Week 3 - Evaluation and Post Purchase Processes

Question 1

What do consumers consider when evaluating?

Answer 1

• brand name: trust/reputation
• symbols, images
• attributes
• evaluations (e.g., product reviews)
• experiences (feedback loop)

Question 2

factors that assist brands in entering consideration set:

Answer 2

• prototypicality: first thing we think of e.g., fast food = McDonalds
• brand familiarity
• goals/usage situations
• retrieval cues: brand elements, images

Question 3

decision heuristics - 3 types

Answer 3

1. affective evaluation
2. attitude-driven evaluation
3. attribute-based evaluation

Question 4

affective evaluation

Answer 4

usually based on a whim
- immediate emotional response to a product or service

Question 5

attitude-drive evaluation

Answer 5

based on summary impressions, intuitions or feelings
- alternatives are not compared according to features
(emotional + cognitive component)

Question 6

attribute-based evaluations

Answer 6

based on judgement of the attributes, or product features, of an alternative

Question 7

low effort cognitive decision heuristics

Answer 7

made in low effort decision making to reduce effort and make quick decisions
- performance (e.g. country of origin as signal)
- habit (e.g., cereal, milk)
- brand loyalty (likely to stay w a product even when another product competes with it)
- price
- normative (buy because everyone else does)

Question 8

low effort affect decision heuristics

Answer 8

choice tactics for feelings-based low effort decision making
- affect/feelings: how you feel based on recall, brand familiarity, visual attributes
- variety seeking
- impulse purchasing: feelings of euphoria and excitement

Question 9

compensatory decision rules

Answer 9

• brand that rates the highest in total sum of consumers judgements of relevant evaluation criteria will be selected
• takes into account both positive and negative evaluations/features - a cost-benefit analysis

Question 10

noncompensatory decision rules

Answer 10

• a negative/poor performance on one evaluative criteria cannot be compensated/offset by another positive aspect of product
• immediate rejection
• cognitively easier than compensatory rules

Question 11

post-purchase processes

Answer 11

• consumer has recognised a problem with their current situation, sought info, evaluated the options and purchased a product
• self-contained feedback loop

Question 12

outcomes of post-purchase processes

Answer 12

• post-purchase dissonance
• regret
• satisfaction/dissatisfaction
• non-use
• disposal

Question 13

post-purchase/decision dissonance + how to help

Answer 13

a general feeling of anxiety over whether the correct purchase decision was made
helping consumers reduce their experience of dissonance crucial for marketing managers:
- after sales support + communication
- post-purchase advertisements
- survey to measure customer satisfaction and to identify consumer concerns

Question 14

post-purchase/decision regret + how to help

Answer 14

a feeling that the wrong purchase decision has been made
can occur when:
- cannot reverse decision
- have experienced a negative outcome of decision
- made a change from status quo
how to reduce (marketing managers)
- anticipate it e.g., money-back guarantees

Question 15

non-use examples

Answer 15

• returns
• cancellations
• on-selling

Question 16

criticisms of consumer decision making process

Answer 16

1. starts with problem recognition: don’t always buy to solve problems
2. very deliberate: don’t always think much about a purchase
3. assumes purchase: sometimes just read about a product/category to learn more
4. assumes free chouce
5. assumes consumer has resources

Question 17

why do some technology products enjoy continued use, whereas others are quickly discarded?

Answer 17

• interconnected nature of contemporary technologies means that continued use can depend on tech product’s capacities to interact

Question 18

entropy

Answer 18

• tendency for an assemblage of connections to fall apart

Question 19

entropy work

Answer 19

ability of the consumer to hold the connection together to sustain continued use
- shouldering: consumer must perform unexpected entropy work
- offloading: entropy work completed by the tech assemblage

Question 20

supporting trajectories

Answer 20

tech assemblages that persist in a low entropy state
components have capacities to perform entropy work to support a tech product’s continued use
- stable continued use.

Question 21

taxing trajectories

Answer 21

occur when components immediately fail to territorialise with stable properties
- numerous objects fail to exercise expected capacities
- consumers must shoulder unexpected work to get a tech product to function
- leads to strained continued use, where tech products quickly discarded

Question 22

decaying trajectories

Answer 22

• stable continued use initially, then offloading and shouldering incrementally occurs to lead to strained continued use, and then eroded ease of use.

Question 23

oscillating trajectories

Answer 23

occur when components’ capacities are inconsistently exercised, requiring consumers to shoulder unpredictable entropy work to sustain continued use
- consumers shift between periods of stable and strained continued use
- continued use ends due to eroded ease of use/tech products replaced as no longer deemed useful

Question 24

product non-use

Answer 24

situation where a consumer either returns the product, or keeps it without using it

Question 25

satisfaction

Answer 25

- consumer makes a positive evaluation and feels happy with their decision - consumers needs/goals met - leads to habitual behaviour and positive world of mouth - firms that rely on repeat/loyal purchases focus on their consumer's satisfaction e.g., Coca-Cola - particularly important when competitor's offerings are readily available and comparable

Question 26

dissatisfaction reasons

Answer 26

- core service failure - service encounter failure - pricing - inconvenience - response to service failure - comparisons to competitors

Question 27

how do consumers respond to dissatisfaction?

Answer 27

- private action - direct action - public action

Question 28

private action - dissatisfaction

Answer 28

- stop buying the product/brand - warn friends about product/brand

Question 29

direct action - dissatisfaction

Answer 29

- complain to manufacturer or retailer - seek redress from business

Question 30

public action - dissatisfaction

Answer 30

- take legal action to obtain redress - complain to private or government agencies

Question 31

disposal options

Answer 31

- sharing - exchanging: - donating - recycling - riddling

Question 32

4 types of consumers + response to dissatisfaction

Answer 32

- passives: rarely take action - voices: direct action but not private/public - irates: private action but not direct action - activists: private, direct + especially public action

Question 33

proactive management of continued use

Answer 33

- aim for supporting trajectories: product design aspects (minimise connectivity), service offerings that anticipate unruly capacities that emerge in assemblages before these take hold - manage for decaying trajectories: upgrades attractive if high-entropy states occur towards end of tech product's life cycle

Question 34

reactive management of continued use

Answer 34

- fight a taxing trajectory: urgent tech help services to fix products - ameliorate an oscillating trajectory: enable customers to offload work on recurring basis if entropy work is likely required again, empower customers. risk of customers feeling "trapped" in service relationships.