CONSUMER (BUYING) BEHAVIOUR
Study of-
Individuals, groups, organizations and the processes they
use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services,
experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs.
The impact these processes have on consumer and
society.
Consumer buying decisions also helps us to understand
roles and try to answer questions-
What consumers buy?
Where they buy?
How they buy? & how much they buy?
When they buy?
Why they buy?
How do consumers respond to various
marketing efforts the company might use?
SCOPE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
ROLE OF CONSUMER RESEARCH IN CB
Consumer research is an important part of any
company. Most large corporations allocate
large budgets to consumer research because
they know how valuable the information
gained from listening to consumers is.
However, large corporations are not the only
companies that can benefit from consumer
research. Even a small one location business
could benefit tremendously by asking its
customers for feedback. Consumer research
helps companies improve their products and
generate new ideas based on consumer
demand.
FOCUS GROUPS - Focus groups are the ultimate in
consumer research. A focus group gives companies an in
depth detailed view into consumers' minds and how they
view and interact with the product. A focus group consists
of a day long (or even longer) meeting of demographically
appropriate individuals, usually around 10 in total. A
facilitator will talk with consumers, have them interact
with the product, ask questions and get feedback regarding
the product. The whole focus group is usually observed
and recorded by company executives who view the
proceedings behind a two way mirror. Companies typically
hold focus groups when researching a new product.
CALL CENTERS- Call centers are another less obvious
method for customer research. Call centers are the source
for all things related to the company. A customer may call
to find out information, report a product problem or get
tech support. Almost all calls from call centers are
recorded. The calls are sorted and categorized by type and
this gives companies a good idea of what customers are
saying. For example if the call center is being bombarded
with calls regarding how to use a new product then the
company knows that the instructions for the new product
are inadequate. Companies monitor call center activity
and relay information back to the appropriate divisions in
their firm.
USER OPINION SURVEYS- User opinion surveys are
found inside retail outlets, on the company website and
sometimes mailed out as questionnaires to customers on
the company mailing list. This method allows customers
to anonymously submit their opinions to the company in
writing. Often there will be specific questions regarding
satisfaction of products and customer service. These
surveys are then gathered and analyzed by the marketing
department and changes are made based on the
responses of consumers.
WEBSITE METRICS- Most companies have a website
and a website can provide a lot of information about its
visitors to a company. Most websites are tied to a tool that
analyzes their traffic, one free tool that does this is Google
Analytics. These tools provide information about the site's
visitors and their behavior. For example most website
performance metric tools allow companies to see, where in
the world visitors are coming from, what content is most
popular, where visitors go on their website and how this
links to current promotions and sales.
3RD PARTY RESEARCH - There are many third party
research companies that provide very valuable consumer
research data to companies. These companies usually
compile very large industry based surveys that would be too
time consuming and costly for a single company to do. The
market research company can afford to do this because it
sells the final report to all the companies in that industry.
These reports are usually very in depth and involve a wide
range of demographic information and customer feedback.
The report is also not biased because it does not favor a
particular company or brand.
CONSUMER RESEARCH PROCESS