Have you ever changed your mind? Was it about a particular purchase you wanted to make or a lifestyle change? What was it that made you change your mind? What were the influences that impacted your final decision? This lesson will cover consumer behavior and the major influences on consumer behavior. Our discussion breaks down as follows:
1. Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is defined as the research and understanding of how human beings, singularly or as a group, consider and accept organizational offerings as well as how these choices impact culture as a whole.
When we talk about consumer behavior, it’s important that the business understands the consumer. Recall the 4 Cs. You have to be able to get inside the consumer’s head and understand who it is you’re targeting for your product.
We’re going to explore this process through psychology for individuals and through sociology for a group as a whole.
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- Consumer Behavior
- The research and understanding of how human beings, singularly or as a group, consider and accept organizational offerings as well as how these choices impact culture as a whole.
2. Four Influences
There are four influences on consumer behavior.
2a. Psychological Influences
Psychological influences are influences on a consumer’s opinion that are related to the scientific study of how human beings think and respond to their environment. These can be influences based on satisfying basic needs such as hunger or shelter.
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EXAMPLE
Am I hot, or am I cold? Am I hungry? Am I tired? These are all things that are going to influence you psychologically, so you can see how psychology can have an important impact on how a consumer makes decisions.
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- Psychological Influences
- Influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to the scientific study of how human beings think and respond to their environment.
2b. Personal Influences
Personal influences are influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to their interactions with and response to the opinions of specific other people. These may be related to their job, age, health, or possibly even wealth—basically, the things that would describe the demographics of a particular group.
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EXAMPLE
Consider a person who welds for a living. His personal influences might impact his decision not to wear ballet slippers to the job site because it doesn’t really fit his job and isn’t conducive to what he’s doing. Safety boots would be a much better option.
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- Personal Influences
- Influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to their interactions with and response to the opinions of specific other people.
2c. Social Influences
Social influences are influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to the opinions of groups or societies—for instance, subcultures or subgroups, reference groups, or aspirational groups. The groups that influence you are related to where you’re at in your personal life, such as being a part of Generation X or being a hipster.
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EXAMPLE
If you’re part of a group that shuns the use of automobiles and thinks bicycles are the way to go, you probably wouldn’t want to be looking for a car. A business wouldn’t want to target your group to sell cars. Whereas, for a bicycle manufacturer, this is exactly the target market that it wants to aim for.
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- Social Influences
- Influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to the opinions of groups or societies.
2d. Cultural Influences
Cultural influences are influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to the broad impact of the society in which they are currently living or have lived. Cultural norms impact consumer behavior. The food habits of a particular culture or its ceremonies—if, say, religion were a predominant part of that culture—are all things that are going to influence what a consumer will or will not buy.
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EXAMPLE
If I asked you what was in a random mug on the table, would you say coffee? Or perhaps tea? Where you grow up or where you live has an effect on the choices or decisions that you make. If you’d grown up in a place where tea was the hot drink of choice, you might automatically assume that there is tea in the mug. If you’re from a place where coffee is the norm, you might assume that there’s coffee in that mug.
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- Cultural Influences
- Influences on a consumer’s opinions that are related to the broad impact of the society in which they are currently living or have lived.
3. Examples of the Impact of Influences
Let’s take a look at some examples to demonstrate how all of these influences work together in practice.
3a. Car Purchase
What factors might influence a new car purchase?
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Psychological influences: If you barely have enough money for rent, you may not be buying a car—and if you do, it’s most likely going to be a used one and pretty cheap.
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Personal influences: Things like your job or your age will come into play here. Are you of an age or at a particular wealth status where you can afford a particular type of car or one that fits your age?
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Social influences: If you buy something that is completely radical for the group that you are a part of, how will that affect your standing within the group? If you’re in a place where Bentleys and Mercedes are the norm, how would it look if you bought a Honda? Or, if you live around Detroit, how would you feel about driving an imported car in a city where American cars are made?
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Cultural influences: Would you want to buy something reminiscent of your home country, or would you be looking for something a bit different?
3b. Cell Phone Purchase
What factors might influence a cell phone purchase?
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Psychological influences: Does it meet your basic needs? Does it do the things that you need it to do? Does it fill a want or a need for you? If it doesn’t do everything you want it to do, then it may not be the choice for you.
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Personal influences: Is this going to be used as a part of your job? Is it important that it runs Microsoft Office, for instance? Can you use an Apple product?
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Social influences: Does everybody you know own an Apple device? Would you be ostracized or possibly have a connection problem with your group if you got an Android phone or a phone using a different operating system?
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Cultural influences: What’s the norm in your society for what a cell phone is supposed to be or do?
3c. Shoes Purchase
What factors might influence purchasing a pair of shoes?
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Psychological influences: Refer to your basic needs again. Does it keep your feet warm? Or does it keep your feet cool? Do you want to buy a pair of sandals or a pair of insulated boots?
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Personal influences: Consider influences like your job or your age. You may not be able to wear a particular set of shoes because of your health or the condition of your feet.
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Social influences: Does wearing high heels, flats, or sandals prevent you from fitting in with your personal group? Perhaps, where you live, sandals are a big part of your life, whereas if you were to move somewhere else where it’s colder all the time, sandals might be considered kind of strange. This might affect what type of shoes you buy.
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Cultural influences: What’s the cultural norm? This refers back to the people around you as a culture—not just the subgroup that you belong to. You can see how these influences can interact and overlap a bit.
Today, we learned about what influences
consumer behavior, focusing on the
four influences—
psychological,
personal,
social, and
cultural—that play a role in the decisions that we make as consumers.
We also explored some
examples of the impact of influences, including a
car purchase, a
cell phone purchase, and
shoes purchase. For each item, we asked questions such as the following:
- Does it meet my basic needs?
- Does it fit my job, age, or wealth? Could I even afford it?
- Does it make me fit in, or will I be thought of as strange by the social group that I hang out with and my cultural environments?
- Is there something about this particular product that fits my culture’s ceremonies, food habits, or even religion?
Good luck!
