Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing

Communications
Ninth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 3

Buyer Behaviors

Copyright © 2022, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES (1 OF 2)

3.1 Which elements are involved in internal and external information

searches by consumers, as part of the purchasing process?
3.2 What three models explain how individuals evaluate purchasing
alternatives?
3.3 What trends are affecting the consumer buying environment?
3.4 How do the roles played by various members of the buying center
and the factors that influence them impact business purchases?
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES (2 OF 2)

3.5 What types of business-to-business sales are made?

3.6 What are the steps of the business-to-business buying process?
3.7 How does dual channel marketing expand a company’s customer
base and its sales?
CHAPTER OVERVIEW

• Consumer purchase process

• Consumer buying environment
• Recent trends in consumer behavior
• Business buying center
• B-to-B purchasing process
• Dual channel marketing
Nescafé
• Goal: to change coffee
consumption habits in China
• Nescafé instant coffee –
market leader
• E-commerce and social
media including Weibo
• White Valentine’s Day and
focus on younger consumers
3.1: CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING
PROCESS
The consumer decision-making process
involves five steps.
The first step is problem recognition. It involves a consumer recognizing he/she needs something,
has run out of something, or has an interest in something.

Consumers will first search internally for information. If they have enough information
already stored in memory, then they will move to the next step. If not, then the consumer
will conduct an external search.
For high involvement and high dollar purchases, most consumers will conduct an external
search.

Step three is evaluation of alternatives. This may take only a few minutes for low cost,
low involvement decisions to several months for high involvement decisions.

While consumers will normally purchase the brand they intended to buy, sometimes in-
store signage or deals will alter the purchase decision.

Consumers will determine the level of satisfaction with the purchase, which will impact their next
purchase decision for that product.
 INFORMATION SEARCHES AND THE
CONSUMER PURCHASING PROCESS
Once a problem, need, or want has been recognized, consumers move to the
next stage of the process, information search. Understanding information
search is important for marketing communications. There are two types of
information search, internal and external.

• Internal search: consumer thinks about brands to consider

• External search: consumer gathers information from friends, relatives,
influencers, other sources
 Consumer Purchasing Process
• 1st step: Consumers recognize a need or want:
– It can be a physical need or want, such as
thirst or hunger.
– It can be a social need or want, such as
seeing a friend with the latest cell phone or a
new car.
– It can be a psychological need or want, such
as purchasing a new outfit to wear to feel
good about themselves, or because they are
depressed and buying something lifts their
spirits.
– Many purchases are triggered by running out
of something, such as groceries, food, and
beverages.
– But, advertising can also trigger a need or
want.
– Can be triggered by advertising
 Internal Search
• The internal search for information is a mental activity.
• Consumers think about the brands she/he will consider
• Think about brands they have purchased in the past - If the brand met their needs
and the experience was good, it is very likely they will buy the same brand
again. If not, they will conduct a longer internal search or move to the
external search for additional information.
• Consumers quickly reduce options – numbers of potential brands
• Choice based on past experience
• Brand awareness and brand equity are important - If a consumer is not aware of a
brand, such as Kraft, then it will not be considered as a purchase option
unless the search process moves to an external search.
• The higher the level of brand equity, the more likely the brand will be
purchased with little mental effort and no additional consideration of other
brands.
This advertisement for Visit South Walton entices players
to consider the area as the best option for a golfing
vacation.
 EXTERNAL SEARCH
• When consumer has sufficient of internal search they move to external
search
• Gather information from variety of sources – friends, relatives, social media
posts, expert advice, books, magazines etc..
• The external search for information normally occurs under three conditions.
• First, the consumer was not happy with the last purchase experience and
wants another brand or product.
• Second, it is a high-involvement decision, and the consumer wants more
information.
• Third, it is a socially visible product ,and the consumer wants to make sure
others will approve or be impressed with the purchase decision.
• The amount of time consumers spend searching for information depends on
1) their ability to search for information, 2) their level of motivation to search
for information, and 3) the perceived cost of searching versus the perceived
benefit of searching.
3.2: FACTORS AFFECTING THE CONSUMER’S
EXTERNAL SEARCH
 ABILITY TO SEARCH
• The ability to search for information determines the extent of the
information search process
• Ability consists of a person’s educational level combined with their
knowledge of the product and brands.
• Education level increases search time – educated individual tends to search
more information and spend more time searching
• Knowledge of product and brands affects ability – those with little
knowledge about the brands tend to not search because they don't know
where and how to search. Those with knowledge spend less time searching
since they already have the knowledge
• The group that spends the most time searching is in the middle.
• They have some knowledge, so they have an idea of what to look for
and what to ask, but not enough knowledge to make a decision.
 Level of Motivation
Has impact on the amount of time spent in external
searching. Determined by:
• Level of involvement - The higher the level of
involvement, the more time a consumer will spend
in searching for additional information.
• Need for cognition - is the level of mental activity a
person enjoys. People who have a high need for
cognition – that is, they want to think about options
before making a decision – will spend more time
searching for information. Some people want to
weigh every option and make sure they are right,
so this need to consider all angles will lengthen the
search process.
• Level of shopping enthusiasm - Individuals who As shown in this
enjoy shopping and comparing brands will spend advertisement, choosing
more time than individuals who dislike shopping. a tuxedo for an
important event will
likely be a high-
involvement purchase
decision.
 Cost versus Benefits
• Consumers will weigh the cost versus the benefits of an external search.
• Higher perceive benefits increase the inclination to search
• The ability to reduce purchase risk becomes a benefit that many consumer seek
• The cost of searching consists of several items:
• Actual cost - cost of the product or service
• For high cost items, there is more pressure to search to make sure the right
decision is made.
• Subjective cost
– Time spent (most people time is valuable)
– Anxiety involved (so spending more time searching for information is worth it
to reduce the anxiety and ensure the right decision is made)
• Opportunity cost of foregoing other activities to search information – such as going
shopping instead of watching movie, sports
 CONSUMER ATTITUDES
• Consumer attitude can be impacted by effective marketing
communications.
• Attitude is the mental position a person takes toward a topic, person,
or an event that influences an individual’s feelings, perceptions,
learning processes, and behaviors. Attitude consists of three
components.
• Cognitive: mental images, understanding, interpretations of person, object,
or issue
• Affective: feelings or emotions about object, topic, or idea
• Conative: intentions, actions, or behaviour
 COMMON ATTITUDE SEQUENCES
• Cognitive → Affective → Conative
The most common sequence is to first impact a person’s cognitive
beliefs and knowledge about a product, then develop emotions and
feelings for the brand, which then results in purchasing the product.
• Affective → Conative → Cognitive
The second sequence begins with affective, the feelings and emotions.
The marketing message is designed to elicit an emotional response
followed by the purchase action. Then once the person has tried the
product, he/she will make judgments about it.
• Conative → Cognitive → Affective
The third sequence begins with the conative. The idea is to get the
person to try it. Food items and other low-cost products often use this
approach. After trying a product, a person will develop thoughts about
it and then decide if he/she likes it or not. Feelings follow the
knowledge.
CONSUMER VALUES
• Attitudes reflect personal values
• Values are strongly held beliefs about topics or concepts
• Values frame attitudes and lead to judgments that guide personal
action
• Values are enduring, often formed in childhood
• For example, a good or service tied to a relatively universal value,
such as patriotism, helps the firm take advantage of the linkage and
present the product in a positive manner.
 3.3: Personal Values
Attitudes reflects an individual’s personal values.
Values are strongly held beliefs about various topics and concepts.
Values frame attitudes and guide personal actions.
List of some values that individual holds.

• Comfortable life • Pleasure

• Equality • Salvation
• Excitement • Security
• Freedom • Self-fulfilment
• Self-respect
• Fun, exciting life
• Sense of belonging
• Happiness
• Social acceptance
• Inner peace
• Wisdom
• Mature love
• Personal accomplishment
 Cognitive Mapping
• The manner in which individual store information further affects decision,
it influences recall.
• Cognitive map - Simulates knowledge structures and memories embedded
in individual’s mind (The cognitive map shows connections between
concepts as follows.)
• The structures contain a person’s assumption, belief, interpretation of fact,
feelings and attitudes about the world
• Shows cognitive linkages
• Process new information
• Retaining information
• New concepts
• Marketing messages
 3.4: A HYPOTHETICAL COGNITIVE MAP FOR RUBY
TUESDAY
This map is a crude illustration of the structure of the brain and the many linkages that
are present. This represents one individual’s cognitive map of Ruby Tuesday. Ideas
connected to Ruby Tuesday are restaurants, dine-in, excellent service, and slow. When
the person thinks of slow, they immediately think of Mel’s Diner. When the person thinks
of restaurants, fast foods come to mind, then pizza, then Pizza Hut and Little Caesar’s. It
is easy to see from this illustration how concepts, thoughts, and ideas are all
interconnected in our brains.
 3.5: THE ROLE OF MARKETING MESSAGES IN
COGNITIVE MAPPING
Marketing messages have three roles when it comes
to cognitive mapping.

Adding new linkages or modifying current linkages is

more difficult than strengthening current linkages.
COGNITIVE MAP OF RUBY TUESDAY

The cognitive map shows connections between concepts as follows.

• Hamburger is connected to fast foods
• Restaurants are connected to fast foods, Ruby Tuesday, and dine in
• Dine in is connected to Ruby Tuesday and Applebee’s
• Applebee’s is connected to great food and excellent service
• Ruby Tuesday is connected to excellent service and slow
• Mel’s diner is connected to slow
• Fast foods are connected to pizza
• Pizza is connected to pizza hut and Little Caesar’s
 PRINCIPLES OF COGNITIVE MAPPING

• Cognitive mapping helps explain how consumers process

information and how messages are moved from short-term memory
to long-term memory.
• Most persuasive messages reinforce current linkages - which is the
easiest task for marketers
• Establishing new linkages is more difficult. It requires repetition.
• Just like repeating a phone number several times helps move the
number from short-term to long-term memory, seeing an
advertisement message a number of times helps establish new
linkages.
• Modifying or creating new linkages is difficult – takes time
 EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

• The third step in the buying decision-making process is the evaluation

of alternatives.
• Three models portray the nature of the process:
• The Evoked Set Method
• The Multiattribute Approach
• Affect Referral
• Understanding how consumers evaluate choices enables the firm’s
marketing team to develop more effective materials.
3.6: METHODS OF EVALUATING
ALTERNATIVES
 The Evoked Set Method
• The evoked set consists of brands that an individual considers in
making a purchase decision.
• generated internally during the information search stage of the
process or evaluation stages. It consists of brands the consumer
is aware of and would consider purchasing, often brands that the
consumer has used in the past.
• Two sets of interest to marketers that become part of evaluations
are the inept and inert sets.
• Inept set - are the brands the consumer will not purchase, either because
of a bad personal experience or information received from another source.
It may be something someone told them.
• Inert set - are brands the consumer does not know anything about or has
so little information a judgment cannot be made. If a brand is in a
consumer’s inert set, the goal is to transfer it to the evoked set because in
most purchase situations, only brands in the evoked set will be considered
• For instance, if a consumer decides to dine out, in most cases, only
brands in the evoked set will be considered.
In this print advertisement, the
marketing team for Sonos
seeks to move the Sonos One
with Amazon Alexa speaker
into the evoked sets of
consumers.
THE MULTIATTRIBUTE APPROACH

• Used for high-involvement purchases

• Consumer attitude is determined by:
– brand’s performance for each attribute
– Importance of each attribute to consumer
• The higher a brand rates on important attributes, the more likely it will
be purchased
3.7: PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES THAT MAY BE
IMPORTANT IN A MULTIATTRIBUTE
APPROACH
 Affect Referral
• Affect is the third part of attitude.
It deals with emotions and
feelings. With the affect referral
method, consumers purchase the
brand they like the best. There
may not even be a strong reason
they like the brand – they just do
– or they may have a strong
emotional attachment to the
brand for some reason.
• Saves mental energy
• Multiattribute approach might have
been used for previous purchases
• Consumers often develop emotional
bonds with brands
In this ad, loyal patrons of Stevi B’s Pizza Buffet may
use the affect referral method in evaluating pizza
restaurants.
3.8: TRENDS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYER
BEHAVIORS

• Age complexity
• Gender complexity
• Active, busy lifestyles
• Diverse lifestyles
• Communication revolution
• Experience pursuits
• Health emphasis
3.9: MARKETING RESPONSES TO CHANGING
TRENDS IN THE CONSUMER BUYING
ENVIRONMENT

• Monitor consumer environment for changes

• Create goods and services that are compatible with the changes
• Design messages that reflect the changes
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS BUYER
BEHAVIORS AND INFLUENCES

• Buying center: a group of individuals making a purchase decision on

behalf of a business
• Contains 5 different purchasing roles:
– Users: members of the organization who use the good / service
– Buyers: individuals given a formal responsibility of making purchase
– Influencers: individual, such as engineers, who shape purchasing
decision by providing information or criteria utilized in evaluating
alternative
– Deciders: individuals who authorize the purchase decisions
– Gatekeepers: individuals who control the flow of information to
members of the buying center
 Organizational Influences
• Company goals and operating environment
• Finances, capital assets, market position
• Quality of human resources
• Country in which the firm operates
3.10: INDIVIDUAL FACTORS AFFECTING
MEMBERS OF THE BUYING CENTER
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUYING
CENTERS (1 OF 2)

• Personality
– Decisive person
– Extrovert
– Introvert
• Roles
– Individual’s age, heredity, ethnicity, gender
– Socially constructed
• Motivation
– Match individual’s goals to organization’s goals
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS AFFECTING BUYING
CENTERS (2 OF 2)

• Level of power
– Role in buying center
– Official position
– Impact of decision on personal performance
• Risk
– Risk avoiders
• Levels of cognitive involvement
– Cognitive capacity
• Personal objectives
TYPES OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES

• Buying decisions can be classified into three categories:

• Straight rebuy: firm previously chose a vendor and places a reorder
• Modified rebuy: buying team considers and evaluates alternatives.
Open to new vendors and will evaluate the current vendor as well as
new possibilities.
• New task buy:
– Considering purchase for first time
– Time passed since previous purchase
– Buyers have little or no experience
3.11: TYPES OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
BUYING SITUATIONS
3.12: REASONS TO MAKE A MODIFIED REBUY

• Dissatisfaction with current vendor

• A different vendor makes an attractive offer
• End of contractual arrangement with current vendor
• Individuals involved in decision process have little or no experience
with the product
THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS BUYING
PROCESS

1. Identification of needs
2. Establishment of specifications
3. Identification of vendors
4. Vendor evaluation
5. Vendor selection
6. Negotiation of terms
7. Postpurchase evaluation
3.13: A COMPARISON OF THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
BUYING PROCESS TO THE CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS
Dual Channel Marketing
• Products sold in both
consumer and business
markets
• Spin-off sales can occur
• Marketing decisions: how to
represent product in each
channel?

This advertisement for Alpha Air One appeals

to both individual consumers and business
customers.
3.14: DUAL CHANNEL MARKETING
STRATEGIES

• Use different communication messages

• Create different brands
• Use multiple or different channels
INTERNATIONAL
IMPLICATIONS
• A cultural assimilator is a valuable team member
• Must understand nuances of purchasing process
• Build a powerful brand
• Create a visible global brand presence
SEE YOU NEXT CLASS!