Introduction
The study of consumer behavior is fundamentally the study of consumer psychology. That is, the psychology of how, why, when, and where people make decisions to buy and use products as well as the psychology of their experiences.
Products may be taken as physical products and intangible products: services, experiences, and even ideas. In addition, some of these may be in combination with each other. For example, going to a restaurant involves both a product (the food) and the service you get (how quickly the waiter brings your food and how attentive he/she is). Going to some fancy restaurants may even be an experience. Some people like going to a particular restaurant that is fancy just to say they were there or even to see other people (as in a famous restaurant frequented by famous clientele).
As a matter of convention, the term products will be used throughout with the understanding that all of these may come into play.
Lars Perner identifies four applications of consumer behavior:
(1) Marketing Strategy
(2) Public Policy
(3) Social Marketing
(4) Making us Better Consumers
For the most part, this course focuses on marketing strategy. The role that understanding consumer psychology has in devising and executing a marketing plan.
This course breaks down consumer behavior into four main categories:
(1) Internal Processes - the psychology of how consumers think,
feel, and reason.
(2) External Influences - how the consumer is influences by his/her environment.
(3) Decision-Making - the combination of internal and external factors in
selecting between alternatives.
(4) Looking at Consumer Behavior Outcomes - what happens after the purchase is
made (whether the consumer is happy with the product, how he/she uses the
product, and even how the product is disposed of).
These four areas are collectively referred to as the "Consumer's Black Box". That is, the totality of how, why, when, and where consumers make their decisions.
In executing a marketing strategy, marketers often do consumer research when there is a problem that is either not fully understood or where the outcome needs to be validated.
The information presented in the diagram is designed for you to be able to click on each part.