Decision making process

Intoduction

Consumer behavior includes the processes and motives that drive consumer buying activities. Consumers typically make purchases in a systematic way, with the time frame and nature of the process dependent on the type of purchase. The standard consumer buying process with a service has some specific differences from a product-based purchase situation.

1. Need Discovery

The first step in the consumer decision-making process is need discovery. This stage is where a consumer realizes he has a functional or emotional need or want. In engaging in a service scenario, consumers recognize several common needs. One is expertise. A consumer might hire a plumber or electrician for their service expertise, for instance. Time savings, more valuable ways to spend time and simply not liking to perform a certain activity are among needs or motives for a service purchase.

2. Information Search

The second phase of the buying process is information search. During this stage, the buyer looks for information and evaluates providers on certain criteria. Services are intangible, so buyers often need to consult company websites and talk with sales reps to evaluate options. Additionally, services are often highly involved purchases for buyers because of the costs and importance. To get someone to hire your roofing company, you must provide significant information about the value of your materials and service relative to competitors.

3.     Evaluation of alternatives

Buyers typically want to see proof of benefits before making a product or service purchase. With products, you can show buyers how the product works and demonstrate the benefits. With intangible services, you can't. You can, however, provide customer testimonials emphasizing the quality, reliability and value of your service. It is also important to connect with customers' emotions by communicating the value of your expertise or the time that you save them.

At this stage, consumers evaluate different products/brands on the basis of varying product attributes, and whether these can deliver the benefits that the customers are seeking.  This stage is heavily influenced by one's attitude, as "attitude puts one in a frame of mind: liking or disliking an object, moving towards or away from it".  Another factor that influences the evaluation process is the degree of involvement. For example, if the customer involvement is high, then he/she will evaluate a number of brands; whereas if it is low, only one brand will be evaluated.

Customer involvement	High	Medium	Low
Characteristics	High	Medium	Low
Number of brands examined	Many	Several	One
Number of sellers considered	Many	Several	Few
Number of product attributes evaluated	Many	Moderate	One
Number of external information sources used	Many	Few	None
Time spent searching	Considerable	Little	Minimal

 4.     Purchase decision

This is the fourth stage, where the purchase takes place. According to Kotler, Keller, Koshy and Jha (2009), the final purchase decision can be disrupted by two factors: negative feedback from other customers and the level of motivation to comply or accept the feedback. For example, after going through the above three stages, a customer chooses to buy a Nikon D80 DSLR camera. However, because his good friend, who is also a photographer, gives him negative feedback, he will then be bound to change his preference. Secondly, the decision may be disrupted due to unanticipated situations such as a sudden job loss or the closing of a retail store.

 5.     Post-purchase behavior

These stages are critical to retain customers. In short, customers compare products with their expectations and are either satisfied or dissatisfied. This can then greatly affect the decision process for a similar purchase from the same company in the future, mainly at the information search stage and evaluation of alternatives stage. If customers are satisfied, these results in brand loyalty, and the information search and evaluation of alternative stages are often fast-tracked or skipped completely. As a result, brand loyalty is the ultimate aim of many companies.

On the basis of either being satisfied or dissatisfied, a customer will spread either positive or negative feedback about the product. At this stage, companies should carefully create positive post-purchase communication to engage the customers.

Also, cognitive dissonance (consumer confusion in marketing terms) is common at this stage; customers often go through the feelings of post-purchase psychological tension or anxiety. Questions include: "Have I made the right decision?", "Is it a good choice?” etc.