Exam 5: Advertising, Integrated Brand Promotion, and Consumer Behavior

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The four stages of consumer decision making are need recognition, information search and alternative evaluation, purchase, and postpurchase use and evaluation.Need recognition.The consumer decision making process begins when the young woman recognizes that her desired state is different from her current state.She may experience a form of mental discomfort or anxiety, varying in strength and duration based on the importance of the need.Her needs can be affected by her level of affluence, but many other elements are involved.She may have fundamental needs for food and shelter, and more sophisticated needs for pleasure and achievement.Advertisers would like to think that many of these needs can be fulfilled through consumption, with the simple purchase of goods and services that will provide her with the desired functional benefits and/or emotional benefits.Information search and evaluation.She begins by drawing on personal experience, an internal search.Attitudes about past purchases may be well-established and often determine the nature of new purchases.For some purchases, she may have a mental list of possibilities, a consideration set.She then does an external search, visiting stores, asking friends, reading consumer information.Finally, she weighs the product attributes and characteristics-the evaluative criteria.Purchase.The consumer makes a decision and a sale is made.But it isn't over yet.Postpurchase use and evaluation.She now owns the item.But will she buy this item again? Commit to it and develop a type of brand loyalty? Switch to another product? Advertising helps her evaluate the purchase and her own customer satisfaction.She may see the advertising after the purchase and allow it to confirm the whole process for her, to convince her that, yes, this was a smart decision and, yes, this is a great product.Advertising can also act to decrease any feelings of cognitive dissonance, also called buyer's remorse.At this stage, shortly after the purchase, the advertiser is in a position to gain the attention of the consumer and therefore can wield great influence on the sense of satisfaction and the buying behavior in the future.