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Become A Mind Reader by Understanding Consumer Learning

Understanding the consumer learning process can help marketers become effective mind readers. There are four key elements of consumer learning: motivation from unfulfilled needs, cues that suggest ways to satisfy needs, consumer responses to cues, and reinforcement of desired responses through positive experiences. By comprehending these elements, marketers can create more targeted communications and innovation to influence consumer purchase decisions.

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135 views3 pages

Become A Mind Reader by Understanding Consumer Learning

Understanding the consumer learning process can help marketers become effective mind readers. There are four key elements of consumer learning: motivation from unfulfilled needs, cues that suggest ways to satisfy needs, consumer responses to cues, and reinforcement of desired responses through positive experiences. By comprehending these elements, marketers can create more targeted communications and innovation to influence consumer purchase decisions.

Uploaded by

Bhunesh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Become A Mind Reader By Understanding Consumer

Learning

Radhika DuggalForbes Councils Member


Forbes Communications Council

Marketers yearn to be able to read their consumers’ minds. If we could only


understand what our consumers are thinking and feeling as they think and
feel it, we could create more effective communications and more targeted
innovation road maps.
While it’s not exactly like reading your consumers’ minds, understanding the
consumer learning process can and will make you a more effective marketer.
In consumer behavior terms, learning is the process by which consumers
acquire the information that they apply to future purchase behavior. Simply
put, learning is the foundation of consumer behavior.

Understanding the elements of learning is critical to understanding how and


why your consumers make the purchase decisions that drive your industry.
There are four critical elements of consumer learning:

1. Motivation

Unfulfilled needs are the underlying drivers that lead to motivation.

For example, if you’ve just visited the doctor and he has informed you that you
need to live a more active lifestyle to reduce your elevated cholesterol levels,
your unfulfilled need is to live a more active, healthy lifestyle. Therefore, you
may be motivated to learn as much as you can about local gyms in the hopes of
joining one, leading a more active lifestyle and improving your health.

2. Cues

Cues are the stimuli that suggest a specific way to satisfy your motivations.
There are often many cues competing for a customer’s attention, some of
which can be created by marketers and others that are simply part of the
external environment.

In the case of our example, in order to learn about local gyms, cues could take
the form of advertisements for gyms you see online or hear about on the radio,
conversations you have with salespeople at those gyms or even a conversation
about a local yoga studio you overhear between two friends at a coffee shop.
Some cues, like the conversation with a salesperson, are deliberately sought,
while others, like overhearing the conversation at a coffee shop, are not.
Regardless, you can learn from both the cues that are deliberately sought and
those that are incidental.

3. Response

A response is the consumer’s reaction to a cue. While there can be many


responses to each cue, the response the consumer chooses often depends
heavily on their previous experiences. A marketer’s understanding of
consumer learning could enable them to elicit the desired response.

4. Reinforcement

The reward -- the pleasure, enjoyment and benefits -- that the consumer
receives after buying and using a product or service is called reinforcement.
Reinforcement is critical to the learning process and can significantly impact
future responses, even though this element typically happens after purchase.

Returning to our gym example, if you choose to join the local gym,
reinforcement may take the form of a positive experience, where the machines
you want to use are readily available along with the occasional 10% off coupon
for the juice bar. This reinforcement may lead you to remain satisfied with the
gym and perhaps even recommend it to a friend, contributing cues to their
learning process.

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