Marketing Fundamentals: Buyer Behavior to Digital Strategy

The Purchase Process and Consumer Behavior

There are three phases of the purchase process: awareness, consideration, and decision. In the first phase, the buyer evaluates his need for the product and deliberates on whether to make a purchase. The second stage involves evaluation to support the final decision. The final stage is about making the right choice after reviewing available options, investing time in research, and gaining confidence (Cohen, 2019).

Marketers use visual stimuli to make products more engaging to consumers. It is known that 93% of communication occurs through non-verbal means. Visuals help buyers make sense of a message and decode text more easily. Colors enhance emotions and stir the imagination. For example, certain logos deliberately use specific color combinations to instill cravings — such as the pairing of yellow and red in McDonald's branding, where red depicts desire, authority, and affection (Corry, 2018; Rie, 2018).

Operant conditioning in marketing refers to behavioral psychology principles whereby marketers generate profits by providing voluntary, favorable, and positive stimuli to consumers — stimuli that have proven effective in the past. This approach encourages customers to try a product through mechanisms such as free trials. Consumers cannot fully appreciate a product through advertising alone unless they have used it. Free trials may involve initial costs, but those costs can be offset when customers become lifelong brand loyalists and generate lucrative profits through word-of-mouth (Dymond, n.d.).

Market Segmentation Strategies

Mass marketing involves selling a product to all types of consumers, while one-to-one marketing focuses on selling a specific product to a particular type of customer. In one-to-one marketing, companies aim to ensure that the maximum number of targeted customers purchase the maximum number of products. For example, a tissue paper brand would want to mass market its product to all consumer types. In contrast, a soap designed for dry skin would target only consumers with dry skin — yet that single type of consumer would be expected to purchase the product repeatedly and in large quantities (Meyer, 2015).

Marketers segment a market based on parameters such as behavioral, demographic, psychographic, and geographic characteristics. Creating value for consumers depends on the marketer's capacity to identify their needs based on these factors, since gathering information about consumers becomes more convenient and manageable. Qualitative and quantitative information can be better analyzed so that product sales are maximized and brand loyalty is sustained (Lotame, 2019).

Common reasons for the failure of segmentation schemes include defining segments too broadly, misalignment between business goals and market segments, inefficient global management of segments, and the inappropriate use of segmentation without a clear strategic direction. Improper implementation — combined with a lack of accurate preparation and an incorrectly defined target market — causes significant problems and can result in costly failures (Perspective Customer Insights Team, 2018).

Products, Services, and Brand Value

A product is an article manufactured for sale to target consumers. Key differences between a product and a service include: products are tangible while services are not; products fulfill needs through physical ownership while services support relationship building; quality evaluation is harder for services than for products; products offer numerous variations across lines and types while services are less differentiated; and products can be returned while services generally cannot (Gunelius, n.d.).

Core values are the fundamental characteristics of a product that customers seek. Value-added values are the additional benefits a customer gains from the same product. In the context of hotel services, for example, the core value is providing rooms, food, and in-room necessities. A value-added service might include offering a postcard for a touristic experience or other facilitated extras (Ciornea et al., 2010).

Deepening product depth can be less efficient because offering more product lines within an existing product category incurs additional costs. Adding new varieties is not always as essential as it may seem — when the added costs of production do not yield successful new varieties, the long-term financial impact may be negative.

A brand is created by consumer expectations, the fulfillment of those expectations, perceptions, and the image associated with a company's products. It can be defined as a collection of long-lasting impressions united under one umbrella. Brand associations are formed when they are positive in terms of permanence, marketability, and the ability to create desire among customers. They are cultivated through advertising, delivery of high-quality products, word-of-mouth publicity, appropriate pricing strategies, and strong customer contact and service (Gunelius, n.d.).

Line extension occurs when a company introduces new items within the same product category — such as new colors, sizes, flavors, or forms. Product category extension occurs when a company uses the same brand name to enter an entirely different product category; for example, a fast food restaurant that begins selling desserts.