Consumer Decision-making Process

Introduction:

Consumers’ buying decisions and product or service consumption processes are always made in the context of a given situation. It is critical for marketers to understand how conditions and internal and external sources of influence influence the purchase decision process. Consumer behaviour can follow a variety of routes depending on the conditions. For example, the type of gift a customer might buy for his son’s birthday may differ from the type of gift he could buy for a friend’s wedding. Clothing purchased for jogging will most likely differ from that worn during a wedding reception. Consumers may base their purchasing decisions on assessments of situations in these and many more circumstances.

Customers employ the buying decision process before, during, and after purchasing a good or service to make decisions about market transactions. In the presence of several choices, this process can be thought of as a special type of cost-benefit analysis.

Shopping and deciding what to eat are two common examples. The ability to make decisions is a psychological construct. This means that, though a decision cannot be “seen,” we can conclude that one has been made based on observed behaviour. As a result, we conclude that there has been a psychological “decision-making” event. It’s a structure that implies a willingness to take action. We assume people have committed to carrying out the action based on observed behaviour.

Steps in Consumer Decision-making Process:

John Dewey first introduced the stages of the buyer decision process in 1910. Later studies expanded upon Dewey’s initial findings.

I. Problem Recognition:

The purchase decision-making process begins when a buyer becomes aware of an unmet need or a problem. Because there is no purposeful search for information without problem recognition, it is a vital stage in consumer decision-making. There is rarely a day when we are not confronted with various difficulties people solve by consuming things or services. We frequently confront issues such as the need to refill regular consumables. For example, the consumer who runs out of milk or cooking oil clearly understands the problem. These issues are rapidly identified, defined, and rectified. Another common problem is a person who realises that the fuel metre on her or his car shows a very low amount of fuel and stops at the first petrol station she or he sees on the way to fill the tank. When a large appliance, such as the refrigerator, breaks down, an unplanned problem emerges. A problem, such as the requirement for a notebook computer, may take much longer to recognise since it evolves slowly.

The problem-recognition process incorporates key consumer behaviour concepts, including information processing and motivation. First and foremost, consumers must become aware of the issue due to information processing triggered by internal or external stimuli. This motivates customers; they are stirred and energised to participate in a goal-oriented activity (purchase decision-making). The extent of the discrepancy between the existing state and the intended or ideal state and the seriousness of the problem for the concerned consumer determine this type of activity in reaction to recognising problems and finding solutions. The quantity and/or importance difference should be significant enough to initiate purchasing. There is no identification of an existing problem if the consumer does not see an issue, hence there is no need to engage in the decision-making process. The existing state for the concerned consumer appears to be pretty satisfied and does not require decision-making because the consumer perceives no discrepancy between her/his current state and the desired state. It’s vital to remember that the customer’s view of the current situation, not some “objective” fact, prompts problem recognition. In addition, because practically all consumers have monetary or time constraints, relative relevance is a significant idea in several buying decisions.

The discrepancy between the actual and desired states is expected to be sensed in routine difficulties, necessitating urgent resolution. This category of problem recognition, for example, is related to common convenience goods. Purchases of products and services with a short time gap between purchase and actual consumption are stimulated by both routine and emergency problems.

Emergencies are possible, but they are unforeseeable and necessitate rapid action. For example, suppose a customer is driving to work when he or she is involved in an accident, is hurt, and the vehicle is severely damaged. In such an emergency, she or he needs a rapid way to get to a hospital’s emergency room. She or he may then decide to have the vehicle fixed or purchase a new one.

Non-marketing circumstances and marketer-initiated activities are examples of situations that can trigger a consumer’s problem recognition process. The following are the five most prevalent scenarios:

1. Stock Depletion:

Consumers use or consume specific commodities, such as food, toiletries, and other convenience items daily. When an item reaches a point where it is ready to run out, the consumer almost instinctively recognises the problem and realises that she or he must repurchase it to continue meeting her or his need for the item. As long as the item’s basic need exists, problem recognition will continue due to its consumption.

2. Consumer Dissatisfaction with In-Stock Goods:

Customers regularly express dissatisfaction with their possessions. For example, a customer may own chiffon saris that are no longer fashionable and be dissatisfied, wishing to replace them with more fashionable ones. A family living in a small apartment may desire more space. Compared to more recent introductions, a student may recognise the problem of her or his PC being too slow.

3. Environmental Changes:

One of the most crucial events that leads to the recognition of difficulties is the changing characteristics of a family (different life cycle stages stimulate needs for different types of products). Similarly, reference group influences might lead to the recognition of a problem.

4. Change in Financial Situation:

Any change in financial situation is nearly always linked to the realisation of a problem. Salary increases, promotions, bonuses, inheritances, and other non-routine purchases are all common triggers for non-routine purchases. For example, following a promotion, a customer may realise that her or his vehicle no longer reflects her or his current status and decide to purchase a more expensive vehicle. On the other hand, if a consumer loses work, a new set of problems will emerge, and all future household expenditures will most likely be affected.

5. Marketer-Initiated Activities:

All marketers try to make customers aware of their known and unknown difficulties and persuade them that they have the correct answer to suit their demands. Advertising and other promotions are aimed at assisting consumers in recognising a significant difference between their intended state (product ownership) and their current state (not owning the product). Marketers also try to sway customers’ opinions of their current situation, such as the necessity to buy a lot of personal care goods. Women want to use soap to keep their skin looking fresh and smooth, and the Dove soap commercial is meant to make them feel self-conscious about the state of their skin. Dove claims to deliver benefits that competing soaps, presumably, do not. Such advertisements are designed to make consumers wonder if their current situation matches their intended situation. Not all marketer-controlled communications achieve this goal because of the consumers’ penchant for selective exposure and perception.

• Marketing Strategy:

Marketers utilise a variety of methods to figure out what their customers’ problems are. In most cases, they conduct surveys or hold focus groups to learn about consumer issues. Both surveys and focus groups typically employ one of the following methods:

1. Activity Analysis:

This method focuses on a single activity, such as housecleaning, meal preparation, or train travel. The purpose of the survey or focus group is to discover customers’ problems when conducting the activity.

2. Product Analysis:

Product analysis concerns the acquisition and/or use of a specific product, service, or brand. Respondents may be questioned about issues when using or consuming the product or service.

3. Problem Analysis:

The respondents are shown a list of problems and asked to identify which activities, items, or brands they link to the difficulties.

4. Human Factors Research:

This study is very useful in detecting customers’ functional issues they are unaware of. It’s used to see how lighting, temperature, sound, and product design affect human capacities like vision, weariness, response speed, and flexibility, among other things. Observational methods such as video recording, time-lapse, and slow-motion photography are commonly used in this type of research. Computer use, for example, can hurt vision. Repeating the same movements on a computer over time can result in a physical ailment (carpel tunnel syndrome).

5. Emotional Research:

Emotions are thought to influence problem recognition strongly. According to T Collier and others, marketers use focus groups, personal interviews, or projective techniques to determine consumers’ emotions associated with a particular product or product that generates or reduces certain emotions.

Marketers often try to sway customers’ impressions of their current situation. Many advertisements for personal care goods, for example, use this strategy. Women prefer not to use soap that dries out their skin. They want their skin to be smooth and fresh, and the Dove soap commercials are meant to make them feel bad about their current situation. It gives the desired benefit that other soaps do not. Ad messaging like this will make people wonder if their current situation matches their desired situation.

II. Information Search:

Consumers usually make efforts to gather enough information to choose the best solution after recognising a problem or need. The term “information search” refers to a consumer’s quest for relevant information in her or his environment to make a satisfied purchasing decision. Consumers recognise problems regularly and employ internal and external searches to fix them. Consumers may also participate in ongoing search operations to gather information for future use. When a customer recognises an issue, she or he reflexively thinks about or attempts to remember how she or he usually solves this type of problem. The recollection may be instantaneous or take time due to deliberate effort. This recall from long-term memory may provide an acceptable solution in many situations, and no further information search is likely. For example, a consumer recalls and purchases a headache-remedy brand based on previous experience to relieve a headache. Nominal decision-making is what it’s called. Another possibility is that the customer remembers Dispirin and Novalgin but is unsure, so they take up a book on home remedies and read about other options. Alternatively, the consumer may consult a friend or go to the nearest pharmacy for guidance on which medication would be effective and safe and then purchase the brand. Internal and external data will be used to make this conclusion. Limited decision-making is the term for this method of decision-making.

The relative relevance of external information search tends to rise in high-involvement purchases. Generally, the type of information a consumer seeks is determined by what she or he already knows. If a customer has minimal knowledge about accessible alternatives, the natural tendency is for them to learn about them and then divert their efforts to learn more about the features of available options to build appropriate evaluating criteria and evaluate them. Extended decision-making refers to purchase decisions that include a high level of risk, a thorough search for information, and a comprehensive review.

1. Relatives, friends, neighbours, and chat groups are good external knowledge sources.
2. Handouts, brochures, articles, periodicals, journals, books, professional contacts, and the Internet provide professional information.
3. Trial, inspection, and observation provide direct experience.
4. Advertisements, displays, and salesmen were all started by marketers.

Aside from memorising and learning about the many options available, one of the most significant goals of data gathering is to identify appropriate assessment criteria. Consumers use these standards and parameters to compare and contrast products and brands. To suit her/his demands, the consumer determines what traits or traits are required. These criteria may differ from one consumer to the next for various things such as computers, automobiles, cell phones, and other items. In most cases, customers engage in brand or attribute processing. In the evoked set, brand processing entails evaluating one brand at a time on numerous attributes, then another, and so on. Attribute processing entails looking at a specific attribute and comparing it to other brands. A second, third, or fourth attribute can be selected for comparison one by one in this manner.

The information gathered results in a brand/product awareness set. The awareness or contemplation set comprises solutions that have been remembered and educated about. The evoked, incompetent, and inert sets are all part of the awareness set.

The evoked set comprises the brands consumers consider when deciding on a solution to a specific problem or need. The inept set covers brands that consumers believe are unworthy of consideration. The inert set comprises options the customer knows about but would not contemplate purchasing or treating with indifference.

• Marketing Strategy:

Marketers recognise that two aspects of customers’ information searches are relevant to strategy development:

(1) the type of purchase decision influences the amount of information searched, and

(2) the nature of the evoked set influences the direction of search.

Marketers can choose from six strategies based on these two dimensions:

1. Maintenance strategy
2. Disrupt strategy
3. Capture strategy
4. Intercept strategy
5. Preference strategy
6. Acceptance strategy.

Each technique takes a different approach, yet there is a lot of overlap between them.

1. Maintenance strategy:

If the nature of the marketer’s brand is such that consumers in the target market buy it regularly, the best plan is to keep doing so. This necessitates marketer consistency in maintaining product quality, ensuring continuous stock availability to retailers, and reinforcing promotional messages. To safeguard the product from disruptive tactics used by competitors, it is vital to continue product development and upgrades in the face of techniques such as discounts and coupons.

2. Disrupt strategy:

If the brand isn’t part of the evoked set of target consumers, and they’re only making nominal decisions, the marketers’ only bet is to disturb the present decision-making process. It will be challenging to achieve in the short term because consumers do not search for external information or even examine rival brands, preferring to buy consistently. In the long run, low-involvement learning may result in positive brand feelings.

The best strategy is to make significant product upgrades and launch attention-getting advertising campaigns. Comparative advertising with strong benefit claims is frequently effective in breaking regular purchasing patterns. This may cause consumers in the target market to become more involved in decision-making. Among other things, free samples, coupons, and tie-in promotions may be successful in consumer trials and disrupt the conventional decision-making pattern. L L Garber points out that eye-catching packaging and point-of-purchase displays might throw a buyer’s routine off.

3. Capture Strategy:

When solving an issue that requires only a few decisions, buyers typically assess only a few brands and evaluate them on a few features. Before purchasing, the information search is usually confined to readily available information sources such as local media and point-of-purchase in stores. The marketer’s goal should be to grab a substantial portion of the consumer’s spending.

Consumer research can provide useful information about media preferences, and marketers should consider cooperative advertising in local media, which can provide information about price and availability, among other things. The marketer can also persuade dealers to set up point-of-purchase displays and other sales promotions.

4. Intercept Strategy:

Consumers’ constrained decision-making style is also linked to the intercept strategy. If the marketer’s brand isn’t in the evoked set of the target market, the best tactic is to intercept customers when they’re looking for information about the brands in the evoked set. Cooperative advertising in local media, appealing packaging design, and safe promotional strategies such as free samples, displays, coupons, and premiums, among others, can also be helpful here. What matters is to get the attention of consumers who aren’t particularly interested in searching for information about the marketer’s brand. Frequent advertising on TV to promote low-involvement learning and product upgrades may successfully push the product into the evoked set of consumers.

5. Preference Strategy:

When the brand is part of the evoked set of consumers in the target market, and the decision-making process entails significant information search, a preference method is acceptable. Consumers are likely to consider a variety of brands, brand features, and information sources. For the brand to be favoured by consumers in the target market, the marketer’s strategy must focus on providing relevant information that is both useful and persuasive from the customers’ perspective.

The first step in achieving the marketer’s goal is to create a solid brand positioning strategy. Extensive advertising may be required to reach all possible sources to express the brand’s intended position, even to individuals who do not purchase the brand but are seen as trustworthy sources of information. This could include encouraging independent testing labs to evaluate the brand, requesting experts to write articles about their independent evaluations, offering incentives to salespeople to advocate the brand, putting up exhibits, and having a well-designed active or passive website on the Internet.

6. Acceptance Strategy:

This method is used when the target audience does not look for information about the marketer’s brand. Rather than trying to “sell” the brand, the marketer’s primary goal is to get it into the evoked set of customers. In every other way, however, the technique is comparable to preference strategy, except that the main difficulty is attracting or urging consumers to learn about the marketer’s brand. This necessitates a lot of attention-getting advertising. Many vehicle marketers, for example, incentivise customers who visit their showroom and test drive the model they are promoting. This strategy encourages consumers to seek information actively when a purchasing situation arises.

III. Evaluation of Alternatives:

Consumers’ evaluative criteria refer to various variables a customer seeks to address, including features, traits, and rewards. Processor speed, operating system, memory, graphics, sound, display, software bundled, cost, and warranty are examples of evaluative criteria for a laptop computer. However, for another buyer, the collection of evaluation criteria for the same product may be completely different.

For a consumer, each product feature or characteristic has value only if it can give a desired benefit. Consumers who want to avoid dental cavities should use toothpaste with fluoride in the composition. Fluoride content would likely be this buyer’s most relevant evaluative criterion. The fluoride characteristic is significant because it delivers a desired advantage; otherwise, it would be worthless. It is more necessary for marketers to emphasise – and persuade consumers of – the advantage that a specific feature delivers rather than simply describing the feature.

The consumer checks products or brands against the desired criteria and those not desired to evaluate different possibilities in the evoked set. Consumers either utilise attitude-based choice, which involves forming overall preferences regarding brands based on general attitudes, impressions, beliefs, intuition, or heuristics, or attribute-based choice, which needs knowledge of specific attributes when choosing a brand by comparing each brand option on specific features. This attribute-based selection procedure is inconvenient and time-consuming. In general, the importance of making the best decision is proportional to the value of the product in question and the consequences of making a bad decision.

Some consumers are prone to simplifying the evaluation process by focusing solely on pricing or evaluating based on a well-known brand name. However, consumers make attitude-based selections for many essential personal consumption products, which is crucial to recognise. For example, many people are willing to pay a premium for a notebook computer like Acer’s Ferrari 3000 series due to its appearance and affiliation with the Ferrari emblem.

Certain product purchases are predominantly based on affective choice, or what we refer to as “feeling-based purchases.” A young lady, for example, goes to a ready-to-wear clothes store to get a dress for the annual college banquet. She looks at numerous dresses, tries on a few, and concludes that she looks lovely in one of them. She buys that dress hoping to create an excellent first impression at the party. Such decisions are more holistic and do not mesh well with attitude- or attribute-based criteria. The brands are not broken down into discrete components; each is assessed independently. The rating is solely based on how the product makes the customer feel while he or she is using it. Most of us may recall specific purchases based on our general feelings about product usage. Consumers visualise or see themselves using the goods or services and assess the emotions this use will elicit. For example, advertisements for mattresses, underwear, massage, sauna baths, and other personal care services try to entice consumers to anticipate the sentiments that the consumption experience will elicit and base their decision on these anticipated sentiments.

Marketers’ messaging must strive to provide facts and experiences, employing appropriate spokespersons to help create a strong attitude-based perspective. Marketers must also provide performance metrics and supporting data to assist customers who establish preferences based on attribute-based criteria.

• Marketing Strategy:

 Marketers targeting consumers likely to utilise compensating decision criteria for products and services should maintain a performance level on key features comparable to or better than the competition, as key features are given more weight than essential features. When making compensating judgments, the marketer must consider the whole mix of important features to provide a better product than the competition.

Marketers may occasionally want to modify consumers’ approach to making a decision. For instance, if most consumers are deemed to be utilising a compensatory choice technique and the competition is vulnerable, moving consumers to a non-compensatory strategy may be advantageous. A marketer can occasionally persuade customers to dismiss competitors by convincing them that a lower level of an essential attribute (such as pricing) is unacceptable. Zenith PC, for example, has fought competitors with low-cost PCs to persuade customers to reject other branded computers due to their high cost. Maruti Udyog Limited has aimed at competitors by slashing the price of its Maruti 800 model. When customers reject a brand using a non-compensatory choice technique, marketers might persuade them to use a compensatory choice strategy by convincing them that the brand’s essential features compensate for minor flaws.

IV. Purchase Decision:

Making a purchase is frequently a simple, routine matter of going to a retail outlet, looking around, and quickly selecting what is required. Consumers think of themselves as savvy shoppers who decide which retail outlet to shop. Customers usually choose the computer’s brand first, then the dealer from whom they will purchase it. Consumers frequently choose the retail outlet first, which impacts their brand selection. When consumers shop for clothes, for example, they usually choose a retail outlet first or go to a market area where several such stores are located. Similarly, when shopping for appliances, they frequently make a brand decision in the store.

Consumers are increasingly exposed to product introductions and descriptions in direct mail pieces and catalogues, various print media vehicles, television, and the Internet. They purchase them via mail, phone, or computer orders. For at least some consumers, the Internet offers more excellent selection, convenience, and lower prices than other distribution outlets in some product categories. In India, in-home shopping is not as every day as in the United States, but it is becoming more popular. Consumers are being encouraged to buy products through computer orders by many companies with websites.

The image and location of a retail outlet impact store patronage, and consumers’ choice of outlet is frequently influenced by its location. In most cases, customers will choose the store that is closest to them. Similarly, the store size significantly impacts the consumer’s choice of outlet. Consumers are unwilling to travel long distances for minor shopping or convenience items. Consumers, on the other hand, are willing to travel to distant shopping areas for high-involvement purchases. Retail outlets are also thought to pose varied levels of risk. Consumers perceive Traditional retail venues as less risky than more innovative outlets like the Internet.

Once the consumer has decided on a brand and a retail store, the final step is to complete the purchase. Traditionally, this would include paying money in exchange for the product’s rights. Credit is essential in completing purchasing transactions in developed and developing countries. Credit cards are widely used in industrialised economies and are growing in popularity in India and other developing countries as a handy means to finance various purchases.

Many retailers neglect that the purchase action is typically the customer’s last point of interaction with the store during that shopping trip. This allows the company to leave a lasting impression on the customer.

• Marketing Strategy:

The corporation has engaged in several marketing initiatives to get consumers to this point. At this point, the store’s environment, the ambience, the Point of Purchase Sale, the sales team, and the availability of the products would all be important. All of these things must be kept in place and under control with extreme caution.

V. Post-purchase Evaluation:

Satisfaction is the result of a positive post-purchase review by customers. Consumers choose a specific brand or retail outlet because they believe it is a better overall option than the other options considered during the purchase process. They anticipate a spectrum of performance from their chosen item, ranging from very low to very high. Consumers tend to view performance in line with their expectations, therefore expectations and perceived performance are not mutually exclusive. The user will perceive some level of performance after utilising the product, service, or retail outlet, which could be noticeably higher, significantly lower, or match the predicted level of performance. As a result, customer happiness with a purchase is determined mainly by original performance level expectations and perceived performance about those expectations.

As these items become integrated into their regular consumption behaviours, consumers engage in a continuous process of evaluating them. Consumers may experience post-purchase dissonance after making certain purchases. This happens when a customer has second thoughts about making a purchase. Consumers use most things after they purchase them, even if they are dissatisfied. Consumers suffer post-purchase dissonance because committing to a chosen option for extended periods necessitates foregoing the option not chosen. As a result, consumers are unlikely to feel post-purchase dissonance while making nominal or limited decisions since they do not contemplate desirable features of a brand they have not chosen. For example, a buyer would not experience dissonance if she bought the cheapest toilet soap out of three options that she considered similar in all key features except price. High-involvement purchases typically include one or more characteristics that lead to post-purchase dissatisfaction.

A positive post-purchase appraisal leads to satisfaction, while a negative evaluation leads to discontent. If a consumer’s perceived performance level falls short of expectations and fails to achieve those expectations, the result will almost certainly be unhappiness. The product or channel will most likely be pushed into the inept group and dropped from consideration in the future. As a result, the customer is more likely to file a complaint and propagate poor word-of-mouth.

The consumer is generally satisfied when the performance level matches or surpasses the minimum performance requirements. Similarly, when the performance level considerably surpasses the desired level, the customer will likely be satisfied and ecstatic. As a result, the consumer’s decision-making efforts to satisfy their needs on future purchase occasions of the same product or service are likely to be reduced. As a result, a satisfying purchasing experience encourages customers to repeat the behaviour in the future. A satisfied customer is more likely to be loyal to and enthusiastic about a particular brand and is less likely to be swayed by the actions of competitors. A satisfied customer is also more likely to share positive word-of-mouth.

• Marketing Strategy:

Marketers must focus on:

(1) Developing acceptable expectations among consumers through proper promotional activities and

(2) Ensure product quality consistency so customer expectations are met through marketing communications.

Dissatisfied customers tend to communicate their unhappiness more forcefully, which may result in a loss of sales to angry customers and their friends.

If a dissatisfied customer expresses dissatisfaction with a product directly to the company and no one else, it is helpful to the company. This allows the company to immediately address the issue and reduce the risk of unfavourable word-of-mouth communications. According to research, consumers who have complaints resolved to their satisfaction are more satisfied than those who have no complaints and are happy with the goods. When there are a lot of complaints, people usually go to the store where they bought it first, and those stores don’t always pass the issue on to the maker. Consumers should be encouraged to report their complaints as soon as they occur, and businesses should build an effective mechanism for receiving complaints. General Electric, for example, spends a lot of money on its toll-free “Answer Centre,” which receives 3 million calls yearly. Because the payback is often the money spent, the corporation considers it well spent.

Receiving complaints promptly is insufficient. Consumers who file complaints expect concrete outcomes, and a marketer’s inability to efficiently handle their concerns can be harmful. Marketers must not only provide consumers with the chance to complain but also successfully resolve the source of their problems. This is a massive opportunity for businesses in a growing country like India. Maintaining unsatisfied customers by encouraging them and adequately reacting to their complaints is less expensive than gaining new customers in an increasingly competitive market.

Routinized Response Behaviour:

Consumers make frequent purchases and must make purchasing judgments more regularly. Food, soap, and shampoo are examples of products that are utilised regularly. The buying of these items is routine. They have a modest level of participation. Different decisions must be made depending on the product’s necessity and relevance. Routine goods are essential, but they receive little attention. Let’s look at the relationship between involvement and purchasing decisions.

Types of Consumer Decisions:

Consumer researchers have traditionally approached decision-makers from a rational standpoint. The term “customer decision process” conjures up an image of a person who is confronted with a clearly defined problem and is meticulously involved in evaluating the features of a collection of products, brands, or services before picking the one that would provide the most significant level of satisfaction at the lowest cost. A purchase decision like this becomes a full-time job. For example, a consumer may spend days or weeks obsessing about an essential purchase like a new home. According to Richard W Olshavsky and Donald H Granbois, many buying decisions do not follow this procedure. Consumers would spend their whole lives making such decisions if they followed this detailed process for each purchase, leaving little or no time to appreciate the goods they buy. Without a doubt, some decisions are made this way, but many others are made with little thought, and consumers appear to make fast decisions based on little information. Because certain purchases are more significant than others, customers devote different amounts of time and effort to each.

According to researchers, consumers do have a repertoire of decision-making processes. A customer assesses the work required to make a particular decision and then chooses the optimal technique for the situation. In this sequence, consumers adjust their cognitive “effort” level to the task at hand, called constructive processing.

Many consumer purchasing decisions appear to be linked to a specific issue, such as running out of laundry detergent or table salt. At other cases, the issue may be linked to getting rid of the old automobile, which causes feelings of inadequacy, and replacing it with a new, more affordable car, which boosts self-esteem and is more by the current employment status. When a consumer considers the upfront cost and the ongoing cost of ownership when deciding whether to purchase a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle, the choice process can become even more challenging. Finally, the customer may opt for a more expensive diesel variant. In another scenario, a customer with a simple need for laundry detergent may want to save money by avoiding one or more relatively costly national brands and opting for a medium-priced brand that is on sale and comes with a free small pack of toothpaste.

Consumer decision-making processes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Purchase decision participation can be considered a continuum, with purchasing decision-making becoming increasingly tricky as the consumer progresses from a low level of involvement to a high level of participation in the purchase situation. Consumer researchers have found it helpful to think of habitual purchase decision-making or nominal choice-making on one end and extended choice-making on the other, based on the amount of work that goes into decision-making. Many decisions are characterised by limited decision-making and land somewhere in the middle. It’s important to remember that several decision-making processes blend rather than being discrete.

The level of concern about, or interest in, the purchasing process prompted by the need to contemplate a specific purchase is called purchase participation. Consumer engagement can take many forms, and one broad distinction is that it can be cognitive, such as when a customer is motivated to learn about the latest features of the new iMac, or emotional, such as when a consumer is thinking about buying a gift for his wife on their first wedding anniversary. Because of brand loyalty, time constraints, or other factors, a consumer may be strongly connected with a product category (coffee) or brand (Maruti Zen) but have extremely low involvement with a specific purchase. Alternatively, a consumer may have little connection with a product like a vehicle tyre but is very involved because she wants to save money. According to Marsha L Richins, Peter H Block, and Edward F McQuarrie, there are three significant categories of participation connected to the product, the message, or the perceiver.

Product involvement:

A consumer’s level of interest in a product is referred to as product involvement. To boost consumer interest in a product, marketers communicate various sales promotions. The Tata Indica V2 sponsored a contest in which contestants were asked to submit five adjectives that began with the letter “V” to characterise the automobile.

Advertising involvement:

The consumer’s interest in processing ad messages is called advertising participation. Television is considered a low-involvement medium in which viewers passively process information. Print, on the other hand, is a high-involvement medium since readers consume information actively.

Purchase Situation Involvement:

In several circumstances, involvement in the purchase situation may arise when purchasing the same thing. When a consumer wishes to impress someone, for example, he may choose a different brand that indicates good taste than the one he usually purchases.

Limited and Extensive Problem Solving Behaviour:

1. Nominal Decision-making:

Nominal decision-making, also known as nominal problem-solving, habitual decision-making, or routine problem-solving, is at one end of the choice continuum. Recognizing a need will almost certainly result in a purchase decision. Information processing is either non-existent or extremely limited.

Most low-cost and frequently purchased products have low involvement because they are consumed regularly and require minimal decision-making. A problem is identified, the consumer uses long-term memory to find a single preferred solution, the preferred brand is purchased, and no brand evaluation occurs unless the brand fails to perform as expected. Some of these choices are so insignificant that the customer never considers switching brands. For instance, a customer notices that her Aquafresh toothpaste supply is running low. When the consumer is in the store, he or she takes it off the shelf or requests it without considering competing brands, prices, or other relevant aspects.

Nominal decision-making is usually the result of a consumer’s continuous happiness with a brand that was chosen after a lengthy choice process, or the consumer does not place a high value on the product category or purchase. Even though using the best available toothpaste is crucial to her, the consumer buys Aquafresh toothpaste without further thought because it fits her/his overall demands. In the second scenario, customers may not place a high value on salt or sugar purchased for domestic usage. After trying Tata Salt and liking it, they now buy it whenever they need it without hesitation. Sales promotions in this area can result in a lot of brand switching.

According to Joseph W Alba and J Wesley Hutchinson, automatic behaviour is defined by choices made with little effort and without conscious control. While such irresponsible behaviour may appear foolish to some, it is highly efficient in most ordinary purchases. By developing routinized, habitual, or repetitive behaviour, consumers can save time and effort.

2. Limited Decision-making:

Limited decision-making is usually more straightforward and straightforward. Internal (long-term memory) and limited external search, assessment of only a few possibilities, basic choice rules on a few criteria, and minimal post-purchase evaluation are all part of the process. As previously stated, it bridges the gap between nominal and extended decision-making. Buyers are less driven to search for information or enthusiastically analyse each attribute, opting instead for cognitive shortcuts. According to Wayne D Hoyer, limited decision-making may not differ substantially from nominal decision-making when the level of customer input is at its lowest. For example, a shopper may notice a Nescafe point-of-purchase display while shopping and purchase one pack based on her or his recall of its pleasant aroma and flavour. If the consumer’s decision rule is to buy the cheapest brand of instant coffee available, she will compare the pricing of other brands of coffee and choose the one with the lowest price. Emotional variables might sometimes impact limited decision-making. For example, a consumer may purchase Colgate Total toothpaste instead of her or his regular brand just because she or he wants a change, not because she or he is dissatisfied with the previous brand. Such a selection could be as simple as reading the label on the carton and recognising that it has a different flavour from the brand she/he was previously using.

3. Extended Decision-making Process:

Consumer purchases that need extensive decision-making are the most similar to traditional decision-making. Because customers do not have any practical knowledge about the product or service and require a lot of it, such decisions require substantial internal (long-term memory) and external (outside sources) information search followed by a rigorous examination of various alternatives. The evaluation frequently entails a comprehensive examination of one brand’s traits at a time and comparing how each brand’s traits compare to a set of desirable criteria. All of this occurs due to high consumer involvement in purchasing decisions. Such complex selections are uncommon and may involve purchasing a computer, stereo system, washing machine, laser printer, or a new home, among other things. It’s more likely that post-purchase evaluation will be complicated and cause dissonance.

Certain emotional decisions, such as purchasing a birthday gift for a friend, purchasing jewellery for the wife, purchasing a designer garment, or purchasing a family vacation abroad, may need extended decision-making. Although some of these judgments appear to be based on cognitive effort, the requirements being addressed and the criteria being evaluated are primarily based on emotions or feelings rather than product or service features. There is less exterior information to search for when emotions or feelings are involved.