Consumer Experience
Factors Influencing Experience, Involvement, and Satisfaction
The main factors that influence experience, involvement, and satisfaction with a product are personal, social, object and situational.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain the factors influencing the consumer experience, involvement and satisfaction
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- A person’s perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and values can substantially influence his or her experience and involvement with products.
- Personal or individual factors can also serve as strong influences, including gender, age, income level or social class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
- A consumer ‘s social network has a strong influence on the level of involvement with many products because individuals tend to rely on the opinions and advice of friends and family.
- Products that can easily conform to and enrich a consumer’s lifestyle tend to be consumed with more frequency and involvement.
- The degree of information that a consumer has about a product, including how well he or she can distinguish its characteristics, can also effect experience, involvement, and satisfaction.
- Other social influences can include opinion leaders and reference groups.
Key Terms
- Perception: The organization, identification and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment.
- culture: The arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation. The beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people’s way of life.
- reference group: A concept referring to a group to which an individual or another group is compared. It is the group to which the individual relates or aspires to relate himself or herself psychologically.
In general, four main factors influence a consumers’s experience, involvement, and satisfaction with a product:
- Personal
- Object
- Situational
- Social
Personal Factors: A person’s perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and values can substantially influence his or her experience and involvement with products. For example, certain cultures highly discourage women from exposing some of their body parts as part of their religious beliefs, which inevitably affects their consumption of clothing. Other examples of cultural influences include language, myths, customs, rituals, and laws. Consumers tend to be more involved with products that they believe can fill their own needs, which in turn are regarded as holding importance and relevance in their lives. Personal or individual factors can also serve as strong influences, including gender, age, income level or social class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Object Factors: The degree of information that a consumers have about a product, including how well they can distinguish its characteristics, can also effect their experience, involvement, and satisfaction. Typically, the higher a consumer’s product knowledge, the more involved with it he or she will be. Deeper knowledge about a product also translates into higher involvement because the consumer perceives it as more important, especially if some of that knowledge pertains to characteristics that hold personal meaning.
Situational Factors: Products that can easily conform to and enrich a consumer’s lifestyle tend to be consumed with more frequency and involvement. For example, a busy working mother might rely heavily on her smart phone to keep her organized and effective in an effortless manner.
Social Factors: Social influence can deeply affect consumer behavior, especially as related to the products they consider and consume. A consumer’s social network has a strong influence on the products he or she uses, since individuals tend to rely on the opinions and advice of friends and family. Other social influences can include opinion leaders and reference groups.
Marketing Changes Due to Involvement
A company should consider the level of involvement a consumer has with a product in order to guide its marketing strategy.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Examine the impact of customer involvement in consumer marketing and experience
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- In general, consumer involvement tends to be higher for products that are very expensive or are considered highly significant in the consumer’s life.
- Print advertising is considered high-involvement because newspapers and magazines provide information that can be processed clearly and can help shape attitudes and influence decisions.
- TV advertising is considered low-involvement because it presents information that is considered passive.
Key Terms
- consumer involvement: The level of interaction and regard that a consumer has with a given product.
Consumer involvement tends to vary dramatically depending on the type of product and its relationship to the consumer. In general, consumer involvement tends to be higher for products that are very expensive (e.g., a home, a car) or are considered highly significant in the consumer’s life (e.g., a newborn baby product).
Marketing strategy should take into account the level of involvement that a consumer has with a specific product, as this also dictates the type of information that the consumer needs to process in order to make a purchase decision.
The following levels of information processing are required, which can help dictate the marketing approach that should be used:
- Low-Involvement purchases tend to be made by habitual decisions (e.g., dish washing liquid, toothbrush). These require minimal information processing.
- Moderate-Involvement purchases tend to be made by simple decisions (e.g., orange juice, snacks). These often may require some evaluation of alternatives.
- High-Involvement purchases tend to be made by lengthy or more involved decisions (e.g., a car or a house). These are usually considered highly important to consumers and require extensive information processing.
Print advertising is considered high-involvement because newspapers and magazines provide information that can be processed clearly and can help shape attitudes and influence decisions. Television advertising is considered low-involvement because it presents information that is considered passive.
The four main types of buying behavior in consumer marketing depend on the level of consumer involvement:
High involvement & significant differences between brands (complex buying behavior):
- Example: Houses, kitchen renovation
- One-time sale
- Consumers need evaluation and pre-sale learning
- Selling activities are key
Low involvement & significant differences between brands (variety-seeking buying behavior):
- Example: Retail food stuff
- Consumers have added buying triggers
- Consumers want free samples, special deals
High involvement & few differences between brands (dissonance-reducing buying behavior):
- Example: Consumer electronics, top-line sport equipment
- Decision making is difficult both pre- and post-purchase
Low involvement & few differences between brands (habitual buying behavior):
- Example: Food, personal care products
- Brand familiarity and promotion with convenience is key
- Consumers look for price/sales promotions