ELEMENTS OF CONSUMER LEARNING IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer learning is a process that continuously evolves and changes as a result Of newly acquired knowledge (which could be gained from reading, from discussions, from observations, from thinking) or from actual experience. Both newly acquired knowledge and personal experience serve as feedback to the individual and provide the basis for future behavior in similar situation.
Some key point of definition is
- First, consumer learning is a process; which is continually evolves and changes as a result of newly acquired knowledge as well as from actual experience.
- Both newly acquired knowledge and personal experience serve as feedback to the individual and provide the basis for future behavior in similar situations.
- The role of experience in learning does not mean that all learning is deliberately sought. A great deal of learning is also incidental, acquired by accident or without much effort.
- This term encompasses the total range of learning, from simple, almost reflexive responses to the learning of abstract concepts and complex problem solving.
ELEMENTS OF CONSUMER LEARNING WITH EXAMPLES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
MOTIVATION IN CONSUMER LEARNING
“It is the processes that lead people to behave as they do”.
- Motivation is based on needs and goals. It acts as a spur of learning.
- E.g. The degree of relevance, or involvement, with the goal, is critical to how motivated the consumer is to search for knowledge or information about a product or service.
- Uncovering consumer motives are one of the prime tasks of marketers, who try to teach consumer segments why their product will best fulfill their needs.
CUES IN CONSUMER LEARNING
“It is a stimulus that suggests a specific way to satisfy a silent motive”.
- If motives serve to stimulate learning, cues are the stimuli that give direction to the motives.
- E.g. In the marketplace, price, styling, packaging, advertising, and store displays all serve as cues to help consumers fulfill their needs.
- Cues serve to direct consumer drives when they are consistent with their expectations.
- Cues serve to direct consumer drives when they are consistent with consumer expectations.
- Marketers must be careful to provide cues that do not upset those expectations.
RESPONSE IN CONSUMER LEARNING
“Response means how individuals react to a drive or cue or how they behave”.
- How individuals react to a cue.
- How they behave—constitute their response.
- A response is not tied to a need in a one-to-one fashion.
- A need or motive may evoke a whole variety of responses.
- The response a consumer makes depends heavily on previous learning that, in turn, depends on how related responses were reinforced previously.
- E.g. the automobile manufacturer that provides consistent cues to a consumer may not always succeed in stimulating a purchase. If the manufacturer succeeds in forming a favorable image of a particular automobile model in the consumer’s mind, when the consumer is ready to buy, it is likely that he or she will consider that make or model.
REINFORCEMENT IN CONSUMER LEARNING
“A positive or negative outcome, that influences the likelihood, where a specific behavior will be repeated in the future in response to a particular cue or stimulus”.
- It increases the likelihood that a specific response will occur in the future as the result of particular cues or stimuli.
- Reinforcement may be a positive or negative.
- In positive reinforcement Positive outcomes strengthen the likelihood of a specific response. E.g. Ad showing beautiful hair as reinforcement to buy shampoo.
- In Negative Reinforcement unpleasant or negative outcomes that serve to encourage a specific behavior.•
- E.g. Ad showing wrinkled skin as reinforcement to buy skin cream.
RETENTION IN CONSUMER LEARNING
“Retention is a well learned response which is achieved with the passage of time.”
The stability of learned behaviour maintained by the individual over a period of time is called retention.
- When a consumer is very much satisfied with a particular product or brand, he or she will learn to positively reinforcing the product.
- E.g. When a lady receive a very little response on visiting a particular retail outlet for the first time, she will learn to positively respond by visiting this retail outlet again, whenever the need arise.
