Consumer Decision-Making Process in Marketing,

Consumer Decision-Making Process

In marketing, understanding consumer behavior is vitally important. Indeed, consumers drive markets, and understanding their behavior can determine the success of the marketing effort. According to the marketing literature, there are generally six stages a buyer goes through in the decision to purchase a product or service. Furthermore, these stages are affected by elements such as personal, psychological and social factors. Marketers need to take all these into account to create successful marketing strategies.

The six stages of the consumer buying decisions include problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, decision, and post-purchase evaluation. It is also important to recognize that, depending upon the complexity of the purchasing decision, these stages are not necessarily included in every purchase process, nor is purchase necessarily the outcome of the process.

Problem recognition entails the consumer's understanding that there is a need or lack that must be filled. The consumer will then embark upon a search for products or services that can fill this need. If necessary, the consumer's internal search or memory is supplemented by an external search, which may include friends and family, as well as a further search of for example public sources. For this stage, it is important for marketers to impress the public with the quality of products and services, which will then be perpetuated by word of mouth.

Another important stage, from the marketing perspective, is the evaluation of alternatives. A buyer compares similar products and services offered by different companies in order to make a purchasing decision. In this stage, it is important to impress the customer with the best value for money. This is an important concept, as offering a product or service at a price that is too low may affect the consumer's perception of value negatively, while a price that is too high may discourage the purchase decision if the same value is offered for a lower price by another company. Marketers should therefore be aware of the delicate balance between price and perceived value. The purchase decision and actual purchase also have interesting dynamics than can be used by marketers. Product availability may for example cause a discrepancy between the purchase and purchase decision.

The post-purchase evaluation is also an important stage, as this relates to consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction and may once again lead to positive or negative word of mouth. The product or service provider should therefore ensure that marketing claims and actual customer experience correlate as closely as possible. Other elements that can influence post-purchase evaluation include post-purchase communication and warranties. If these are perceived to be of high quality and fulfill the expectations of promised value, the post-purchase evaluation will be positive.

Marketers should also take into account the various personal, psychological, and social factors that influence purchasing decisions. These integrate to influence purchasing decisions, and can be determined by marketing research. While no two persons are the same, marketers can determine the general trends of personal, psychological and social values that influence purchasing decisions, and market products in a way that appeals to these values. This is particularly important when a company expands to other countries. In such cases, it is important to recognize that the values in other countries can be vastly different from those in the home country. Marketing strategies should therefore be adjusted to reflect this.