or achieve a particular outcome. Too much calories in the diet would be something to avoid for a person suffering from obesity. Again good taste is a desirable outcome but the conflict arises when the taste is good and the food is of high calorie for a consumer who suffers from obesity. There is a need for low calorie food with good taste. (Blythe, 2008, p. 42) Some examples based on different needs of consumers are given below: Need for achievement: Some consumers place more value on personal accomplishment and hence they are ready to pay a premium on luxury items which lead to success. Need for affiliation: this indicates the necessity to associate with other people and in such cases people focus on goods which are consumed in groups such as alcoholic beverages, sport bars etc. In such cases, group culture impacts the motivation of consumers Need for power: This need arises from the desire to control the environment and hence such consumers focus on possessing large cars and power tools. Need for Uniqueness: this comprises the essentiality to evaluate one’s own identity and cherish the goods which highlight the uniqueness of their character such as perfumes, clothes, shoes, hairstyle etc. (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2008, p. 52) Consumer Involvement In order to sort out a conflict situation, priorities need to be decided. This is based upon involvement of a consumer. It is the idea of a marketer to enhance involvement of consumers. If involvement is more, the effort from the consumers to satisfy the need is also high. This involvement factor can be capitalized to bring about loyal customers. For instance a film star would give high priority to his dress design and makeup. Different factors can affect involvement. The following model shows the relations: (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegard and Hogg, 2009, p.189) There are different categories of involvement – cognitive (individual is motivated to learn about the product), product (individual interest in purchasing a certain good and this might cover an area of inactivity to high levels of involvement), message-response (interest paid to communications through marketing, for e.g. advertisements) and ego (related to self concept satisfaction) involvement. Involvement can be measured from different aspects. It can be gauged from the personal interest of a consumer in a product, the significance of a probable bad purchase according to the consumer, and the value gained from pleasure in the product. Involvement can be used as a base for segmentation by marketers. The strategists in marketing can measure the level of the involvement by sending communication based on marketing and situations of purchase. Strategies to increase this involvement factor comprise use of innovative means to create stimuli, use of celebrity figures for endorsement, and create a strong relation with consumers through a continuous association with them. Kellog’s K use cartoon characters to attract children. Through the internet, the marketers can build a personal and loyal association with customers and can even personalize different goods and services. Blogs and forums discuss products and brands and it is a crucial means of marketing in topical times. Youtube videos have found more commercial use at present (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegard and Hogg, 2009). Concluding remarks At organizational level, the buyers comprise four main categories – manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and government agencies. They purchase goods and services for their own use or resale. While products depend on priorities of the involvement of the organization (determined by the industry they operate), some products are determined by esteem of the organization and such purchases would operate at the fourth level of hierarchy. For the business houses, the main objective behind buying products is to increase profits and reduce costs. For government or non profit firms the objective is mainly to serve their purpose for the target groups. The business houses can make a purchase for meeting their basic needs of raw materials. Next they would involve money to buy equipments to ensure safety such as fire alarms and data security software if the business is related with computers, etc. The third stage is to connect to the people and when an organization functions with an expanded base and has already met their basic needs, they would move towards investing in advertisement and spend on the ad agencies and perhaps endorse celebrities for their marketing. They would provide warranties and claim policies. To satisfy esteem needs, a company would walk the extra mile for attractive packaging or at times giving some product free. This free product is purchased at the company’s cost in order to maintain the belongingness as well as status/brand image. The non profit organizations can operate or buy at the self actualization level. Within the organization also employee’s motivation might be generated with incentives and rewards and a bigger organization with greater esteem needs would provide more facilities or incentives for the employees. They would even spend on corporate social responsibility component which would put them at the fourth stage again. An organization finally would determine its marketing mix (discussed earlier) on the basis of time to time evaluation of the target group of consumers and carrying out primary research or interviews to segment the groups according to their needs and cater accordingly. References 1. Blythe, J. (2008), Consumer Behaviour, 1st edition, Cengage Learning 2. Cortese, A.J. (2007) Provocateur, 3rd Edition, Rowman and Littlefield. 3. Hoyer, W.D. and D.J. MacInnis,(2008), Consumer Behaviour, 5th Edition, Cengage Learning 4. Solomon, M.R. (2010) Consumer Behaviour, 8th edition, Prentice Hall 5. Solomon, M.R., Bamossy, G. Askegard, P.S. and M.K. Hogg (2009), Consumer Behaviour: An European Perspective, 4th edition, Prentice Hall Read More