CONSUMER

LEARNING
Presented by: Aisha Sethi
20-NTU-BA-1335
 TABLE OF CONTENT
01 What is learning? 02 Cognitive learning

03 Elements of learning 04 Passive learning

Measures of consumer
05 Behavioral learning 06
learning
What is consumer Learning?
A process by which individuals acquire the purchase and consumption
knowledge and experience that they apply to
future related behavior

Marketers must teach consumers

 where to buy
 how to use
 how to maintain
 how to dispose of products
 Types of consumer learning
Intentional
learning acquired as a result of a
careful search for information
For example: you might go to buy a
new phone
Incidental
learning acquired by accident or
without much effort
For example: some ads may induce
learning (new products under familiar
brand)
 Elements of Learning

Certain basic elements of learning are,

1. Motivation: The degree of relevance or involvement determines consumer level

of motivation to search for information about a product or a service. Unfulfilled
needs lead to motivation, which spurs learning.

2. Cues: If motives serve to stimulate learning, cues are the stimuli that give
direction to the motives, such as an ad is a cue for consumer motivation for a
specific product or service. In the marketplace price, styling, packaging,
advertising and the store displays all serve as cues
 Elements of Learning

Certain basic elements of learning are,

3. Response: How individuals react to a cue—how they behave—constitutes their

response, such as a marketer that provides consistent cues to a consumer may
not always succeed in stimulating a purchase.

4. Reinforcement: A positive or negative outcome that influences the likelihood

that a specific behavior will be repeated in the future in response to a particular
cue or stimulus. Product Usage Leads to Reinforcement
Categories of Learning
theories
Behavioral learning and cognitive learning
 Behavioral Learning

 Behavioral learning theories are sometimes called stimulus-response theories because they
are based on the premise that observable responses to specific external stimuli signal that
learning has taken place

 Behavioral theories are most concerned with the inputs and outcomes of learning, not the
Process

 Two theories relevant to marketing are classical conditioning and instrumental (or
operant) conditioning
Classical Conditioning
 A behavioral learning theory according to
which a stimulus is paired with another
stimulus that elicits a known response that
serves to produce the same response when
used alone.

 Conditioning involved building automatic

responses to stimuli.
 Classical Conditioning was
first tested by Ivan Pavlov
who showed a relationship
between stimulus (Meat
Paste and Bell) and
response (salivation) to
bring about the learning of
the same response to a
different stimulus.
 Pavlovian Model
 For Pavlov, conditioned learning results when a stimulus that is paired with another
stimulus elicits a known response and serves to produce the same response when used
alone.

 He used dogs to demonstrate his theories.

 The dogs were hungry and highly motivated to eat.

 Pavlov sounded a bell and then immediately applied a meat paste to the dogs’ tongues,
which caused them to salivate.

 After enough repetitions of the bell sound, followed almost immediately by the food, the
bell alone caused the dogs to salivate.
 Cognitive Associative Learning
 Classical conditioning is seen as cognitive associative
learning, not the acquisition of new reflexes, but the
acquisition of new knowledge about the world.

 Optimal conditioning—that is, the creation of a strong

association between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the
unconditioned stimulus (US)—requires forward conditioning;
that is, the CS should precede the US, repeated pairings of the
CS and the US, a CS and US that logically belong together, a
CS that is novel and unfamiliar, and a US that is biologically
or symbolically salient. This model is known as neo-
Pavlovian conditioning
 Strategic Applications of
Classical Conditioning
Stimulus
Repetition
Generalization
Repetition increases strength of The inability to perceive
associations and slows differences between slightly
forgetting but over time may dissimilar stimuli.
result in advertising wear out
Stimulus
Discrimination
The ability to select a specific
stimulus from among similar
stimuli because of perceived
differences.
REPETITION
 Repetition works by increasing the strength of the association between a
conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus and slows the process of
forgetting.

 Some disagree about how much repetition is needed. The three-hit theory states
that the optimum number of exposures to an ad is three.
i) One to make the consumer aware of the product.
ii) A second to show consumers the relevance of the product.
iii) A third to remind them of its benefits.
 STIMULUS GENERALIZATION

Product Line Extension Product Form Extension

 Marketers offer product form extensions

 In product line extensions, the marketer adds that include different sizes, different
related products to an already established colors, and even different flavors. e.g:
brand, knowing that the new product is more Colgate mouthwash to Colgate tooth-
likely to be adopted when it is associated with paste
a known and trusted brand name. e.g: when a
soft drink company offers a new flavor of
soda
 STIMULUS GENERALIZATION

 Product category extensions generally target new market segments.

i) The success of this strategy depends on several factors.

ii) For example, if the image of the parent brand is one of quality, consumers are more likely
to bring positive associations to the new category extensions.

 Licensing—allowing a well-known brand name to be affixed to products of another

manufacturer—is a marketing strategy that operates on the principle of stimulus
generalization. For example: ‘’Always CoCa-Cola are stamped on clothing, toys, coffee mugs
 STIMULUS
GENERALIZATION
 Family branding—the practice of marketing a whole line of company
products under the
same brand name—is another strategy that capitalizes on the consumer’s ability to
generalize
favorable brand associations from one product to the next.

For example, Wal-Mart used to advertise that its stores carried only “brands you
trust.” Now, the name Wal-Mart itself has become a “brand” that consumers have
confidence in, and the name confers brand value on Wal-Mart’s store brands .
 STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION

‘’The ability to select a specific stimulus from among similar stimuli because
of perceived differences.”

 The key to stimulus discrimination is effective positioning

 Designed to discriminate a brand or product from competitors

 Most product differentiation strategies are designed to distinguish a product or brand from that of
competitors based on an attribute that is relevant, meaningful, and valuable to consumers.

 The opposite of stimulus generalization and results in the selection of specific stimulus from among similar
stimuli
Instrumental Conditioning
 According to B. F. Skinner:
“Most individual learning occurs in a controlled environment in which
individuals are “rewarded” for choosing an appropriate behavior.”

 Like classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning requires a link

between a stimulus and a response.

 Learning through trial-and-error process.

EXAMPLE:
Skinner box
 REINFORCEMENT OF
BEHAVIOR
● Positive Reinforcement
Positive outcomes that strengthen the
likelihood of response.
EXAMPLE:
a specific ad showing beautiful hair as
a reinforcement to buy a shampoo.
● Negative reinforcement
Unpleasant or negative outcomes that
serve to encourage a specific behavior.
EXAMPLE:
Ad showing wrinkled skin as
reinforcement to buy a skin cream.
A Model of Instrumental Conditioning
EXTINCTION AND FORGETTING

“when a learned response is no longer reinforced, it diminishes to the

point of extinction; that is, to the point at which the link between the
stimulus and the expected reward is eliminated.”

NOTE:
 Forgetting is often related to the passage of time; this is known as
the process of decay.

 Marketers can overcome forgetting through repetition and can

combat extinction through the deliberate enhancement of
consumer satisfaction.
 Strategic Applications Of
Instrumental Conditioning

 Consumer satisfaction (reinforcement)

 Reinforcement schedules
 Shaping
 Instrumental conditioning and brand relationships
 Variety seeking and instrumental conditioning
 Massed versus distributed learning
01-CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

 The objective of all marketing efforts should maximize

customer satisfaction.

Relationship marketing:
“developing a close personalized relationship with customers—is
another form of non-product reinforcement.”
02-REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES

“marketers have found that product quality must be consistently

high and provide customer satisfaction with each use for desired
consumer behavior to continue.”

Marketers have identified three types of reinforcement schedules:

 total (or continuous) reinforcement
 systematic (fixed ratio) reinforcement
 random (variable ratio) reinforcement.
 03-SHAPING
“The reinforcement of behaviors that must be performed by
consumers before the desired behavior can be performed is called
shaping.”

NOTE:
 Shaping increases the probabilities that certain desired consumer behavior
will occur.
 04-INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING AND
BRAND RELATIONSHIPS

It states:
Instrumental conditioning is associated with
rewards. There are two aspects to rewards-
one is functional performance and the other
is psychological aspect.
05-VARIETY SEEKING AND BRAND
RELATIONSHIPS
● It stated:
Variety-seeking consumers do a lot of brand switching, which
is when a consumer decides to purchase a brand different
from the one that was previously purchased, and are low
on brand loyalty, which is the behavior of consumers to remain
committed to purchasing one specific brand over any others
 06-MEASURED
VERSUS DISTRIBUTED
LEARNING
Massed versus distributed learning—timing has an
important influence on consumer learning.

Note:
A distributed scheduler with ads repeated on a regular basis usually
results in more long-term learning and is relatively immune to
extinction.
 Modeling or Observational
Learning
 Learning theorists have noted that a considerable amount of
learning takes place in the absence of direct reinforcement,
either positive or negative, through a process psychologists call
modeling or observational learning (also called vicarious
learning).

 For example: Children learn much of their social behavior and

consumer behavior by observing their older siblings or their
parents.
 Information Processing and
Cognitive Learning
 Learning based on mental activities is called cognitive learning

 A cognitive learning theory of human learning patterned after computer

information processing that focuses on how information is stored in human
memory and how it is retrieved.
 How consumers Store, Retain, and Retrieve
Information
 Because information processing occurs in stages, it is believed that content is stored in the memory
in separate storehouses for further processing:

Sensory store—all data comes to us through our senses,

however, our senses do not transmit
information as whole images.

Short-term store—if the data survives the sensory store, it is

moved to the short-term store.

Long-term store—once data is transferred to the long-term

store it can last for days, weeks,
or even years.
How consumers Store, Retain, and Retrieve
Information

Rehearsal and encoding—the amount of information

available for delivery from the short-term store to the long-
term store depends on the amount of rehearsal an individual
gives to it

Information overload takes place when the consumer is

presented with too much
information
Information Processing and Memory Stores
 How consumers Store, Retain, and Retrieve
Information

Retention Retrieved
 Learning retention is the process of transferring  Retrieval is the process by which we
new information into long term memory. recover information from long term
 Information is stored in long term memory in two memory.
ways:  Retrieval practice is a strategy in which
 Episodically: By the order in which it is acquired bringing information to mind enhances
 and boosts learning.
Semantically: According to significant concepts
Theoretical Model of
Cognitive Learning
 Cognitive Learning
 Cognitive learning occurs when a person has a goal and must search for and process data in order to
make decision or solve a problem
Consumer Involvement and Passive Learning

 Degree of personal relevance that the product or purchase holds for that customer.

 High involvement purchases are very important to the customer.

 Low involvement hold little relevance, have little perceived risk and have limited
information processing.

 Highly involved consumers find fewer brands acceptable (they are called narrow
categorizers)

 Uninvolved consumers are likely to be receptive to a greater number of advertising

messages regarding the purchase and will consider more brands (they are broad
categorizers).
 Defintions And Measures Of
Involvement
 Researchers have defined and conceptualized involvement in a variety of ways,
including product involvement, brand involvement, and advertising
involvement.

 The lack of a clear definition about the essential components of involvement

poses some measurement problems.

 Because there is no single, clear definition of involvement, there are varied

measures of this dimension.
Marketing Applications Of Involvement

A marketer aspires to have consumers who are involved with the

purchase also view its brand as unique.
● Ads in video games
● Avatars
● Sensory appeals in ads to get more attention
● Forging bonds and relationships with consumers
Measuring Involvement with an Advertisement
Central and Peripheral routes to Persuasion

Central route to persuasion:

 For high involvement purchases
 Requires cognitive processing

Peripheral route to persuasion:

 Low involvement
 Consumer less motivated to think
 Learning through repetition, visual cues and holistic perception
Hemispheric lateralization and Passive Learning
Hemispheric lateralization or split-brain theory originated in the 1960’s and became popular in the 1980s
The premise is that the right and left hemispheres of the brain specialize in the kinds of information they
process

Left Brain Right Brain

 Rational  Emotional
 Active  Metaphoric
 Realistic  impulsive
 Hemispheric Lateralization
Both Side Of Brain Are Involved In Decision
Passive Learning and Media Strategy

It is a method where learner receive no feedback

from the instructor.

When consumer watch advertising on TV they

passively process and store right brain information.
 How Is Passive Learning
Applied To Promotional
Appeal Featured In This Ad
The Ad Is Targeted To The
Right Brain
 Outcome and Measures of Consumer
Learning

 It is important for Marketers to measure how effectively

consumers have learned its message.

 Marketers focus their promotional budgets on trying to teach

consumers that their brands are best and that their products will
best solve the consumers’ problems and satisfy their needs.
 RECOGNITION AND RECALL MEASURES

 It is conducted to determine whether  In recognition tests, the consumer is shown an ad

consumer remember seeing an ad and and asked whether he or she remembers seeing it
extent to which they have read it or seen and can remember any of its salient points.
it and can recall its content.
 Measures of Consumer Learning
Brand Loyalty

Additional measures Behavioral measures

 Consumer feelings about the  It is based on observable , factual

product and the brand , and their behavior regarding the brand such as
purchase intentions. quantity purchased , purchase frequency
and repeated buying.
 Brand Equity

 Value inherent in a well-known brand name (mega-brand)

E.g., Coca cola , Disney , Google etc.

 Co-branding (double branding) in which two brands are featured on

single product. E.g., OLPERS and Rooh Afza.
Reasons why customers remain loyal
Switching Barriers Affirmatory Factors

● Alternatives ● Social bond

● Emotional bond ● Service recovery

● Switching cost ● Confidence

● Time & Effort

 Old Brands & New Communications

 changing the corporate

image of an organization.

 It is a market strategy of
giving a new name,
symbol, or change in
design for an already-
established brand.
Thank You!
Any Questions?