In fact, pick up any textbook that examines customer behavior and each seems to approach it

from a different angle. The perspective we take is to touch on just the basic concepts that
appear to be commonly accepted as influencing customer behavior. We will devote two
sections of the Principles of Marketing Tutorials to customer behavior. In this section we will
examine the buying behavior of consumers (i.e., when people buy for personal reasons) while
in the Business Buying Behavior tutorial we will examine factors that influence buyer’s
decisions in the business market.

Why Consumers Buy

As we discussed in the What is Marketing? tutorial, customers make purchases in order to

satisfy needs. Some of these needs are basic and must be filled by everyone on the planet
(e.g., food, shelter) while others are not required for basic survival and vary depending on the
person. It probably makes more sense to classify needs that are not a necessity as wants or
desires. In fact, in many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of
the population’s income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs.

In this tutorial when we mention the consumer we are referring to the actual buyer, the person
spending the money. But is should also be pointed out that the one who does the buying is not
necessarily the user of what is bought and that others may be involved in the buying decision
in addition to the actual buyer. While the purchasing process in the consumer market is not as
complex as the business market, Wanting multiple people involved in a purchase decision is
not unusual. For example, in planning for a family vacation the mother may make the hotel
reservations but others in the family may have input on the hotel choice. Similarly, a father
may purchase snacks at the grocery store but his young child may be the one who selected it
from the store shelf.

So understanding consumer purchase behavior involves not only understanding how

decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.

What Influences Purchasing

As we discussed the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward.
There are many factors that can affect this process as a person works through the purchase
decision. The number of potential influences on consumer behavior is limitless. However,
marketers are well served to understand the KEY influences. By doing so they may be in a
position to tailor their marketing efforts to take advantage of these influences in a way that
will satisfy the consumer and the marketer (remember this is a key part of the definition of
marketing).

For the purposes of this tutorial we will break these influences down into three main
categories: Internal, External and Marketing. However, those interested in learning more
about customer buying activity may want to consult one or more consumer behavior books
where they will find additional methods for explaining consumer buying behavior.

For the most part the influences are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are all
interconnected and, as we will see, work together to form who we are and how we behave.

For each of the influences that are discussed we will provide a basic description and also
suggest its implication to marketers. Bear in mind we only provide a few marketing
implications for each influence; clearly there are many more.
Internal Influences: Perceptual Filter

We start our examination of the influences on consumer purchase decisions by first looking
inside ourselves to see which are the most important internal factors that affect how we make
choices.

Perceptual Filter

Perception is how we see ourselves and the world we live in. However, what ends up being
stored inside us doesn’t always get there in a direct manner. Often our mental makeup results
from information that has been consciously or subconsciously filtered as we experience it, a
process we refer to as a perceptual filter. To us this is our reality, though it does not mean it is
an accurate reflection on what is real. Thus, perception is the way we filter stimuli (e.g.,
someone talking to us, reading a newspaper story) and then make sense out of it.

Perception has several steps.

 Exposure – sensing a stimuli (e.g. seeing an ad)

 Attention – an effort to recognize the nature of a stimuli (e.g. recognizing it is an ad)
 Awareness – assigning meaning to a stimuli (e.g., humorous ad for particular product)
 Retention – adding the meaning to one’s internal makeup (i.e., product has fun ads)

How these steps are eventually carried out depends on a person’s approach to learning. By
learning we mean how someone changes what they know, which in turn may affect how they
act. There are many theories of learning, a discussion of which is beyond the scope of this
tutorial, however, suffice to say that people are likely to learn in different ways. For instance,
one person may be able to focus very strongly on a certain advertisement and be able to retain
the information after being exposed only one time while another person may need to be
exposed to the same advertisement many times before he/she even recognizes what it is.
Consumers are also more likely to retain information if a person has a strong interest in the
stimuli. If a person is in need of new car they are more likely to pay attention to a new
advertisement for a car while someone who does not need a car may need to see the
advertisement many times before they recognize the brand of automobile.

Marketing Implications:
Marketers spend large sums of money in an attempt to get customers to have a positive
impression of their products. But clearly the existence of a perceptual filter suggests that
getting to this stage is not easy. Exposing consumers to a product can be very challenging
considering the amount of competing product messages (ads) that are also trying to
accomplish the same objective (i.e., advertising clutter). So marketers must be creative and
use various means to deliver their message. Once the message reaches consumer it must be
interesting enough to capture their attention (e.g., talk about the product’s benefits). But
attending to the message is not enough. For marketers the most critical step is the one that
occurs with awareness. Here marketers must continually monitor and respond if their
message becomes distorted in ways that will negatively shape its meaning. This can often
happen due in part to competitive activity (e.g., comparison advertisements). Finally, getting
the consumer to give positive meaning to the message they have retained requires the
marketer make sure that consumers accurately interpret the facts about the product.

Internal Influences: Knowledge

Knowledge is the sum of all information known by a person. It is the facts of the world as
he/she knows it and the depth of knowledge is a function of the breadth of worldly
experiences and the strength of an individual’s long-term memory. Obviously what exists as
knowledge to an individual depends on how an individual’s perceptual filter makes sense of
the information it is exposed to.

Marketing Implications:
Marketers may conduct research that will gauge consumers’ level of knowledge regarding
their product. As we will see below, it is likely that other factors influencing consumer
behavior are in large part shaped by what is known about a product. Thus, developing
methods (e.g., incentives) to encourage consumers to accept more information (or correct
information) may affect other influencing factors.

Internal Influences: Attitude

In simple terms attitude refers to what a person feels or believes about something.
Additionally, attitude may be reflected in how an individual acts based on his or her beliefs.
Once formed, attitudes can be very difficult to change. Thus, if a consumer has a negative
attitude toward a particular issue it will take considerable effort to change what they believe
to be true.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers facing consumers who have a negative attitude toward their product must work to
identify the key issues shaping a consumer’s attitude then adjust marketing decisions (e.g.,
advertising) in an effort to change the attitude. For companies competing against strong rivals
to whom loyal consumers exhibit a positive attitude, an important strategy is to work to see
why consumers feel positive toward the competitor and then try to meet or beat the
competitor on these issues. Alternatively, a company can try to locate customers who feel
negatively toward the competitor and then increase awareness among this group.

Internal Influences: Personality

An individual’s personality relates to perceived personal characteristics that are consistently

exhibited, especially when one acts in the presence of others. In most, but not all, cases the
behaviors one projects in a situation is similar to the behaviors a person exhibits in another
situation. In this way personality is the sum of sensory experiences others get from
experiencing a person (i.e., how one talks, reacts). While one’s personality is often
interpreted by those we interact with, the person has their own vision of their personality,
called Self Concept, which may or may not be the same has how others view us.

Marketing Implications:
For marketers it is important to know that consumers make purchase decisions to support
their self concept. Using research techniques to identify how customers view themselves may
give marketers insight into products and promotion options that are not readily apparent. For
example, when examining consumers a marketer may initially build marketing strategy
around more obvious clues to consumption behavior, such as consumer’s demographic
indicators (e.g., age, occupation, income). However, in-depth research may yield information
that shows consumers are purchasing products to fulfill self-concept objectives that have little
to do with the demographic category they fall into (e.g., senior citizen may be making
purchases that make them feel younger). Appealing to the consumer’s self concept needs
could expand the market to which the product is targeted.
Internal Influences: LifePerformence

This influencing factor relates to the way we live through the activities we engage in and
interests we express. In simple terms it is what we value out of life. LifePerformence is often
determined by how we spend our time and money.

Marketing Implications:
Products and services are purchased to support consumers’ lifePerformences. Marketers have
worked hard researching how consumers in their target markets live their lives since this
information is key to developing products, suggesting promotional strategies and even
determining how best to distribute products. The fact that lifePerformence is so directly tied
to marketing activity will be further examined as we discuss developing target market
strategies (See Targeting Markets) tutoria

Internal Influences: Motivation

Motivation relates to our desire to achieve a certain outcome. Many internal factors we have
already discussed can affect a customer’s desire to achieve a certain outcome but there are
others. For instance, when it comes to making purchase decisions customers’ motivation
could be affected by such issues as financial position (e.g., Can I afford the purchase?), time
constraints (e.g., Do I need to make the purchase quickly?), overall value (e.g., Am I getting
my money’s worth?), and perceived risk (e.g., What happens if I make a bad decision?).

Marketing Implications:
Motivation is also closely tied to the concept of Involvement, which relates to how much
effort the consumer will exert in making a decision. Highly motivated consumers will want to
get mentally and physically involved in the purchase process. Not all products have a high
percentage of highly involved customers (e.g., milk) but marketers who market products and
services that may lead to high level of consumer involvement should prepare options that will
be attractive to this group. For instance, marketers should make it easy for consumers to learn
about their product (e.g., information on website, free video preview) and, for some products,
allow customers to experience the product (e.g., free trial) before committing to the purchase
Internal Influences: Roles

Roles represent the position we feel we hold or others feel we should hold when dealing in a
group environment. These positions carry certain responsibilities yet it is important to
understand that some of these responsibilities may, in fact, be perceived and not spelled out
or even accepted by others. In support of their roles, consumers will make product choices
that may vary depending on which role they are assuming. As illustration, a person who is
responsible for selecting snack food for an office party his boss will attend may choose
higher quality products than he would choose when selecting snacks for his family.

Marketing Implications:
Advertisers often show how the benefits of their products aid consumers as they perform
certain roles. Typically the underlying message of this promotional approach is to suggest
that using the advertiser’s product will help raise one’s status in the eyes of others while
using a competitor’s product may have a negative effect on status.

External Influences: Culture

Consumer purchasing decisions are often affected by factors that are outside of their control
but have direct or indirect impact on how we live and what we consume. One example of this
are cultural factors

Culture represents the behavior, beliefs and, in many cases, the way we act learned by
interacting or observing other members of society. In this way much of what we do is shared
behavior, passed along from one member of society to another. Yet culture is a broad concept
that, while of interest to marketers, is not nearly as important as understanding what occurs
within smaller groups or Sub-Cultures to which we may also belong. Sub-cultures also have
shared values but this occurs within smaller groups. For instance, sub-cultures exist where
groups share similar values in terms of ethnicity, religious beliefs, geographic location,
special interests and many others.

Marketing Implications:
As part of their efforts to convince customers to purchase their products, marketers often use
cultural representations, especially in promotional appeals. The objective is to connect to
consumers using cultural references that are easily understood and often embraced by the
consumer. By doing so the marketer hopes the consumer feels more comfortable with or can
relate better to the product since it corresponds with their cultural values. Additionally, smart
marketers use strong research efforts in an attempt to identify differences in how sub-culture
behaves. These efforts help pave the way for spotting trends within a sub-culture, which the
marketer can capitalize on through new marketing tactics (e.g., new products, new sales
channels, added value, etc.).

External Influences: Group Membership

In addition to cultural influences, consumers belong to many other groups with which they
share certain characteristics and which may influence purchase decisions. Often these groups
contain Opinion Leaders or others who have major influence on what the customer purchases.
Some of the basic groups we may belong to include:

 Social Class – represents the social standing one has within a society based on such
factors as income level, education, occupation
 Family – one’s family situation can have a strong effect on how purchase decisions
are made
 Reference groups – most consumers simultaneously belong to many other groups with
which they associate or, in some cases, feel the need to disassociate

Marketing Implications:
Identifying and understanding the groups consumers belong to is a key strategy for marketers.
Doing so helps identify target markets, develop new products, and create appealing marketing
promotions to which consumers can relate. In particular, marketers seek to locate group
leaders and others to whom members of the group look for advice or direction. These opinion
leaders, if well respected by the group, can be used to gain insight into group behavior and if
these opinion leaders accept promotional opportunities could act as effective spokespeople
for the marketer’s products.
External Influences: Purchase Situation

Purchase Situation

A purchase decision can be strongly affected by the situation in which people find
themselves. In general, a situation is the circumstances a person faces when making a
purchase decision, such as the nature of their physical environment, their emotional state, or
time constraints. Not all situations are controllable, in which case a consumer may not follow
their normal process for making a purchase decision. For instance, if a person needs a product
quickly and a store does not carry the brand they normally purchase, the customer may
choose a competitor’s product.

Marketing Implications:
Marketers can take advantage of decisions made in uncontrollable situations in at least two
ways. First, marketers can use promotional methods to reinforce a specific selection of
products when the consumer is confronted with a particular situation. For example,
automotive services can be purchased that promise to service vehicles if the user runs into
problems anywhere and at anytime. Second, marketers can use marketing methods that
attempt to convince consumers that a situation is less likely to occur if the marketer’s product
is used. This can also be seen with auto products, where marketers explain that using their
product will prevent unexpected damage to their vehicles.

Types of Consumer Purchase Decisions

Consumers are faced with purchase decisions nearly every day. But not all decisions are
treated the same. Some decisions are more complex than others and thus require more effort
by the consumer. Other decisions are fairly routine and require little effort. In general,
consumers face four types of purchase decisions:

Minor New Purchase – these purchases represent something new to a consumer but in the
customer’s mind is not a very important purchase in terms of need, money or other reason
(e.g., status within a group).
  Minor Re-Purchase – these are the most routine of all purchases and often the
consumer returns to purchase the same product without giving much thought to other
product options (i.e., consumer is brand loyalty).
 Major New Purchase – these purchases are the most difficult of all purchases because
the product being purchased is important to the consumer but the consumer has little
or no previous experience making these decisions. The consumer’s lack of confidence
in making this type of decision often (but not always) requires the consumer to engage
in an extensive decision-making process..
 Major Re-Purchase - these purchase decisions are also important to the consumer but
the consumer feels confident in making these decisions since they have previous
experience purchasing the product.

For marketers it is important to understand how consumers treat the purchase decisions they
face. If a company is targeting customers who feel a purchase decision is difficult (i.e., Major
New Purchase), their marketing strategy may vary greatly from a company targeting
customers who view the purchase decision as routine. In fact, the same company may face
both situations at the same time; for some the product is new, while other customers see the
purchase as routine. The implication of buying behavior for marketers is that different buying
situations require different marketing efforts.

How Consumers Buy

So now that we have discussed the factors influencing a consumer’s decision to purchase,
let’s examine the process itself. This process is presented in a sequence of 5 steps as shown
below.
However, whether a consumer will actually carryout each step depends on the type of
purchase decision that is faced. For instance, for minor re-purchases the consumer may be
quite loyal to the same brand, thus the decision is a routine one (i.e., buy the same product)
and little effort is involved in making a purchase decision. In cases of routine, brand loyal
purchases consumers may skip several steps in the purchasing process since they know
exactly what they want allowing the consumer to move quickly through the steps. But for
more complex decisions, such as Major New Purchases, the purchasing process can extend
for days, weeks, months or longer. So in presenting these steps marketers should realize that,
depending on the circumstances surrounding the purchase, the importance of each step may
vary.

Purchase Decision Steps 1 and 2

1. Need/Want/Desire is recognized

In the first step the consumer has determined that for some reason he/she is not satisfied (i.e.,
consumer’s perceived actual condition) and wants to improve his/her situation (i.e.,
consumer’s perceived desired condition). For instance, internal triggers, such as hunger or
thirst, may tell the consumer that food or drink is needed. External factors can also trigger
consumer’s needs. Marketers are particularly good at this through advertising, in-store
displays and even the intentional use of scent (e.g., perfume counters). At this stage the
decision-making process may stall if the consumer is not motivated to continue (see
Motivation above). However, if the consumer does have the internal drive to satisfy the need
they will continue to the next step.

2. Search for Information

Assuming consumers are motivated to satisfy his or her need, they will next undertake a
search for information on possible solutions. The sources used to acquire this information
may be as simple as remembering information from past experience (i.e., memory) or the
consumer may expend considerable effort to locate information from outside sources (e.g.,
Internet search, talk with others, etc.). How much effort the consumer directs toward
searching depends on such factors as: the importance of satisfying the need, familiarity with
available solutions, and the amount of time available to search. To appeal to consumers who
are at the search stage, marketers should make efforts to ensure consumers can locate
information related to their product. For example, for marketers whose customers rely on the
Internet for information gathering, attaining high rankings in search engines has become a
critical marketing objective.

Purchase Decision Steps 3, 4 and 5

3. Evaluate Options

Consumers’ search efforts may result in a set of options from which a choice can be made. It
should be noted that there may be two levels to this stage. At level one the consumer may
create a set of possible solutions to their needs (i.e., product types) while at level two the
consumer may be evaluating particular products (i.e., brands) within each solution. For
example, a consumer who needs to replace a television has multiple solutions to choose from
such as plasma, LCD and CRT televisions. Within each solution type will be multiple brands
from which to choose. Marketers need to understand how consumers evaluate product
options and why some products are included while others are not. Most importantly,
marketers must determine which criteria consumers are using in their selection of possible
options and how each criterion is evaluated. Returning to the television example, marketing
tactics will be most effective when the marketer can tailor their efforts by knowing what
benefits are most important to consumers when selecting options (e.g., picture quality, brand
name, screen size, etc.) and then determine the order of importance of each benefit.

4. Purchase

In many cases the solution chosen by the consumer is the same as the product whose
evaluation is the highest. However, this may change when it is actually time to make the
purchase. The "intended" purchase may be altered at the time of purchase for many reasons
such as: the product is out-of-stock, a competitor offers an incentive at the point-of-purchase
(e.g., store salesperson mentions a competitor’s offer), the customer lacks the necessary funds
(e.g., credit card not working), or members of the consumer’s reference group take a negative
view of the purchase (e.g., friend is critical of purchase). Marketers whose product is most
desirable to the consumer must make sure that the transaction goes smoothly. For example,
Internet retailers have worked hard to prevent consumers from abandoning online purchase
(i.e., online shopping carts) by streamlining the checkout process. For marketers whose
product is not the consumer’s selected product, last chance marketing efforts may be worth
exploring, such as offering incentives to store personnel to "talk up" their product at the
checkout line.

5. After-Purchase Evaluation

Once the consumer has made the purchase they are faced with an evaluation of the decision.
If the product performs below the consumer’s expectation then he/she will re-evaluate
satisfaction with the decision, which at its extreme may result in the consumer returning the
product while in less extreme situations the consumer will retain the purchased item but may
take a negative view of the product. Such evaluations are more likely to occur in cases of
expensive or highly important purchases. To help ease the concerns consumers have with
their purchase evaluation, marketers need to be receptive and even encourage consumer
contact. Customer service centers and follow-up market research are useful tools in helping to
address purchasers’ concerns.