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Consumer Behaviour

Notes Marketing Strategy

Marketers use a variety of approaches to determine consumers’ problems. Generally, they
conduct surveys or use focus groups to determine the problems consumers face. Both, surveys or
focus groups, tend to use one of the following approaches:
1. Activity Analysis: This approach focuses on a particular activity such as cleaning the
house, preparing meals, or travel by train etc. The survey or the focus group is conducted
to determine what problems consumers face in the course of performing the activity.
2. Product Analysis: Product analysis focuses on examining the purchase and/or use of a
particular product, service, or brand. Respondents may be asked about problems they
encounter while using the product, or consuming the service.
3. Problem Analysis: Problem analysis starts with a list of problems and the respondents are
asked to identify which activities, products, or brands do they associate with the problems
listed.

4. Human Factors Research: This type of research is quite helpful in identifying consumers’
functional problems of which they are not aware. It is employed to determine the effect of
lighting, temperature, sound and product design on human capabilities such as vision,
fatigue, response time and flexibility etc. Such research usually makes use of observational
methods such as video recording, time-lapse and slow-motion photography. For example,
computer usage can influence vision adversely. Computer can also cause a physical
condition resulting from repeating the same movements over time (called carpel tunnel
syndrome).
5. Emotion Research: It is believed that emotions often have a very powerful effect on
problem recognition. T Collier and others have noted that marketers use focus group
research, personal interviews or projective techniques to determine consumers’ emotions
associated with a particular product, or products, that generate or reduce certain emotions.
Marketers also attempt to influence consumers’ perceptions about their existing state. For instance,
many ads of personal care products adopt this approach. Women do not want to use a soap that
dries their skin. They desire to have fresh and smooth skin and the advertisement of Dove soap
is designed to generate concern about the existing state. It provides the desired benefit that
presumably other soaps do not. Such ad messages are designed to instigate individuals to
question if the current state coincides with this desired state.

13.1.2 Information Search

After problem or need recognition, consumers generally take steps to gather adequate
information to select the appropriate solution. Information search refers to what consumer
surveys in her/his environment for suitable information to make a satisfying purchase decision.
Problem recognition is an ongoing process for consumers and they use internal and external
searches to solve these problems. Consumers may also be involved in ongoing search activities
to acquire information for possible future use. No sooner does a consumer recognises a problem,
than she/he in a reflexive manner first thinks or tries to remember how she/he usually solves
this kind of problem. The recall may be immediate or occur slowly as a result of conscious effort.
This recall from long-term memory might produce a satisfactory solution in case of many
problems, and no further information search is likely to occur. For example, to get relief from
headache, the consumer recalls a brand of headache-remedy based on earlier experience and
buys the brand. This is termed as nominal decision-making. Another possibility is that consumer
recalls Dispirin and Novalgin but is not sure and picks up a book on home remedies and reads
about different solutions. Or, the consumer perhaps asks a friend, or goes to the nearest medicine

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