Consumer learning

Consumer learning
• The process by which individuals acquire the purchase and
consumption knowledge and experience they apply to future,
related behaviour. (Schiffman)
Elements of consumer learning
• Motives – The degree of relevance , or involvement, determines the
consumer’s level of motivation to search for information and
potentially, engage in learning.
• Cues- Stimuli that direct motivated behavior.
• Responses – Individual’s reaction to a cue
• Reinforcement – Reward that the consumer receives after buying
and using a product or service
Example
An MBA student requires a business suit for his interview
Motivation Requirement of a business suit for an interview
Cues Discounts/Sales; Good deals; Good designs.
Response The student sees a discount in a store and goes and
buys from the shop.
He is unable to find a color of his choice but he likes
the brand/dealer and so decides to come back after a
week when the fresh stock arrives and he can get the
color of his choice.

Reinforcement If he buys the suit and finds it comfortable and long

lasting, he would buy the same brand or buy from
the same shop again.
In case he doesn’t he would change his brand.
Learning theories

Learning

Behavioural Cognitive

Classical Observationa
Instrumental
conditioning l
 Classical
Conditioning
Before During After conditioning
conditioning conditioning

• Grandmother • Grandmother • Nivea Cream

(US) - love (US) + Nivea (CS) - Love and
and affection, Cream (CS) - affection,
Happiness and Love and Happiness and
delight (UR) affection, Delight (UR)
• Nivea Cream Happiness and
(Neutral Delight (UR)
stimulus)-No
response
Implications for marketers
• Consumers respond to learning via classical conditioning when: -
• the level of perceived risk is low (and cognitive effort is not
required)
• products are low on differentiation
• purchases are routine -convenience goods and impulse items.
Strategic applications of
conditioning theory
• Repetition forms associations
• Stimulus generalization
• Stimulus discrimination
Repetition forms association
• In advertising, repetition is the key to forming associations between
brands and fulfilment of needs
• Advertising wear out
• Cosmetic variation- Lux
• Substantive variation - Amul
Stimulus generalization

• This is defined as a phenomenon that occurs when a stimulus is so

similar to another stimulus, that the former evokes the same
response as the latter
• Me too marketers - Puma vs. Pama; Adidas vs. Abcids; Sony vs.
Sonia; KFC vs. KLC; Panasonic vs. Panosaonic.
• Competitors – Duracell vs Eveready
• As a marketing strategy
Stimulus generalization as a
marketing strategy
Product line extension Product form extension
Stimulus generalization as a
marketing strategy
Family/Umbrella Brands Licensing
Stimulus Discrimination
• The ability to differentiate a particular stimulus from among similar
stimuli
• Position the brand and try and differentiate it from others, through
a Unique Selling Proposition (or a USP)
• Marketer makes sure that the consumer is able to differentiate the
new stimulus from the previously existing one, so he does not
exhibit or repeat the same behavioral response again.
Instrumental Conditioning
• Skinner - a response-stimulus connection, (Response → Stimulus) or
(R-S), rather than the S-R connection as proposed by Pavlov. The
learning took place through instrumental or operant conditioning.
• Operant or instrumental conditioning occurs when person learns to
act out behaviors that are positively reinforced, and avoids those
acts of behavior that lead to punishment or yield negative
reinforcement.
Example
and he would go to
-A person want to the store and ask
buy a shoe for that particular
brand, type and size

The next time he

He would go to a
wants to buy a
shop and try out
shoe, he would
various brand, kinds
repeat the behavior
and sizes of shoes
(purchase),

manage to get a
continue with the
shoe that is most
trial and error
comfortable and
process,
rewarding
Types of Reinforcement

• if a person enjoys the food he eats in a restaurant, the

Positive likelihood of his visiting the restaurant and eating from
there would increase.
reinforcement • An advertisement showing soft skin as a reinforcement to
buy Dove soap.

• buying life insurance policies, medical insurance policies,

Negative fire/theft/burglary insurance etc
• :An advertisement showing wrinkled skin as reinforcement
reinforcement to buy a Garnier Anti-wrinkle cream
Marketing Implications
• Consumers respond to learning via instrumental conditioning when
trial can be attempted before purchase
• Purchases are linked to desirable affective experiences
• There is higher involvement and greater cognitive activity
Reinforcement strategies
• Positive Reinforcement: A consumer will continue to patronize a
brand and be loyal towards it as long as his purchase decision is
satisfying and rewarding
• Punishment - policy makers, governmental organizations and reform
bodies, may depict this to create fear amongst the people and make
them law abiding citizens – smoking and cancer, traffic rules violations
• Extinction – If a company is frequent with providing discount and
rebate schemes, suddenly withdraws such schemes, the consumers
would be discouraged from purchasing the brand again.
Reinforcement strategies
• Negative reinforcement -A marketer encourages consumers to make
purchases of their brands (act out behavior) to avoid the negative
consequences – Pepsodent – Kitanu kha jayenge
• Customer Satisfaction and Retention –Consistently providing high quality,
create personal connections, diverse product lines, competitive prices – repeat
patronage
• Reinforcement schedule - Reinforcement should be intermittent and be placed
at irregular intervals. E.g. Sales promotion incentives are short term in nature
• Shaping - Reinforcement performed before the desired consumer behavior
actually takes place is called shaping. E.g. Offering discounts to the first
hundred customers
Observational learning
( Modeling)
• Modeling is the process through which an individual learns a
behaviour by observing the behaviour of others and the
consequences of this behaviour.
Observational learning
( Modeling)
Information processing

Short term
• Consumer watches the ad memory • rehearses it within
himself mentally
• He pays attention to the • keeps on getting updated
advertisement • ability to retain depends
• inputs are processed and much on the cognitive
if found to be of ability.
relevance
Sensory Long term
Memory memory
Information Processing

Factors that affect intensity or degree

• Cognitive ability of the individual
• Number and complexity of the
relevant attributes and available
alternatives
• Experience with the product
category
• Information is stored semantically
or visually; Visual always gains
over semantics
Storing data
• Difficult to make a lasting impression –lasts for just a minute
Sensory Store • It is hazardous to introduce a product prematurely into the
marketplace

Short term • Where information is processed - Rehearsal and then

transferred
store • If not rehearsed, then lost

• Retained for extended periods of time

Long term store • Lasts for days,
Information Rehearsal and
Encoding
Rehearsal Encoding
• Process by which we select a
word/visual image to represent a
perceived object
• Text dominant ads activate brand
learning and pictorial dominant ads
activate ad appreciation
• Commercials requiring little cognitive
processing may be more effective
within a dramatic program
• Information overload
Retrieving and Retaining Data
• Product information stored in memory is brand based
• Data Chunking – Grouping of info. Process during which consumers
recode what they have already encoded.
• Data Retrieval - process by which people recover information from
the long term store.
Memorable experience, distinctive brand, unexpected elements,
environmental triggers
Chunking Aids Retrieval

Source: Swedish Tourist Association

Cognitive Learning
• Learning occurs through
discovering meaningful patterns
( gestalts) which enable us to
solve problems

• The premise that learning

occurs in the form of sequential,
mental processing of
information when people face
problems they wish to resolve.

Dr. Shobha Menon,SCMS Cochin,2019

Any kind of extensive problem solving,
on the part of the consumer, is cognitive.
Value of Cognitive theory to
marketers-strategies for market
leaders
• Reinforcement – if target consumers are unfamiliar with a product
category, yet are motivated to learn, communications that reinforce
the brand work well.
• Blocking – when Consumers are motivated to learn and are already
familiar with the product and its competitors, blocking the
consumer’s exposure to evidence
• Explaining- When consumers are motivated and their experience
with the brand is clear, explaining the brand is an effective strategy.
Value of Cognitive theory to
marketers-Reinforcement
Influence the attributes that target consumers
consider when making a brand choice Explain differences with competitors
Blocking the consumer’s
exposure to evidence
Explaining the brand
Value of Cognitive theory to marketers-
strategies for underdogs(little or no market
share)
• Disruption – Disrupt the consumer’s feeling of security with her
current brand –offering incentives to revaluate their choice.
• Facilitating trial – Make it easy and pleasurable for consumers to try
out the product – free samples, free trial period
Hemispheric Lateralization
Hemispheric lateralization (split- brain)
theory
• television is a low involvement
medium that results in passive
learning- right brain – processes
images-induces purchases
• print and interactive media
encourage more cognitive
information processing-left
brain – generate cognitive
activity
References
• Schiffman L.G. , Wisenblit, J., Ramesh Kumar,S.,(2016), Consumer
Behaviour, Eleventh Edition, Pearson India Education Services Ltd..
• Jay D. Lindquist, M. Joseph Sirgy (2009), Consumer Behaviour, Latest
Indian Edition,Cengage Learning
• Loudon, D.L. , Bitta,D. (1993) Consumer Behaviour Concepts and
Applications,, Fourth Edition, McGraw Hill Co., Singapore
• Assael, H. Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action, Ohio, South
Western.