COGNITIVE CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR MODELS
April 28, 2016

Consumer behaviour is “how buyers think and behave when making purchasing decisions.”
(Blythe 2005 p.45). Consumers can include people buying for themselves, their family or for
a business.

The cognitive approach model explains how certain organisms or variables can affect the
response, which is the outcome of the purchasing decision.

The cognitive consumer behaviour models can be broken down into two sections, analytical
and prescriptive. Prescriptive models can be used to provide a guideline to help structure the
behaviour and determine how consumer decisions can be predicted by the outcome of factors
such as attitude and beliefs.  Analytical models can be used to explain the behaviour of
consumers and shows the relationship between the influencing factors and the decision made
as they tend to follow the traditional five step classification of buyer behaviour: attaining
problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, and choice and outcome
evaluation as they key stages of the decision process. (Bray, 2008). The two main analytical
models are the Consumer Decision Model and the Theory of Buyer Behaviour and the most
common prescriptive models are the Theory of planned behaviour and the Theory of
Reasoned Action.
Analytical models are used to identify a huge range of factors and assess how these affect the
decision made by the consumer, because of the scope available these models are usually
referred to as the “grand models.” (Bray, 2008) By analysing the two analytical models, I
think that the advantages are that the processes are clear and they allow plenty of scope to
identify a wide range of factors that can influence purchasing decisions. The consumer
decision model also has a feedback option which could be useful for future searches. The
Buyer Behaviour model shows five various outputs which seems to be a more detailed
version of the response output shown in the Cognitive approach model, I believe this function
is helpful as it shows the different types of response which can lead to the purchase rather
than just stating there is an output. A disadvantage of the models could be that the way in
which people recognise a need in order to choose and purchase products has changed which
could affect the result given by following the process. For example, because of the celebrity
culture and social media, other people’s views on certain products may count for more than
they would have previously which ultimately affects the purchasing decision.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a theory of
persuasion or attitude change that proposes that people can
be persuaded in one of two ways.
What does elaboration mean in the context of the model? You can think of
elaboration as referring to how much conscious thought you put
into making a decision. If you elaborate on something, then it means you
are really thinking about it.
If you’re highly interested in a topic and have the ability to think about your
decision, then you will be likely to elaborate on your decision. In this case,
persuasion will occur using what the model calls central route processing.
You will examine and weigh up the information carefully before making
your decision.
Conversely, if the decision is less important to you or you have little time
available to think about it, you won’t invest much or any time elaborating on
your decision. In this case, persuasion will occur using what the model calls
peripheral route processing. You’ll be influenced by associating the
decision with positive or negative cues or by using cognitive cues.
Background
The elaboration likelihood model was developed by Richard E. Petty and
John Cacioppo in 1980. They noticed that previous persuasion theories
gave conflicting results and developed the model to explain better how
people are persuaded. They did this by proposing two routes of persuasion
that the results of previous studies can fall into.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

The diagram below outlines the elaboration likelihood model.
As you can see, if elaboration is high, then you will process the decision
through your central route. If elaboration is low, you’ll process the decision
through your peripheral route.

Likelihood of Elaboration
To determine which route to use, the model says that three factors
determine whether your elaboration is likely to be high. These are:
1. Motivation
If you have a high desire to process the message you’re receiving, then
your motivation will be high.
For example, imagine the government announced new tax reliefs for
recently married couples. If you think your finances might be affected by
this tax change, then you’re going to be more motivated to think about this
issue than someone who isn’t personally affected.
2. Ability
Even if we want to elaborate, it can be difficult if we don’t have the ability.
This can happen when, for example, you’re in a noisy environment, or
when you don’t have enough knowledge about a subject to be able to think
deeply about it.

3. Opportunity
Having the opportunity means you have the time available to receive the
message, process it, and then make your decision.

Routes
1. Central Route Processing
Central route processing happens when elaboration is higher. Using central
route processing, you’ll listen carefully to the message and evaluate the
pros and cons before making your decision.
Central route processing requires your conscious thought and critical
thinking. To be able to process in this way, you must be motivated, have
the ability, and the opportunity.
Through central route processing, you can form attitudes and even beliefs.
Views formed through central route processing tend to be long-lasting.
When you create an attitude or view in this way, you’re less likely to change
your mind about it later and more likely to behave in ways that match your
new position.
 2. Peripheral Route Processing
When one or more of motivation, ability, or opportunity is missing or low,
then you’re more likely to process information via the peripheral route.
Using the peripheral route you’re not consciously examining information,
and you’ll often make your decision based on:
 Positive or negative cues you’ve picked up.
 Rules of thumb.
 What you’ve seen others do.
In essence, you’re trying to decide without investing any real thinking time.
Peripheral route processing is essential because you simply don’t have
time to consider every decision you make carefully. By making the minor
decisions on auto-pilot using peripheral processing, you free up more time
to think about the more significant decisions you need to make.
Because you haven’t invested any real effort into the decision making
processes, you don’t cling to attitudes formed using this route as strongly
as you would if the central route had created those attitudes.
Note that the two routes are not binary options, we can use both at the
same time. Sometimes we might mostly use central route processing with a
little bit of peripheral route processing. Sometimes we might mostly use
Peripheral route processing with a little bit of central route processing. Both
exist on a sliding scale.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Example
Imagine that you are a marketing executive tasked with selling a new brand
of shampoo.
You decide to use the elaboration likelihood model to develop a marketing
campaign that uses both the central and peripheral processing routes.
First, you decide to create an ad targeting central route processors. People
who are considering a shampoo via the central route might be particularly
conscious of their image or whether there are any artificial ingredients
contained within the shampoo. To appeal to these people, you decide to
create a set of ads and online landing pages highlighting both the unique
formula of the shampoo, which makes your hair appear shiny, and its all-
natural ingredients.
 To target the peripheral processors, you do something different. You work
with celebrities and social media influencers to create a set of ads and
social media, showing these people enjoying and being satisfied with the
product. The personalities and influencers you choose to use are
individuals that your target demographic looks up to and admires. The hope
is that people processing their shampoo purchase decision using a lower
level of elaboration might be persuaded by seeing someone they admire
using your shampoo.

Advantages and
Disadvantages
There are several pros and cons associated with the elaboration likelihood
model.
Advantages
 The model gives you a framework by which you can assess how best
to persuade someone.
 It is possible to use both the central route and peripheral route
persuasion at the same time.
Disadvantages
 The model doesn’t state when to use a particular form of persuasion,
merely that the best model to use will be dependent on the elaboration
level of the message recipient.
 More of a criticism than a disadvantage, but the model is based on
the assumption that attitudes formed through central route processing will
be stronger and harder to alter. 
 When wishing to persuade a low elaborator, there is no indication of
what’s the best way to do this. Going back to our shampoo example,
seeing your favorite celebrity might nudge you towards buying, but perhaps
if you dislike the music in the ad it might nudge you away from buying.

Summary
The elaboration likelihood model is a theory of persuasion that explains that
you can motivate people via one of two processing routes. 
When elaboration is higher, people use central route processing requiring
conscious cognition. Conversely, when elaboration is lower, people use
peripheral route processing where they are influenced by rules of thumb
and what they have observed others doing.
Response Hierarchy Models
The Response Hierarchy Models explains the consumer responses and
behaviour to the advertising process. The Models provide a complete
understanding of the responses of a customer through all stages of his path
from unaware of the product to the purchase action.

The article throws light on the five main Models of Response Hierarchy that
explain the consumer behaviour across three awareness stages- Cognitive
Stage, Affective Stage and Behavioral Stage. The five Response Hierarchy
Models are as follows

 AIDA Model
 Hierarchy-of-Effects Model
 Innovation-Adoption Model
 Information Processing Model and
 Operational Model

1. AIDA MODEL
The phrase AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. The
AIDA model is used in advertising to define the stages that exist from the
time when the consumer first becomes aware of the product or the brand to
when the consumer purchases a product. The AIDA model is one of the
most established models amongst all the Response Hierarchy Models. The
organisations employ the AIDA Model to obtain the necessary response
from the targeted consumers through advertisements. This model can be
operated successfully to stimulate the different emotions of the customers.

 ATTENTION
This is the awareness stage of the model where the consumer becomes
aware of a brand or a product mostly through advertisements.

 INTEREST
This is the stage when the consumer shows some interest in the product
after understanding its benefits and learns how well the product actually
fits into his lifestyle.

 DESIRE
This is the third stage of the AIDA model when the consumer desires to
own the product. He develops a favourable disposition towards the product.

 ACTION
This is the final step of the model where the consumer finally takes
favorable to satiate his desire. In this stage, he takes a purchase decision
and buys the product that is being advertised.

In the AIDA model, the awareness of a brand or a product takes place in the
Cognitive stage, the potential consumers develop an interest and desire to
purchase the product in the Affective stage, and the purchase action
actually materializes in the last stage called the Behavior stage.
2. HIERARCHY-OF-EFFECTS MODEL
Hierarchy of effects model was designed by Robert J Lavidge and Gary A
Steiner in 1961. This advertising communication model describes that there
are 6 phases from the phase where the customer views the product to the
purchase phase. The job of an advertisement is to prompt the customer to
endure all the six stages of the Hierarchy-of-Effects Model, namely
the Awareness, Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Conviction, and Purchase.

 AWARENESS
This is the elementary stage of the model when the customer becomes
aware of the product or a brand. This is a very crucial step, as there is no
surety about the customer’s viewership or the awareness of the product.
Consumers may view various advertisements, but the chance of a customer
registering the advertisement in his mind depends upon the intensity and
the impact your advertisement made on the target consumers.

 KNOWLEDGE
The customer starts collecting the required information about the product
in this phase. He slowly tries to understand the benefits associated with the
product through the internet, retail advisors or through people who have
already used the product. Consumers may easily switch to the competitors
brand when they are unable to collect the required information. Therefore,
it is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure that the product
information is easily available.

 LIKING
This is a stage when the customer develops a liking for the product. Here
the advertiser’s responsibility is to highlight the product features to further
promote the brand or a product.

 PREFERENCE
This is the fourth phase of the Hierarchy-of-Effects Model. During this
phase, the customer is clear about the product qualifications and he is sure
about his brand choices. Here the advertisers need to constantly reinforce
the positive aspects of their brand.

 CONVICTION
In this stage, the customer would have made up his mind to buy the
product. The advertiser’s responsibility here is to guide the customers to
choose their brand.

 PURCHASE
This is the last stage of the hierarchy of effects model in which the actual
purchase of the product takes place.

In the Hierarchy-of-Effects model, the awareness and the knowledge

phases fall under the Cognitive stage. Evaluation of the customer liking,
preference, and conviction fall under the Affective stage and the actual
purchase behaviour takes place in the Behavioral stage.

3. INNOVATION-ADOPTION MODEL
Innovation-Adoption Model was developed by Rogers in 1995. He
postulated various stages in which a target customer sails through from the
stage of incognizance to purchase. The 5 stages of the Innovation-Adoption
Model are Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Trial, and Adoption. 
  AWARENESS
This is the primary stage of Innovation-Adoption Model. takes action is the
awareness stage of the model where the consumer becomes aware of a
brand or a product mostly through advertisements.

 INTEREST
This is the second phase of the Innovation-Adoption Model. This is a stage
in which the information about the brand or a product multiplies in the
market and triggers the interest of the potential buyers of the product to
gain more knowledge and information about the product.

 EVALUATION
Evaluation is the third stage of the Innovation-Adoption Model that
supplements the necessary information regarding the product to the
consumers. In this stage, the consumers evaluate and try to gain a deeper
understanding of the product that stimulated interest in them.

 TRIAL
In this stage, the customers try the product before making the final choice
to purchase the product.

 ADOPTION
Adoption is the final stage of the Innovation-Evaluation Model. In this
stage, the customer accepts the product, makes a purchase decision and
finally purchases the product.
In the Innovation-Evaluation Model, the Awareness happens at the
Cognitive Stage, developing an interest and evaluation phases fall under the
conviction phase, and the trial of the product and the actual adoption fall in
the Behavioral phase.

4. INFORMATION-PROCESSING MODEL
The Information-Processing Model is a structure used by cognitive
psychologists to define the mental processes. This model links the human
thought process to the computer functions. It signifies that the human
mind, like the computer takes in information, organizes, and stores the
information to be repossessed later. It claims that just like the computer
possesses an input device, a processing unit, a storage unit, and an output
device, the human mind also has a parallel framework. The Information-
Processing Model comprises of 6 stages namely
the Presentation, Attention, Comprehension, Yielding, Retention and
the Behavioral stage.
 PRESENTATION
The presentation is the fundamental stage in the Information-Processing
Model. This is the awareness phase where the consumer becomes aware of
his needs and seeks a product to satiate his needs.

 ATTENTION
This is the second stage of the Information-Processing Model, where the
product seizes the attention of the potential customers.

 COMPREHENSION
In this stage of the Information-Processing Model, the consumer compares
and evaluates various products of different brands accessible in the market
to ascertain the product that actually meets his requirement.

 YIELDING
This is a stage in which the customer figures out what exactly he wants and
the brand and its product that balances his needs to its specifications.

 RETENTION
This is the fifth stage in the Information-Processing Model. This is the stage
in which the customer remembers the key features and attributes, the
benefits and all the positive aspects of the products that he is seeking to
purchase.

 BEHAVIOR
This is the last stage of the Information-Processing Model in which the
purchase action of a product of a particular band takes place.
In the Information-Processing Model, the Presentation, Attention and
Comprehension take place in the Cognitive stage, Yielding and Retention of
information fall under the Affective stage, and the final Behavioral action
takes place in the Behavioral stage.

5. OPERATIONAL MODEL
Operational Model is a strategic framework that works by three activities
namely the Non-Evaluative Thinking, Evaluative Thinking, and Action.
 NON-EVALUATIVE THINKING
This is the first stage of the Operational Model. In this stage, the consumers
are exposed to the different brands and the multiple products that they
offer. This is the awareness stage which creates awareness among the
potential consumers.

 EVALUATIVE THINKING
Evaluative thinking is the second stage of the operational model. This is an
evaluation phase wherein the potential customers evaluate different
products and juggle the same with similar products of various brands to
make that one choice amongst the various alternatives available.

 ACTION
The action is the last stage in the Operational Model. This is a stage wherein
a consumer makes the final purchase decision and purchases the product.

In the Operational Model, Non-Evaluative thinking takes place in the

Cognitive Stage, Evaluative Thinking falls under the Affective Stage, and
the Action falls under the Behavioral Stage.

Nonetheless, we can conclude that irrespective of the type, character or the

description of the models, the first stage of all of the above models is the
awareness phase, followed by comprehension. Unless awareness is created
and comprehension is developed, the message cannot be reinforced.
Thorough understanding of these effects in relation to developing a
strategic framework is crucial!

Moreover, what is the advertising model?

An advertising model is the strategic use of an advertising medium, with the goal

of reaching a specific target audience. Understanding the target market helps to
create an effective message and helps to determine the
appropriate advertising medium.

what is subscription model in e commerce? The eCommerce subscription

model is a business model in which a company provides ongoing services on a
regular basis in exchange for regular payments from the customer.
People also ask, what is e commerce advertising?

An advertisement in e-commerce, also known as online advertisement and

internet advertisement is a paid message on a Web site, online services or rather
interactive medium, such as instant messaging). There are numbers of difeerent
forms of online advertisement: Display ads, banner ads, Rich media ads.

What is advertising revenue model?

An advertising-supported revenue model is a business approach that emphasizes

the sale of advertising as a major source of revenue. Media businesses generally
earn revenue from advertising, customer subscriptions or a combination of the two.

SERVQUAL is a method to identify and solve problems related to quality of services. It

was presented by A. Parasuraman, V. Zeithaml and L. Berry in 1988. The main idea is
based on 5 gaps, which result in lower than expected quality of services. The method
was one of the first tools created to evaluate and improve quality of services. Therefore,
is became popular very soon.

There is a number of critique articles in literature. They point that the model doesn't take
into account some important research results related to services. The result of the
critique was SERVPERF method, which was statistically validated and simper to use,
however it didn't became so popular.

SERVQUAL model
The SERVQUAL model is presented on fig. 1. The upper side of the model is related
to consumer, while the lower part - to enterprise. The consumer expects certain quality
of the service based on:

 word of mouth,
 personal needs and
 past experience.

The enterprise delivers the service, which is perceived by the consumer. If the perceived
quality is not lower than expected quality, the overall assessment is positive. In other
case - it is negative. This however doesn't take into account prejudice, bad mood, bad
day, etc., which was one of objections raised by SERVQUAL critiques.
The SERVQUAL model

Gaps

Gap 5. Expected vs. perceived service

No, we can count to five. We start with the gap 5, because it focuses all others gaps. It is
the only gap that doesn't include enterprise. But if the managers and employees are able
to close other four gaps, this one should be closed automatically.

Gap 1. Expected service vs. management perception

The company managers should know what customer expects. The organization should
perform market research, focus groups, etc. to understand the customer. If this fails, the
first gap opens.

Gap 2. Management perception vs. Service design

Even if we know what are the customer expectations, we might have no competences or
resources to fulfil them. In that case the gap 2 opens. The knowledge is not enough, it
has to be translated into process of service delivery. This gap can be compared
to designed quality in case of tangible products.

Gap 3. Service design vs. Service delivery

This gap is related to non-conformities that occur during the service delivery. In case of
tangible product it is enough if it conforms the specification. In case of services there is
much more: even smile or lack of it can have impact on perceived quality. Every problem
encountered by customer (before, during or after the service delivery) can increase this
gap.

Gap 4. Service delivery vs. Communication

This gap can occur in two cases:

1. The company promised more than it is able to deliver.

2. The company delivers good service, but cannot communicate this.

The first case is obvious. The second can happen if the service delivery is not so
obvious to the customer and requires some faith that this was a good service. E.g. a visit
to the dentist. If the dentist is sure of what he/she is doing, the customer is convinced
that the service was good. The real quality of the service doesn't matter so much in that
moment (it will be important later, if the tooth start to ache again).

SERVQUAL questionnaire
In order to use SERVQUAL, the questionnaire is required. The questionnaire contains
44 statements which are related to 5 dimensions (called RATER):

 Tangibles (statements 1-4)

 Reliability (statements 5-9)
 Responsiveness (statements 10-13)
 Assurance (statements 14-17)
 Empathy (statements 18-22)

Each of statements is evaluated in 7-step Likert scale.

Fig.2. Example of SERVQUAL in hospitality services

Part 1. Expectations
1. Excellent companies will have modern looking equipment.
2. The physical facilities at excellent banks will be visually appealing.
3. Employees at excellent banks will be neat in their appearance.
4. Materials associated with the service (pamphlets or statements) will be visually
appealing at an excellent bank.
5. When excellent banks promise to do something by a certain time, they do.
6. When a customer has a problem, excellent banks will show a sincere interest in
solving it.
7. Excellent banks will perform the service right the first time.
8. Excellent banks will provide the service at the time they promise to do so.
9. Excellent banks will insist on error free records.
10. Employees of excellent banks will tell customers exactly when services will be
performed.
11. Employees of excellent banks will give prompt service to customers.
12. Employees of excellent banks will always be willing to help customers.
13. Employees of excellent banks will never be too busy to respond to customers'
requests.
14. The behaviour of employees in excellent banks will instil confidence in customers
15. Customers of excellent banks will feel safe in transactions.
16. Employees of excellent banks will be consistently courteous with customers.
17. Employees of excellent banks will have the knowledge to answer customers'
questions.
18. Excellent banks will give customers individual attention.
19. Excellent banks will have operating hours convenient to all their customers.
20. Excellent banks will have employees who give customers personal service.
21. Excellent banks will have their customers' best interest at heart.
22. The employees of excellent banks will understand the specific needs of their
customers.

Part 2. Perceptions
1. The organization has modern looking equipment.
2. The organization's physical features are visually appealing.
3. The organization's reception desk employees are neat appearing.
4. Materials associated with the service (such as pamphlets or statements) are
visually appealing at the organization.
5. When the organization promises to do something by a certain time, it does so.
6. When you have a problem, the organization shows a sincere interest in solving it.
7. The organization performs the service right the first time.
8. The organization provides its service at the time it promises to do so.
9. The organization insists on error free records.
10. Employees in the organization tell you exactly when the services will be
performed.
11. Employees in the organization give you prompt service.
12. Employees in the organization are always willing to help you.
13. Employees in the organization are never too busy to respond to your request.
14. The behaviour of employees in the organization instils confidence in you.
15. You feel safe in your transactions with the organization.
 16. Employees in the organization are consistently courteous with you.
17. Employees in the organization have the knowledge to answer your questions.
18. The organization gives you individual attention.
19. The organization has operating hours convenient to all its customers.
20. The organization has employees who give you personal attention.
21. The organization has your best interests at heart.
22. The employees of the organization understand your specific needs.

Evaluation of the questionnaire

Each statement from part 1 should be compared with the statement from part 2. They
describe expectations and perception.

Dimensio Expectation Perception Gap Average for the

Statement
n score score score dimension

...

Scores are summed up and weighted. The weights are chosen based on expert
assessment of top management.

Dimensio
Score Weight Weighted score
n

...

Average weighted score

References
 Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). Servqual. Journal of
retailing, 64(1), 12-40.
 Parasuraman, A., Berry, L. L., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1991). Refinement and
reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale. Journal of retailing, 67(4), 420.
 Cronin Jr, J. J., & Taylor, S. A. (1994). SERVPERF versus SERVQUAL:
reconciling performance-based and perceptions-minus-expectations measurement
of service quality. The Journal of Marketing, 125-131.
 Buttle, F. (1996). SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda. European
Journal of marketing, 30(1), 8-32.
 Author: Slawomir Wawak

by Cory Schmidt – Head of Marketing | Canto

August 19, 2020

Brand resonance is like the very top of a skyscraper – a towering building

high in the sky. You can’t expect to reach it by jumping or climbing up a
small ladder.

Instead, it takes incremental steps, generally beginning with entering a

building then working your way up many flights of stairs. Only then can you
reach the top of a skyscraper.

Achieving brand resonance without some legwork is like jumping as high as

you can into the air hoping to reach the top of the skyscraper.

Luckily, just like with climbing a tall building, there are some well-known
steps listed in a model to reach resonance.

In this article, I’ll provide you with these steps, making it clear and simple to
achieve brand resonance.
What Is Brand Resonance?
Brand resonance is how well a customer relates to a branded element,
such as a retail product. It is how someone perceives a brand and their
values or goals. Brand resonance models are used to help build
relationships with customers.

Now that you know what brand resonance is, it’s time to learn how to
achieve it. This is where we introduce the Keller Model.

The Keller Model is widely observed, and lists the following steps on its
pyramid structure:

 Salience
 Performance
 Imagery
 Judgments
 Feelings
 Resonance

I will break each one down in detail, but for now just understand that each
offer guidance into what goes into each branding stage in order to reach
resonance.

What Is the Purpose of a Brand Resonance Model?

“It has been said that 80% of what people learn is visual.” – Allen Klein.

A brand resonance model details each necessary branding step required in

order to reach resonance.

It offers a way for branding planning to take an illustrative effect, giving

visual directions to reach important goals.
Unlike a linear model, which might suit other goals, a pyramid is best for
brand resonance, as the quest isn’t linear and involves steps that involve
different development procedures.

By having a visual structure, a brand can aim to achieve different branding

objectives for their own unique products and services. I will provide a
detailed example a bit later, but first I’ll break down each quadrant of the
resonance pyramid.

The Brand Resonance Model Explained in Detail

Understanding a brand resonance model is simple. In fact, you probably
already know a lot about some of the steps.

There are four levels and six quadrants. The four levels essentially define a
brand using these questions (from bottom – 1st rung of pyramid – to top):

1. Who are you? (Identity)

2. What are you? (Meaning)
3. What about you? (Response)
4. What about you and me? (Relationships)
These questions work brands through each stage of development. Tied to
these stages is an objective aimed to help complete the task at hand. They
are as follows:

1. Brand awareness
2. Differentiation
3. Emotional reactions
4. Loyalty

Let’s get started.

There’s no reason to overcomplicate the process – simply move from the

bottom of the illustration to the top.
As we mentioned before, the model isn’t linear. However, there is some
semblance of order that needs to be followed, beginning with the bottom
level, ‘salience’ (noticeable, clear, identifiable).

Salience

What Is It?
As you can see above, ‘salience’ fills up the bottom rung of the pyramid.
Salience is simply referring to how transparent a brand is to a customer.
Brand salience deals with how knowledgeable a customer is about a
branded product or service.

Similarly, each time a customer decides to make a purchase from a brand,

salience is how clearly they can recall different factors such as values.

How to Achieve It
The main thing to consider when fulfilling this stage of the resonance
pyramid is brand awareness.

If you recall, this is the ‘who are you?’ stage of the model, and nothing
answers that question better than strong brand awareness.

Brand awareness is, basically, how well a customer is able to identify

particular traits of a specific brand, such as their unique qualities.

To increase your brand awareness, and thus answer the ‘who are you’
salience stage of the resonance model:

 Define your brand in detail

 Maintain steady focus on content
 Get creative with communication

The more you build brand awareness, the better you’ll answer the ‘who are
you?’ question, which ultimately is the key to reaching salience.
Performance

What Is It?
The ‘performance’ section is one of the two quadrants on the second rung
of the pyramid. On a foundational level, performance in this case refers to
how well a brand meets customer needs.

It is a measurement of efficiency, involving the products or services and

how well they are helping customers overcome problems.

How to Achieve It
The ‘performance’ quadrant is on the second rung of the pyramid, which
means it is in the ‘what are you?’ stage of the model.
Focus on performance when possible.

One of the most powerful ways to measure performance and efficiency is

through differentiation, which gives us a reference point between a brand
and its competitors.

In order to meet the objectives of the ‘performance’ stage, build brand

differentiation by doing the following:

 Creating memorable experiences

 Displaying positive brand values
 Telling important brand stories
 Building brand personas

Creating differentiation helps answer the ‘what are you?’ stage, but
remember that performance is only one of the quadrants of this stage. The
other is imagery.
Imagery

What Is It?
Imagery is on the second rung of the pyramid, sharing this rung with
‘performance’ and part of the ‘what are you?’ stage.

Imagery, in this model, refers to how the customer perceives a brand.

How to Achieve It
Don’t confuse imagery with things like logos and fonts, though these may
be a part of it. Instead, consider imagery to be more about customer
perception and brand image.

Brand image deals with the types of feelings a customer has about a brand.
In order to create a positive brand image, you’ll need to do the following:

 Learn more about your audience

 Use fitting visual elements
 Measure your personas to see if they relay the right message

With a strong brand image, you’ll move on to the next stage, ‘judgments’.
Judgments

What Is It?
‘Judgments’ is on the third rung of the resonance pyramid, which is split
between two different quadrants (the other being ‘feelings’).

Judgments in this respect refers to a group of thoughts and decisions a

customer makes concerning a brand’s product or service.

Judgments refer to how customers feel about a product’s quality and ability
to outperform other brand’s products.

How to Achieve It
As ‘judgments’ appears on the third rung, it is part of the ‘what about you?’
stage of the resonance model.

In order to influence customers to hold positive judgments about your

brand, determine new and unique ways to improve the performance and
quality of your products.

The other half of this rung comes from the ‘feelings’ quadrant.
Feelings

What Is It?
‘Feelings’ shares the third rung with the ‘judgments’ quadrant, making it a
part of the ‘what about you?’ stage of the model.

Feelings, at least in this regard, means the amount of attachment

customers have towards a brand.

How to Achieve It
There are many ways to fuel customer emotions through your branding,
though one method seems to stand out – brand experience.

Offering strong brand experiences builds relationships, memories and

positive emotions. Here’s how to make sure your brand offers effective
experiences:

 Target different human senses

 Personalize the experience
 Create emotional content

After working through the first three rungs, you’ll finally come to the
resonance stage.
Resonance

What Is It?
The resonance stage is the absolute top of the pyramid. Each quadrant
below has built toward this: a solid relationship between brand and
customer.

How to Achieve It
As we’ve already shown, working through the bottom stages of the pyramid
build toward resonance. In order to maintain it, however, focus on the
things that sustain it.

For example, brand loyalty is a common result of reaching brand

resonance. In order to maintain customer loyalty, do the following:

 Focus on customer support

 Enhance your customer service
 Offer rewards programs
 Adapt to consumer trends

Closing Thoughts
A resonance model helps brands pinpoint their current location, making it
clear what they need to do next to move up the ‘rungs’.

Once you become aware of a stage and the branding objectives required,
the rest of the process is easy.
If you want to learn more about the branding process, check out our
comprehensive branding guide.

Definition: The Brand Resonance refers to the relationship that a

consumer has with the product and how well he can relate to it.

Definition: The Brand Resonance refers to the relationship that a consumer has with the product and
how well he can relate to it.

The brand resonance begins with:

Brand Identification: The first and foremost step, is to ensure the brand identification with the
customers, i.e. creates awareness about the product and establish an association in the minds of
customers with respect to its usage and the segment for which it exists.

Brand Establishment: To create a full meaning of the product in the minds of customers, so that they
start remembering it.

Eliciting Response: Once the association is built with the customers, the next step is to elicit the
responses, i.e. what customers feel about the brand?

Relationship: The next and final step is to convert the responses into building the customer’s strong
relationship with the brand.

In order to accomplish these four pre-requisites for creating the brand equity, the Six brand building
blocks need to be followed that are arranged in a pyramid-like structure called as Brand Resonance
Pyramid.

Brand Resonance Pyramid

brand resonance pyramid-final

Brand Salience: The brand salience means, how well the customer is informed about the product
and how often it is evoked under the purchase situations?

The marketer should not only focus on just creating the awareness about the product but also
includes the ease with which the customers can remember the brand and the ability to recall it
under the different purchase situations.

Brand Performance: The Brand performance means, how well the functional needs of customers are
met?

At this level of the pyramid, the marketers check the way in which product is performing and how
efficiently it is fulfilling the needs of the customers.

Brand Imagery: The Brand Imagery means, what product image the customer create in their minds?

This aspect deals with the customer’s psychology or the feelings that how they relate to the product
in terms of their social needs.

Brand Judgements: The Brand Judgement means, What customer decides with respect to the
product?

The customers make the judgment about the product by consolidating his several performances and
the imagery associations with the brand. On the basis of these, the final judgment is made about the
product in terms of its Perceived Quality, Credibility, Consideration, and Superiority.

Brand Feelings: The Brand feelings means, what customers feel, for the product or how the
customer is emotionally attached to the product?

The consumer can develop emotions towards the brand in terms of fun, security, self-respect, social
approval, etc.

Brand Resonance: The Brand Resonance means, what psychological bond, the customer has created
with the brand?

This is the ultimate level of the pyramid, where every company tries to reach. Here the focus is on
building the strong relationship with the customer thereby ensuring the repeated purchases and
creating the brand loyalty.
The resonance is the intensity of customer’s psychological connection with the brand and the
randomness to recall the brand in different consumption situations.

Overview
Keller's Brand Equity Model is also known as the Customer-Based Brand
Equity (CBBE) Model. Kevin Lane Keller, a marketing professor at the Tuck
School of Business at Dartmouth College, developed the model and
published it in his widely used textbook, "Strategic Brand Management."
The concept behind the Brand Equity Model is simple: in order to build a
strong brand, you must shape how customers think and feel about your
product. You have to build the right type of experiences around your brand,
so that customers have specific, positive thoughts, feelings, beliefs,
opinions, and perceptions about it.
When you have strong brand equity, your customers will buy more from
you, they'll recommend you to other people, they're more loyal, and you're
less likely to lose them to competitors.

The model, seen in figure 1, illustrates the four steps that you need to
follow to build strong brand equity.

Figure 1 – Keller's Brand Equity Model

KELLER, KEVIN, STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT: GLOBAL

EDITION, 4th, © 1901. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., New
York, New York.

The four steps of the pyramid represent four fundamental questions that
your customers will ask – often subconsciously – about your brand.

The four steps contain six building blocks that must be in place for you to
reach the top of the pyramid, and to develop a successful brand.

Applying the Model

Let's look at each step and building block in detail, and discuss how you
can apply the framework and strengthen your brand.

Step 1: Brand Identity – Who Are You?

In this first step, your goal is to create "brand salience," or awareness – in
other words, you need to make sure that your brand stands out, and that
customers recognize it and are aware of it.
You're not just creating brand identity and awareness here; you're also
trying to ensure that brand perceptions are "correct" at key stages of the
buying process.

Application
To begin, you first need to know who your customers are. Research your
market to gain a thorough understanding of how your customers see your
brand, and explore whether there are different market segments  with
different needs and different relationships with your brand.
Next, identify how your customers narrow down their choices and decide
between your brand and your competitors' brands. What decision-making
processes do your customers go through when they choose your product?
How are they classifying your product or brand? And, when you follow their
decision making process, how well does your brand stand out at key stages
of this process?

You are able to sell your product because it satisfies a particular set of your
customers' needs; this is your unique selling proposition , or USP. You
should already be familiar with these needs, but it's important to
communicate to your customers how your brand fulfills these. Do your
clients understand these USPs when they're making their buying
decisions?
By the end of this step, you should understand whether your clients
perceive your brand as you want them to, or whether there are specific
perceptual problems that you need to address – either by adjusting your
product or service, or by adjusting the way that you communicate your
message. Identify the actions that you need to take as a result.

Step 2: Brand Meaning – What Are You?

Your goal in step two is to identify and communicate what your brand
means, and what it stands for. The two building blocks in this step are:
"performance" and "imagery."

"Performance" defines how well your product meets your customers'

needs. According to the model, performance consists of five categories:
primary characteristics and features; product reliability, durability, and
serviceability; service effectiveness, efficiency, and empathy; style and
design; and price.

"Imagery" refers to how well your brand meets your customers' needs on a
social and psychological level. Your brand can meet these needs directly,
from a customer's own experiences with a product; or indirectly, with
targeted marketing, or with word of mouth.

A good example of brand meaning is Patagonia®. Patagonia makes high-

quality outdoor clothing and equipment, much of which is made from
recycled materials.

Patagonia’s brand performance demonstrates its reliability and durability;

people know that their products are well designed and stylish, and that they
won't let them down. Patagonia’s brand imagery is enhanced by its
commitment to several environmental programs and social causes; and its
strong “reduce, reuse, recycle” values make customers feel good about
purchasing products from an organization with an environmental
conscience.

Application
The experiences that your customers have with your brand come as a
direct result of your product's performance. Your product must meet, and,
ideally, exceed their expectations if you want to build loyalty. Use
the Critical to Quality Tree  and Kano Model Analysis  models to identify
your customers' needs, and then explore how you can translate these
needs into a high-quality product.
Next, think carefully about the type of experience that you want your
customers to have with your product. Take both performance and imagery
into account, and create a "brand personality." Again, identify
any gaps  between where you are now and where you want to be, and look
at how you can bridge these.

Step 3: Brand Response – What Do I Think, or Feel,

About You?
Your customers' responses to your brand fall into two categories:
"judgments" and "feelings." These are the two building blocks in this step.

Your customers constantly make judgments about your brand and these
fall into four key categories:

 Quality: Customers judge a product or brand based on its actual and

perceived quality.
 Credibility: Customers judge credibility using three dimensions –
expertise (which includes innovation), trustworthiness, and likability.
 Consideration: Customers judge how relevant your product is to their
unique needs.
 Superiority: Customers assess how superior your brand is, compared
with your competitors' brands.
Customers also respond to your brand according to how it makes them
feel. Your brand can evoke feelings directly, but they also respond
emotionally to how a brand makes them feel about themselves. According
to the model, there are six positive brand feelings: warmth, fun, excitement,
security, social approval, and self-respect.

Application
First, examine the four categories of judgments listed above. Consider the
following questions carefully in relation to these:

 What can you do to improve the actual and perceived quality of your
product or brand?
 How can you enhance your brand's credibility?
 How well does your marketing strategy communicate your brand's
relevancy to people's needs?
 How does your product or brand compare with those of your
competitors?
Next, think carefully about the six brand feelings listed above. Which, if any,
of these feelings does your current marketing strategy focus on? What can
you do to enhance these feelings for your customers?

Identify actions that you need to take as a result of asking these questions.

Step 4: Brand Resonance – How Much of a

Connection Would I Like to Have With You?
Brand "resonance" sits at the top of the brand equity pyramid because it's
the most difficult – and the most desirable – level to reach. You have
achieved brand resonance when your customers feel a deep, psychological
bond with your brand.
Keller breaks resonance down into four categories:

 Behavioral loyalty: This includes regular, repeat purchases.

 Attitudinal attachment: Your customers love your brand or your
product, and they see it as a special purchase.
 Sense of community: Your customers feel a sense of community with
people associated with the brand, including other consumers and
company representatives.
 Active engagement: This is the strongest example of brand loyalty.
Customers are actively engaged with your brand, even when they are
not purchasing it or consuming it. This could include joining a club
related to the brand; participating in online chats, marketing rallies, or
events; following your brand on social media; or taking part in other,
outside activities.

Application
Your goal in the last stage of the pyramid is to strengthen each resonance
category.

For example, what can you do to encourage behavioral loyalty? Consider

gifts with purchase, or customer loyalty programs.

Ask yourself what you can do to reward customers who are champions of
your brand. What events could you plan and host to increase customer
involvement with your brand or product? List the actions that you could
take.

Example
Julie has recently been put in charge of a project to turn around an under-
performing product. The product is a high quality, fair trade, organic tea, but
it's never achieved the sales and customer loyalty that the organization
expected. Julie decides to use the brand equity pyramid to think about the
turnaround effort.

Step 1: Brand Identity

Julie's target customers are mid to high income, socially conscious women.
After careful analysis, she knows that she is marketing in the correct
category, but she realizes that her marketing efforts aren't fully addressing
customer needs. She decides to change the message from "healthy,
delicious tea," to "delicious tea, with a conscience," which is more relevant
and meaningful to her target market.

Step 2: Brand Meaning

Next, Julie examines the product's meaning, and looks at how the company
communicates that meaning to its customers.

The performance of the tea is already moderately high; it's a single-source,

fair trade tea of a higher quality than the competition's product. After
assessing the organization's service effectiveness, Julie is disappointed to
find that many of her representatives lack empathy with customers who
complain. So, she puts everyone through a comprehensive customer
service class to improve responses to customer complaints and feedback.

Last, Julie decides to post to the company's website personal stories from
the fair trade farmers who grow and pick the tea. By doing this, she aims to
educate customers on how beneficial this practice is for people around the
world.

Step 3: Brand Response

After going over the four brand response judgments, Julie realizes that
perceived quality might be an issue. The tea itself is high quality, but the
pack size is smaller than the ones her competitors use. Julie doesn't want
to lower the price, as this might affect how customers assess quality, so
she decides to offer more tea in each box in order to surpass customer
expectations.

She also decides to enhance the tea's credibility by becoming fair trade
certified through an independent third-party organization.

Step 4: Brand Resonance

Julie knows that her target customers care deeply about fair trade. She
decides to promote the organization's efforts by participating in a number of
fair trade events around the country.
She also sets up a social networking framework to involve customers in the
organization's fair trade efforts, and she creates a forum on the company
website where customers can discuss issues surrounding fair trade. She
also commits to championing the efforts of other fair trade organizations.

Key Points
Keller's Brand Equity model is also known as the Customer-Based Brand
Equity (CBBE) Model. Kevin Lane Keller developed the model and
published it in his widely used textbook, "Strategic Brand Management."

Within a pyramid, the model highlights four key levels that you can work
through to create a successful brand. These four levels are:

1. Brand identity.
2. Brand meaning.
3. Brand responses.
4. Brand relationships.
Within these four levels are six building blocks that further help with
brand development. These six building blocks are salience, performance,
imagery, judgments, feelings, and resonance.
What is Brand Equity Model?

Brand equity is nothing but the value of a brand. But the concept of attaching a
value to a brand is very interesting and has a deeper meaning to it. In general
terms, good brand equity is believed to give better pricing and thereby a better
revenue to a company. But there are numerous ways in which the brand value is
calculated. Numerous ways and extensive studies have been conducted to
understand the concept of brand value.
Based on numerous research studies, it has been established that the brand is one of
the most important intangible assets of a company which helps to improve the
financial performance of a company. Out of many different types of research and
tools developed, the Brand equity model is a significant one.
Based on the various brand equity models, it is evident that brand equity is
controlled by different components such as quality, performance, brand awareness,
and loyalty.
Brand equity models are designed to establish the way in which brand value is
created for a brand. Each of the brand equity models offers a deep insight into the
brand value concept and the ways to evaluate it.
Brand equity models are used to design marketing strategies at various stages.
Some of the significant actions that can be taken by using these brand equity
models are to improve the perception of a product, to get more loyal customers, to
get a competitive edge, etc.
Types of Brand Equity Models
1. Aaker Model 
David Aaker has defined brand equity in his Aaker Model. He defines brand equity
as a group of assets and liabilities that can be directly associated with the brand and
that which adds value to the product.
Aaker model consists of 5 components:

Brand Loyalty
This explains the level of loyalty that a customer shows towards a brand
Brand Awareness
This is the extent to which the brand is popular in the market
Perceived Quality
The image of a product and its quality in the eyes of the customers
Brand Associations
The level of recognition that a brand has in its product category
Proprietary Assets
The number of patents, intellectual property rights, trademarks, etc. that a brand
owns.
These components of the Aaker model help to influence the customer’s choice. A
customer will be willing to associate with a brand that offers higher quality and
satisfaction.
2. Keller’s Model 
Kevin Keller has made a signification contribution to the branding theory and has
rolled out the concept of customer-based brand equity. Keller defines brand as an
effect that emerges out of a favorable association with a brand.
Keller’s model seeks to get answers to 4 questions:
Who are you?
The first step is to create awareness about the brand and build a strong identity.
When people have not heard or seen a product, it is difficult to sell the product.
It is important to know your customers and what they expect from a brand. When
you start building a brand identity, it becomes easier to catch the attention of the
consumers.
You should ensure that your brand stands out, and customers are aware of your
brand can recognize your brand.
What are you?
The next step is to communicate to the users about what your brand means and
what does it do. You should explain the performance of your product, which means
that your brand should be reliable, should offer good service, it should be durable,
should have service effectiveness, good style, and design and reasonable price.
It is important to explain how your brand is able to meet the needs of the customers
and connect with them on a social and psychological level. This can be done using
a variety of marketing strategies such as direct promotion, by sharing customer
experiences or by using social proof.
What do I think about you?
In this stage, the brand response is obtained. The brand response can be either a
feeling or a judgment about a product. Consumers always have a feeling or
judgment about a product.
When a product meets the expectations of users, it evokes a positive feeling about
your brand. A product has to be attractive, satisfy the needs of the consumers, and
should be unique when compared to the competitor products.
What is the association with you?
In this step, the relationship between the brand and the customer is strengthened.
The brand response that came from the earlier stage is now converted into an
intense and emotional bond between the brand and the customer. This is the final
stage and the most difficult to achieve.
When the customer is in a good relationship with the brand, they often make
repeated purchases and become loyal customers.
These steps in Keller’s brand equity model provides direction to build and measure
brand equity.
3. Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) Model 
BAV is a brand equity model that gives the brand equity value of many brands and helps to compare brand
equity across many brands.
As per the BAV model, collecting consumer insights will help to improve brand
health and the future of a brand.
The four key components of brand equity are:

Differentiation
This is the extent to which the brand is different from another brand. A brand
should be unique and stand apart from its competitors.
Relevance
This is a measure of how relevant your brand is for consumers. It is important to
know if your brand is relevant to consumers in terms of its cost, needs, and
convenience.
Esteem
This is a measure of how well a brand is perceived and respected for its quality and
performance. This depicts the response of the consumers to the growing popularity
of the brand or the decline of the brand.
Knowledge
This measures the level of understanding of the consumers relating to identifying
the brand. Knowledge can be built by brand building exercise.
The BAV model tries to ascertain how the differentiation, relevance, esteem, and
knowledge are related to each other for the determination of the brand strength.
4. Brandz Model
Brandz model was developed by the marketing research consultants, Millward
Brown and WPP.  BRANDZ is a tool the is used to diagnose and predict brand
equity. In this model, data is collected with the help of interviews and publicly
available data. Consumers of different brands are asked questions about the brand
that they know.
This model is developed based on five steps that are in sequential order.  Each of
the steps in this model is a continuity of the previous steps and should be
conducted in the same order.

Presence
Do I know about it?
This is a stage of building familiarity with the product based on past trials and brand promise.
Relevance 
Does it offer me something?
Once people know about a product, the next step is the question about relevance. Does the product offer
what they want? Is the product relevant to consumer needs?
Performance
Can it deliver?
When the product is found to be relevant to consumers, the next step is to check if the product delivers
what it promises. Is the product performance as expected or as promised?
Advantages
Does it offer something better than others?
Once the product is known to deliver what it has promised, the next step is to
check if the product has any special bonding or preference over all the other similar
products in the market.
Bonding
Nothing else beats it.
This is the last step where the product has proved to be excellent and has built a
strong bond with the user. This will eliminate all other competing products as the
customer is now emotionally and psychologically bonded with the product and is
not ready to compromise with any other product.
Importance of Brand Equity Models
With the evolving marketing strategies, the most common factor was that customers became the center of
all strategies. Companies soon realized that the customer is the king, and they can flourish only when the
customer is happy. The customer can be made happy by offering unique and quality products that in turn,
build a strong brand. When customers are able to identify the brand, they start connections and slowly
build a strong bond with better performing products. All this comes under brand building exercise, which
ultimately increases brand equity for the company. 
Brand equity models have been designed and prepared by various researchers to
study and understand consumer behavior. Brand equity models have proved to be a
tool that helps in diagnosis and to predict the strength of a brand.  
In today’s world of the internet, there is a huge amount of data that is available
about consumers. But not many know how to convert the data into information that
can be used to understand consumers and their needs. The brand equity model
helps to know the most important components of consumer behavior and also helps
to eliminate the unnecessary noise from the data.  
Ultimately the focus of every brand equity model is to increase the brand equity of
an organization.