CONSUMER LEARNING

Learning Objectives
 To understand the process of four elements of consumer learning.

 To study the behavioral learning and understanding its applications

to consumption behavior.

 To study information processing and cognitive learning and

understand their strategic applications to consumer behavior.

 To study consumer involvement and passive learning and understand

their strategic affects on consumer behavior.

 To understand how consumer learning and its results are measured.

The Elements of Consumer
Learning
From a marketing perspective, learning is defined as the
process by which individuals acquire the purchase and
consumption knowledge and experience that they apply to
future related behavior.

The elements of learning are:

 Motivation
 Cues
 Response
 Reinforcement
The Elements of Consumer
Learning
 Motivation: Uncovering consumer motives is the prime
task of marketers, who then try to reach motivated
consumer segments why and how their products will
fulfill the consumer’s needs.
Example: Bicycle riding for fitness.

 Cues: If motives serve to stimulate learning, cues are the

stimuli that direct there motives.
Example: An advertisement for a trip that includes bike
riding may serve as a cue for bike riders.
The Elements of Consumer
Learning
 Response: How individuals react to a cue, how they behave
constitutes their response.
Example: There are many ways to respond to the need for physical
exercise beside riding bicycles. Cues provide direction, but there are
many cues competing for consumer’s attention.

 Reinforcement: It increases the likelihood that a specific response

will occur in the future as the result of particular cues or stimuli.
Example: If a person visits a restaurant for the first time, likes food,
service and ambience and also feels he or she received value for the
money paid. That customer was reinforced and is likely to dine at the
restaurant again.
Behavioral Learning
Behavioral learning is sometimes referred to as stimulus-
response learning because it is based on the premise that
observable responses to specific external stimuli signal that
learning has taken place.
When a person acts in a predictable way to a known stimulus,
he or she is said to have learned.

Two forms of learning with great relevance to marketing are:

 Classical conditioning
 Instrumental or operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning
In everyday speech, the word conditioning has come to mean a
kind of automatic response to a situation built up through
repeated exposures.

Example: After more than 50 years of advertising the name

Crest implies that the product is the best alternative for
preventing teeth decay.
 This acquired consumer perception of Crest is the
unconditioned response.
 The conditioned response would be consumers trying these
products because of the belief that they embody the same
attributes with which the Crest name is associated.
Strategic Application of Classical
Conditioning
Three basic concepts derive from classical conditioning:

 Repetition
 Stimulus generalization
 Stimulus discrimination

Each of these concepts is important to the strategic

application of consumer behavior.
Strategic Application of Classical
Conditioning
Repetition: It increases the strength of the association between a
conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus and slows the
process of forgetting.
Some marketing scholars believe that just three exposures to an
advertisement are needed.

 First to make consumers aware of the product.

 Second to show consumers the relevance.
 Third to remind them of product’s benefits.

This is known as three-hit theory.

Others think it may take 11 to 12 repetitions to achieve the three
objectives of the so-called three-hit theory.
Strategic Application of Classical
Conditioning
Stimulus Generalization: Making the same response to
slightly different stimulus is called stimulus
generalization. It explains why some imitative products
succeed in the marketplace. Consumers confuse them with
the original product advertised.

Marketers generalize their product through:

 Product line, form and category extensions
 Family branding
 Lisencing
Strategic Application of Classical
Conditioning
It is the opposite of stimulus generalization and results in
the selection of specific stimulus from among similar
stimuli. The key objective of a positioning strategy is to
get the consumer to discriminate among similar stimuli by
establishing a unique image for a brand in the consumer’s
mind.

 Product differentiation
Instrumental Conditioning
Like classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning
requires a link between a stimulus and a response.
However, in instrumental conditioning, the stimulus that
results in the most satisfactory response is the one that is
learned.

In consumer behavior terms. Instrumental conditioning

suggests that consumers learn by means of trial-error
process in which some purchase behaviors result in more
favorable outcomes (i.e. rewards).
Instrumental Conditioning
A model of instrumental conditioning
Instrumental Conditioning
Reinforcement of Behavior:
Skinner distinguished two types of reinforcement that
influence the likelihood that a response will be repeated.

 Positive reinforcement consists of the events that

strengthen the likelihood of a specific response.

 Negative reinforcement is an unpleasant or negative

outcome that also serves to encourage a specific behavior.
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 expected
reward is eliminated
Instrumental Conditioning
Strategic applications of instrumental conditioning:

Marketers effectively utilize the concepts of consumer instrumental

learning when they provide positive reinforcement by assuring
customer satisfaction with the product and total buying experience.

 Customer satisfaction (reinforcement)

 Reinforcement schedules
 Total (continuous) reinforcement
 Systematic (fixed ratio) reinforcement
 Random (variable ratio) reinforcement
 Shaping (reinforcement performed before the desired consumer
behavior)
Instrumental Conditioning and
Brand Relationship
There are two aspects of reward, one is functional and the
other is psychological.
A brand can benefit from constant conditioning of
associations, as consumers may view the association
rewards.

Example: The ad for Lifebuoy total hand wash suggests

togetherness as a family, care, and love.
Variety Seeking and
Instrumental Conditioning
Brands not only need to offer variety to target different
segments of consumers, but they also need to break the
boredom from the consumption experiences of consumers
of the same segment.

This requires research on:

 Consumer needs
 Consumer habits
 Consumer preferences
Massed Versus Distributed
Learning
Timing has an important influence on consumer learning.

 Distributed learning is a periodic learning schedule.

When the goal is long-term repeat buying on a regular
basis, a distributed schedule is preferable.

 Massed learning is a bunched up or all at once learning

schedule. When advertisers want an immediate impact
they generally use a massed schedule for consumer
learning.
Modeling or Observational
Learning
Learning theorists have noted that a considerable amount of learning
takes place in the absence of direct reinforcements through a process
psychologists call modeling or observational learning.

Consumers often observe how others behave in response to certain

situations and the ensuing results (reinforcement) that occur, and
they imitate (model) the positively reinforced behavior when faced
with similar situations.

Example: Children learn by observing elder sibilings or parents.

Information Processing and
Cognitive Learning
Not all learning takes place as the result of repeated trials.
A considerable amount of learning takes place as the result
of consumer thinking and problem solving.

Learning based on mental activity is called cognitive

learning. The coverage of cognitive learning begins with
a discussion of the human memory, the key tool for
information processing.
Information Processing and
Cognitive Learning
Information processing:
Just as a computer processes information received as
input, so too does the human mind process the information
it receives as input.

Consumers with higher cognitive ability generally acquire

more product information and consider more product
attributes and alternatives than consumers with lesser
ability.
Information Processing and
Cognitive Learning
Information processing:

 Sensory store
 Short-term store (working memory)
 Long-term store
 Rehearsal and encoding
 Retention
 Retrieval (Recovery of information)
Information Processing and
Cognitive Learning
Applications of Information
Processing Theories
A schema in the long-term memory offers vast scope for
marketers to develop their brand positioning. Several
brands have used focused association to create schemas.

Example:
Maggi noodles used the two minutes convenience of
preparation so successfully that the two minutes concept
has become associated with Maggi.
Theoretical Model of Cognitive
Learning
Over the years, several models expressing sequential information processing and cognitive
learning have been developed.

• Generic framework
• Knowledge
• Evaluation
• Behavior

• Promotional Model (AIDA)

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

• Tri-component Model
• Cognitive
• Affective
• Conative
Theoretical Model of Cognitive
Learning
 Decision making model
 Awareness
 Knowledge
 Evaluation
 Purchase
 Post-purchase evaluation

 Innovation adoption model

 Awareness
 Interest
 Evaluation
 Trial
 Adoption

 Innovation decision model

 Knowledge
 Persuasion
 Decision
 Confirmation
Consumer Involvement and
Passive Learning
Consumer involvement is focused on the degree of personal
relevance that the product or purchase holds for the consumer.

High-involvement purchases are those that are very important to

the consumer (e.g. in terms of perceived risk) and thus provoke
extensive problem solving and information processing.

Highly involved consumers find fewer brands acceptable (narrow

categorizers); uninvolved consumers are likely to be receptive to a
greater number of advertising messages regarding the purchase
and will consider more brands.
Consumer Involvement and
Passive Learning
Definitions and measures of involvement:
There is no single clear definition of involvement, there
are measures are measures of this dimension.

The involvement of consumer can be tested through self-

administered surveys.

Example:
Likert scale, semantic differential scale, structured
interviews etc.
Consumer Involvement and
Passive Learning
Marketing applications of involvement:
Marketers aspire to have consumers who are involved with the
purchase and also view its brand as unique.
Example:
One study discovered that consumers who were highly involved in
the sports programs, watched recalled commercials significantly
better than those who were less involved with the program watched.
Outcomes and Measures of
Consumer Learning
For marketers the dual goals of consumer learning are
increased market share and brand-loyalty. These goals are
interdependent.

The following section will examine various measures of

consumer learning.

• Recognition and recall measures

• Attitudinal and behavioral dimensions of brand loyalty
Outcomes and Measures of
Consumer Learning
Recognition and recall measures:
recognition and recall tests are conducted to determine
whether consumers remember seeing an ad and the extent
to which they have read or seen it and can recall its
contents.

 Recognition tests are based on aided recalls.

 Recall tests are based on unaided recalls.
Outcomes and Measures of
Consumer Learning
Brand loyalty:
Brand loyalty is the ultimate desired outcome of consumer learning.

Marketers agree that brand loyalty consists of:

 Attitudinal measures are concerned with consumers’ overall

feelings about the product, brand, and their purchase intentions.

 Behavioral measures are based on observable, factual behaviors

regarding the brand, such as quantity purchased, purchase frequency
and repeated buying.
Outcomes and Measures of
Consumer Learning
Brand loyalty:

An integrated conceptual framework views consumer

loyalty as the function of three groups.

 Personal degree of risk aversion or variety seeking..

 The brand’s reputation and availability of substitutes.
 Social group influences and peers’ recommendations.

These influences produce four types of loyalty.

Outcomes and Measures of
Consumer Learning
Brand loyalty:

 No loyalty: No purchase at all and no cognitive attachment to the

brand.

 Covetous loyalty: No purchase but strong attachment and pre-

disposition towards the brand that was developed from the person’s
social environment.

 Inertia loyalty: Purchasing the brand because of habit and

convenience but without any emotional attachment to the brand.

 Premium loyalty: High attachment to the brand and high repeat

purchase.
Brand Equity
The term brand equity refers to the value inherent in a
well-known brand name.

This value stems from the consumer’s perception of the

brand’s superiority, the social esteem that using it
provides, and the customer’s trust and identification with
the brand.

Among the best-known brands are Coca-Cola, Disney,

Google, Sony, and Hallmark cards.