One of the key elements of a
successful marketing strategy is the development of product and promotional
stimuli that consumers will perceive as relevant to their needs.
In chapter 3 we looked at Consumer
Perception was defined as the;
- Selection
- Organization
- Interpretation of marketing and environmental stimuli into coherent pictures
Companies like Coca-Cola, Nike, and
McDonald’s have over the years have been successful in establishing and
consistently reinforcing positive consumer perceptions over the years.
- What are consumers perceiving – Stimuli?
- Next let us consider the three processes (Selection; Organization and Interpretation) and their strategic implications for marketing.
One of the most important
applications of perceptions is Consumer Perceptions of Prices and association
of Price with Product Quality.
Marketing Stimuli and Consumer Perceptions
Stimuli
– are any physical, visual or verbal communications that can influence an
individual’s response. The two most important types of stimuli influencing consumer
behavior are marketing and environmental (social and cultural influences).
Marketing Stimuli – are any communications or physical stimuli designed to
influence consumers. The product and its
components (package, contents, and physical properties) are primary or intrinsic stimuli.
Communication designed to influence
consumer behavior are secondary or
extrinsic stimuli that represent the product either through words, pictures
and symbolism or through other stimuli associated with the product (price,
store in which it was purchased, effect of the salesperson)
To survive in a competitive market,
manufacturers must consistently expose consumers to secondary marketing
stimuli. Continuous advertising is not profitable, however unless enough
consumers buy again. The ultimate determinant of consumer actions is the experience
with the primary stimulus, the product.
The Dominant Element in Marketing Strategy is Communication About The Product.
Product Concept – Refers to a
bundle of product benefits that can be directed to the need of a defined group
of consumers through messages, symbolism and imagery.
The Product Concept represents the
organization of the secondary stimuli into a coordinated product position that
can be communicated to consumers.
Example: Nestle Maggie products
Stimulus Characteristics Affecting Perception.
Several characteristics of
marketing stimuli affect the way consumers perceive products. These
characteristics can be divided into:
- Sensory Elements (Sight, Taste, Smell, Feel)
- Structural Elements (Size of an advertisement, Position in the newspaper or magazine etc.)
Sensory Elements
Sight: Colour Perception – The most important factor in regard to sight is colour.
Colour has important sensory connotations. Red is regarded as warm, sensual and
not intimidating. Red represents the lifeblood. Blue is seen as comforting.
Colour perceptions are likely to differ among countries because of cultural
association. Example: A study by Jacobs found that consumers in China and Japan
associate purple with expensive products and grey with inexpensive products. However,
American consumers associate purple with inexpensive product and grey with
expensive ones.
Taste:
Taste is another sensory factor that conditions consumers’ brand perception.
Taste can be an elusive perception.
Smell:
Smell is particularly important for cosmetics and food products. Smell also has
cross-cultural dimensions. The social role of perfume and colognes in western
society has never been established in Japan. Japanese regard perfumes and
cologne as intrusive to other people’s privacy.
Sound:
Sound is another important sensory stimulus.
Feel:
The feel of certain products also influences consumers’ perceptions. E.g.
Softness is considered a desirable attributes to many paper products. The
importance of feeling a product has inhibited the sale of certain products on
the web.
Structural Elements
Along with sensory elements,
structural elements also affect perception. Structural elements are the
physical characteristics of the marketing message. Studies applied primarily to
print advertising have found that the:
Larger the size of the advertisement, the more
likely it is to be noticed.
A position in the first ten pages
of a magazine or in the upper half of a printed page produces more attention.
Contrast can influence the
attention an ad receives example; pictures of a product on a white background is
likely to receive more attention.
Consumer Characteristics Affecting Perception
Two characteristics are important
in determining consumer’s perception of stimuli;
- The ability to discriminate between stimuli and
- The propensity to generalize from one stimuli to another
Stimulus Discrimination
Questions whether consumers can
discriminate among different stimuli. Do consumers perceive differences between
brands; example; taste; feeling, pricing, shape and features of products? The
ability to discriminate among stimuli is learned.
Generally frequent users of a
product are better able to notice small difference in product characteristics
between brands.
Marketers rely on advertising to
convey brand differences that physical characteristics alone do not show or
impart to consumers.
Threshold
Level
The ability of consumers to detect
variations in light, sound, smell or other stimuli is determined by their
threshold. Some consumers are more sensitive to these stimuli than others. Example.
some companies engage expert tasters to taste and detect any differences.
Marketers sometimes seek to make
changes in marketing stimuli that will not be noticed (a decrease in package
size or an increase in price).
Another more direct application to
marketing strategy is the need to differentiate a brand from that of a
competitor so it is noticed. In such cases, the marketer seeks to develop
product characteristics and advertising messages that are easily detectable
(differences in size, taste, colour, ingredients and so on).
Just-Noticeable
Difference (JND)
A basic principle in determining a
consumer’s threshold level is that differential thresholds exist in comparing
two stimuli. The consumer does not detect any difference between stimuli below
his or her differential threshold. The differential threshold therefore
represents the just noticeable
difference (JND).
E.g. A
private label detergent is 5 cents below the consumer’s regular brand; the
consumer may not notice the difference. However, if the private label brand is
20 cents below the regular brand, the consumer is likely to notice the
difference. Therefore the 20 cents is the
differential threshold or JND for this consumer.
Weber’s
Law
The stronger the initial stimulus,
the greater the change required for the subsequent stimulus to be seen as
different.
In marketing terms, this means that
the higher the price, the greater the change in price required for consumers to
take notice. E.g. the price of a K500.00 stereo set would have to increase more
significantly than that of a K100.00 tape deck to be noticed.
Weber’s law in relation to JND, the
threshold differences have to be constant. E.g. K100 increase to K110, the
stereo set have to increase K550.00. In
both case cases JND is a constant 10% increase.
Subliminal
Perceptions
Subliminal perception is the
perception of a stimulus below the conscious level. The absolute threshold
level at which perception occurs is referred to as “limen”. Thus, perception
below the absolute threshold is subliminal. According to an experiment
conducted in the 1950s, consumers can conceive a message below their minimum
level of perception. That is they are expose to a message, without attention
and comprehension but they register it.
Adaptation
Level
Adaptation level is the level at
which consumers’ no longer notice a frequently repeated stimulus. E.g. a
consumer walking into an air-condition room or a kitchen full of fragrances
does not notice these stimuli after a period of time. Consumers differ in their
levels of adaptation.
Advertising wear out is the consumers’ adaptation to an advertising campaign
over time due boredom and familiarity resulting in consumer reducing their
level of attention. Great concern to internet advertisers.
Stimulus Generalization
Consumers develop not only a
capacity to discriminate among stimuli but also a capacity to generalize from
one similar stimulus to another. The process of stimulus generalization occurs
when two stimuli are seen as similar (contiguous) and the effects of one,
therefore, can be substituted for the effects of the other.
Generalization allows consumers to
simplify the process of evaluation because they do not have to make a separate
judgment for each stimulus.
Strategic
Applications of Generalization
Marketers seek to avoid stimulus
generalization by consumers because they are attempting to distinguish their
brands from those of their competitors.
Brand Leveraging – Extending a well –known brand name to other products, is
one of the most direct and popular
application of stimulus generalization in marketing. (Less costly then
introducing new product)
Perceptual
Selection
The steps in the perceptual process
– Selection, Organization, and
Interpretation
Selection to occur, the consumer
must first see or hear a stimulus and then respond to it. (See, Hear and
Respond)
 |
| Adaptation from H. Assael Consumer Perception |
Exposure
– occurs when consumers’ senses (sight, sound, touch, smell) are activated by a
stimulus. Consumers pick and choose the stimuli they are exposed to. Consumers
are also likely to avoid exposure to stimuli that are unimportant and
uninteresting.
Attention
– in the momentary focusing of a consumer’s cognitive capacity on a specific
stimulus. When consumers notice a TV ad, a new product on a shelf, or a car in
a showroom, attention has taken place.
Selective Perception – means that two consumers may perceive the identical
advertisement, package, or product very differently. Example; One consumer may
believe that Clorox get clothes whiter than bleach while another consumer may
regard this as untrue and may believe that all bleaches are the same.
Function of Selective Perception
Selective perception ensures that
consumers receive information most relevant to their needs. This process is
called Perceptual Vigilance.
Consumers sometimes perceive information to conform to their beliefs and
attitudes.
The second function of selective
perception is called Perceptual Defence
because it protects the individual from threatening or contradictory stimuli.
Example. A cigarette smoker may avoid antismoking advertisements or play down their
importance.
Perceptual Equilibrium – Consistency between the information they receive about a
product and their prior belief about that brand.
Perceptual Disequilibrium – Consumers not only accept information consistent with
their belief, but they also accept discrepant information about a selected
product.
Learning and cognitive dissonance
theories predict different outcomes from dissatisfaction. Example; Smokers may
accept this dissonant information and attempt to stop smoking to change their
behavior to conform to the information.
Selective Perception and Marketing Strategy
Marketing messages can be clear-cut
or ambiguous. If consumers engage in perceptual
defence, ambiguous messages are more likely to be effective because the
marketer is giving consumers latitude to interpret the message to be in accord
with their beliefs about the brand.
If consumers engage in perceptual
vigilance, then clear-cut message are more likely to be effective because it is
apparent that the information is supportive of or contradictory to the consumers’
beliefs.
Using Perceptual Defence
Ambiguity should be used in advertising when the product
is important to consumers but its benefits are not clear cut. Because consumers
are introducing beliefs that are consistent with their needs, the operating principle
is perceptual defence.
Using Perceptual Vigilance
Marketers should be explicit in their advertising if the
product’s benefits are clear-cut and if the product is targeted to a
well-defined segment. In such cases, the informational content of the
advertisement dominates and ambiguity is held to a minimum.
Selective Perception and The Internet
Because consumers do not like
conflict between what they know (beliefs) and what they see (perceptions), two
issues can arise in Internet Marketing;
- Potential conflict can occur between Offline and Online brand perceptions
- Conflict between brand purchase decisions and subsequent negative experiences resulting in dissonance.
Perceptual Organization
Being exposed to three to six
hundred commercials a day, the typical consumer uses some form of perceptual
organization of disparate and at times conflicting stimuli.
Perceptual Organization means that consumers group information from various
sources into a meaningful whole to comprehend it better and to act on it.
The basic principle of organization
is integration, which means that consumers perceive various stimuli as an
organized whole. Such an organization simplifies information processing and
provides an integrated meaning for the stimuli. These principles have been
derived from Gestalt psychology (German
roughly translated as total configuration) Hypothesis that people organizes
perceptions to form a complete picture of an object. E.g. the picture on a
television screen is a good example. In actuality, it is made up of thousands of
dots, but we integrate these dots into a cohesive whole so that there is little
difference between the picture on the screen and the real world.
Closure
refers to the perceiver’s tendency to fill in the missing elements when a
stimulus is incomplete. Consumers desire to form a complete picture, and they
derive a certain amount of satisfaction in completing a message on their own.
This principle operates when
consumers develop their own conclusions from immoderately ambiguous
advertisement.
Grouping
– Consumers are more likely to perceive a variety of information as chunks than
as separate units. Chunking, or grouping,
information permits consumers to evaluate one brand over another by using a
variety of attributes.
Principles
of grouping that
have emerged from Gestalt psychology are proximity, similarity and
continuity.
Context
Consumers tend to perceive an object by the context in which it is shown; therefore the setting of an
advertisement influences the perception of a product. The most important
principles of context is Figure and
Ground.
Gestalt Psychologist state that in
organizing stimuli into wholes, individuals distinguish stimuli that are prominent
(figure that is generally in the foreground) from stimuli that are less
prominent (those figure that is in the background).
Perceptual Interpretation
Once consumers select and organize
stimuli, they interpret them. Two basic principles help consumers interpret
marketing information.
- Tendency to place information into logical categories. Categorization helps consumers process known information quickly and efficiently. It also helps consumers classify new information.
- Inference – involves the development of an association between two stimuli. Example; Consumers might associate a high price with quality.
Perceptual
Categorization -Marketers
seek to facilitate the process of perceptual categorization. They want to make
sure consumers recognize a brand as part of a product class but do not want
their brand to be a direct duplicate of other brands.
Category
levels – E.g. when computers were first
introduced in the 1950s they were all in one category. By the 1970s, consumers
could distinguish between mainframes, microcomputers, and then later personal
computers (PC). By 1980s PCs could categorized into desktops, portables and
laptops. By 1990s laptops were further categorized as notebook and personal
assistants. Who knows what the future has in store for us?
Perceptual Inference – Consumers develop inferences
about brands, prices, stores and companies. These inferences are beliefs,
consumers form about objects from past associations. Example; Rolex watch (quality
and luxury).
Semiotics
is a field of study that examines
the role signs and symbols have in assigning meaning to objects. In marketing
context, semioticians see the symbols in packaging “as a kind of
culture/consumption dictionary; its entries are products and their definition
are cultural meanings.
Brand
Image – represent the overall perception
of the brand and are formed based on the inferences consumers make about the
brand, whether based on external stimuli or fantasies.
Store
Image – Consumers develop store images
based on advertising, merchandise in the store, opinion of friends and
relatives and shopping experiences.
Perceived Risk
One important component of
perceptual interpretation is perceived risks. The perception that a purchase
might be risky is an outcome of how consumers perceive the brand and the
purchasing process.
Factors
Associated with Perceived Risks
- Consumers are highly involved with the purchasing process.
- There is little information about the product category
- The product is new
- The product is technologically complex
- Consumers have little self-confidence in evaluating brands
- There are variations in quality among brands
- The price is high
- The purchase is important to consumers
Types of
Risk
Consumers may face several
different types of risk in purchasing decisions
- Financial Risk – Costs in relation to consumer’s disposable incomes
- Social Risk – Purchase may not meet the standards of an important reference group
- Psychological Risk – The loss of self esteem when consumers recognize an error
- Performance Risk – Associated with the possibility that the product will not work s anticipated or may fail.
- Physical Risk – The risk of bodily harm as a result of product performances e.g. faulty brake could lead to car crash.
- Internet Users also faces similar risks such as security of financial information, privacy, difficulty in navigation, late delivery or damage product etc.
Consumers
Strategies to Reduce Risk
The most direct means consumers use
to reduce risk is to engage in more extensive information processing to better
evaluate alternatives.
Other strategies to reduce risk are
to buy the lowest priced item or the smallest size. Another strategy is to
obtain warranty or guarantee on product – reduces the consequences of failure.
Marketer
Strategies to Reduce Risk
Marketers can reduce risk to consumers
by offering warranties, money back guarantees etc. or return policies on
defective merchandise.
Price Perceptions
- Price based on an advertisement
- Observation in the store
Price based on advertisement and observation in the store is not that simple due to the following reasons:
- Consumers have certain expectations about what prices are or should be.
- Consumers frequently associate price level with the product’s quality.
Consumers do not have just one
price point when they consider buying product. Generally they are willing to
accept a range of prices, known as acceptable
price range
Remember the perception of price to quality. Consumers are most likely to perceive a price-quality association when they do not have sufficient information about product quality. There may be other factors contributing to low price or high price of a particular product however, when there is insufficient information, quality perception normally take place in the mind of consumers.
Price is more likely a reflection of quality if consumers are confident with the product information, credibility and reliability.
Source: Henry Assael (2005) Consumer Behaviour A Strategic Approach (Biztantra)
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