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Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making 1
CHAPTER 6 Consumer Decision Making
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries, followed by a set of lesson plans for you to use to
deliver the content in Chapter 6.
• Lecture (for large sections) on page 3
• Company Clips (video) on page 5
• Group Work (for smaller sections) on page 6
Review and Assignments begin on page 7
Review questions
Application questions
Application exercise
Ethics exercise
Video assignment
Case assignment
Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing from faculty around the country begin on page 16
2 Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making
LEARNING OUTCOMES
6-1 Explain why marketing managers should understand consumer behavior
An understanding of consumer behavior reduces marketing managers’ uncertainty when they are defining a target market
and designing a marketing mix.
6-2 Analyze the components of the consumer decision-making process
The consumer decision-making process begins with need recognition, when stimuli trigger awareness of an unfulfilled
want. If additional information is required to make a purchase decision, the consumer may engage in an internal or
external information search. The consumer then evaluates the additional information and establishes purchase guidelines.
Finally, a purchase decision is made.
6-3 Explain the consumer’s postpurchase evaluation process
Consumer postpurchase evaluation is influenced by prepurchase expectations, the prepurchase information search, and
the consumer’s general level of self-confidence. When a purchase creates cognitive dissonance, consumers tend to react
by seeking positive reinforcement for the purchase decision, avoiding negative information about the purchase decision,
or revoking the purchase decision by returning the product.
6-4 Identify the types of consumer buying decisions and discuss the significance of consumer
involvement
Consumer decision making falls into three broad categories: routine response behavior, limited decision making, and
extensive decision making. High-involvement decisions usually include an extensive information search and a thorough
evaluation of alternatives. By contrast, low-involvement decisions are characterized by brand loyalty and a lack of
personal identification with the product. The main factors affecting the level of consumer involvement are previous
experience, interest, perceived risk of negative consequences (financial, social, and psychological), and social visibility.
A purchase decision can be highly involved due to a wide range of factors, including product involvement, situational
involvement, shopping involvement, enduring involvement, and emotional involvement.
6-5 Identify and understand the cultural factors that affect consumer buying decisions
Cultural influences on consumer buying decisions include culture and values, subculture, and social class. Culture is the
essential character of a society that distinguishes it from other cultural groups. The underlying elements of every culture
are the values, language, myths, customs, rituals, laws, and the artifacts, or products, that are transmitted from one
generation to the next. The most defining element of a culture is its values. A culture can be divided into subcultures on
the basis of demographic characteristics, geographic regions, national and ethnic background, political beliefs, and
religious beliefs.
6-6 Identify and understand the social factors that affect consumer buying decisions
Social factors include such external influences as reference groups, opinion leaders, and family. Consumers seek out
others’ opinions for guidance on new products or services and products with image-related attributes or because attribute
information is lacking or uninformative. Consumers may use products or brands to identify with or become a member of
a reference group, or to follow an opinion leader. Family members also influence purchase decisions; children tend to
shop in similar patterns as their parents.
6-7 Identify and understand the individual factors that affect consumer buying decisions
Individual factors that affect consumer buying decisions include gender; age and family life cycle stage; and personality,
self-concept, and lifestyle. Beyond obvious physiological differences, men and women differ in their social and
economic roles, and that affects consumer buying decisions. A consumer’s age generally indicates what products he or
she may be interested in purchasing. Marketers often define their target markets in terms of consumers’ life cycle stage,
following changes in consumers’ attitudes and behavioral tendencies as they mature. Finally, certain products and brands
reflect consumers’ personality, self-concept, and lifestyle.
6-8 Identify and understand the psychological factors that affect consumer buying decisions
Psychological factors include perception, motivation, and learning. These factors allow consumers to interact with the
world around them, recognize their feelings, gather and analyze information, formulate thoughts and opinions, and take
action. Perception allows consumers to recognize their consumption problems. Motivation is what drives consumers to
Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making 3
take action to satisfy specific consumption needs. Almost all consumer behavior results from learning, which is the
process that creates changes in behavior through experience.
TERMS
aspirational reference group
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
selective exposure
cognitive dissonance
motive
selective retention
connected self-schema
need recognition
self-concept
consumer behavior
nonaspirational reference group
separated self-schema
consumer decision-making
process
nonmarketing-controlled information
showrooming
culture
norm
social class
evoked set (consideration set)
opinion leader
socialization process
extensive decision making
perceived value
source
external information search
perception
source
hedonic value
personality
stimulus
ideal self-image
primary membership group
stimulus discrimination
internal information search
real self-image
stimulus generalization
involvement
reference group
subculture
learning
routine response behavior
utilitarian value
limited decision making
secondary membership group
value
marketing-controlled information
selective distortion
want
LESSON PLAN FOR LECTURE
Brief Outline and Suggested PowerPoint Slides:
Learning Outcomes and Topics
PowerPoint Slides
LO1 Explain why marketing managers should
understand consumer behavior
6-1 The Importance of Understanding
Consumer Behavior
1: Consumer Decision Making
2: Learning Outcomes
3: Learning Outcomes
4: The Importance of Understanding Consumer
Behavior
5: Understanding Consumer Behavior
6: Value
LO2 Analyze the components of the consumer decision-
making process
6-2 The Consumer Decision-Making Process
7: The Consumer Decision-Making Process
8: Consumer Decision-Making Process
9: Exhibit 6.1: The Consumer Decision-Making
Process
10: Need Recognition
11: Stimulus
12: Need Recognition
13: Understanding Needs and Wants
14: Information Search
15: External Information Searches
16: Evoked Set
17: Evaluation of Alternatives and Purchase
18: Purchase
4 Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making
Learning Outcomes and Topics
PowerPoint Slides
LO3 Explain the consumer’s postpurchase evaluation
process
6-3 Postpurchase Behavior
19: Postpurchase Behavior
20: Cognitive Dissonance
21: Postpurchase Behavior
LO4 Identify the types of consumer buying decisions
and discuss the significance of consumer
involvement
6-4 Types of Consumer Buying Decisions and
Consumer Involvement
22: Types of Consumer Buying Decisions and
Consumer Involvement
23: Consumer Buying Decisions and Consumer
Involvement
24: Involvement
25: Exhibit 6.2: Continuum of Consumer Buying
Decisions
26: Routine Response Behavior
27: Limited Decision Making
28: Extensive Decision Making
29: Factors Determining Level of Consumer
Involvement
30: Not All Involvement Is the Same
31: Marketing Implications of Involvement
LO5 Identify and understand the cultural factors that
affect consumer buying decisions
6-5 Cultural Influences on Consumer Buying
Decisions
32: Cultural Influences on Consumer Buying Decisions
33: Factors Influencing Buying Decisions
34: Components of Culture
35: Culture is . . .
36: Subculture
37: Social Class
38: Exhibit 6.4: U.S. Social Classes
39: Social Class Measurements
40: The Impact of Social Class on Marketing
LO6 Identify and understand the social factors that
affect consumer buying decisions
6-6 Social Influences on Consumer Buying
Decisions
41: Social Influences on Consumer Buying Decisions
42: Social Influences
43: Exhibit 6.5: Types of Reference Groups
44: Influences of Reference Groups
45: Opinion Leaders
46: Family
LO7 Identify and understand the individual factors that
affect consumer buying decisions
6-7 Individual Influences on Consumer Buying
Decisions
47: Individual Influences on Consumer Buying
Decisions
48: Individual Influences
49: Gender
50: Age and Family Life Cycle Stage
51: Personality, Self-Concept, and Lifestyle
Learning Outcomes and Topics
PowerPoint Slides
LO8 Identify and understand the psychological factors
that affect consumer buying decisions
6-8 Psychological Influences on Consumer
Buying Decisions
52: Psychological Influences on Consumer Buying
Decisions
53: Psychological Influences
54: Perception
55: Marketing Implications of Perception
56: Motivation
57: Exhibit 6.6: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
58: Learning
59: Chapter 6 Video
Suggested Homework:
• The end of this chapter contains assignments for the Ski Butternut video and for the Netflix case.
• This chapter’s online study tools include flashcards, visual summaries, practice quizzes, and other resources that can
be assigned or used as the basis for longer investigations into marketing.
LESSON PLAN FOR VIDEO
Company Clips
Segment Summary: Ski Butternut
Ski Butternut is a ski and snowboard mountain in the Berkshires. Because the mountain is a “soft” mountain, Ski
Butternut collects large amounts of data based on rentals and Web traffic to make sure that they understand who the
customer is and to whom they need to market. Matt Sawyer also discusses how they change the mountain itself to meet
the needs of the customer.
PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOU:
PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOUR STUDENTS:
• Preview the Company Clips video segment for
Chapter 6. This exercise reviews concepts for LO1,
LO2, LO5, and LO6.
• Review your lesson plan.
• Make sure you have all of the equipment needed to
show the video to the class, including the DVD and a
way to project the video.
• You can also stream the video HERE
• Have students familiarize themselves with the
following terms and concepts: consumer behavior,
need recognition, want, culture, social class, and
opinion leader.
• Review the Ski Butternut Web site with those terms in
mind: http://www.skibutternut.com/.
VIDEO REVIEW EXERCISE
ACTIVITY
Warm Up
Begin by asking students, “What is the relationship between a marketing strategy and consumer
behavior?” [you cannot build the first without understanding the second]
6 Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making
In-class
Preview
• Ask students to draw a line down the center of a sheet of paper. The title of the first column
should be “What I Want” and the second column “What I Need.”
• Give students a few minutes to fill their columns.
• Then ask students to circle items from the “Want” column that were definitely influenced by
someone’s marketing strategy. Draw arrows from any entry in the “Need” column into the
“Want” Column for that same reason.
• Finally, have students mark each entry in each column with a “C” if the want or need was
culturally influenced, or an “S” if it was socially influenced. (If necessary, refer students to
review Learning Outcomes 5 and 6 for a summary of cultural and social factors.)
• Segue into a discussion of the consumer decision-making process.
• Write the five steps of the process on the board. Consider using the graphic Exhibit 6.1,
Consumer Decision-Making Process as your diagram.
Viewing
(Solutions
below.)
1. Why is the perception of Butternut as a fun place so important?
2. In general, which type of consumer behavior is described in this video, for new skiers? What
involvement factors are likely to be associated with choosing which ski resort to visit?
Follow-up
• Have students break into groups of up to four students to describe the cultural, social, and
psychological influences that are likely at work on Ski Butternut patrons. What are the
implications for Butternut’s marketing managers, given these influences? Give students about
five minutes and then come back together as a class to share results.
Solutions for Viewing Activities:
1. Why is the perception of Butternut as a fun place so important?
2. In general, which type of consumer behavior is described in this video, for new skiers? What involvement
factors are likely to be associated with choosing which ski resort to visit?
Consumers making infrequent, expensive, or unfamiliar purchases, such as new skiers, engage in extensive decision
LESSON PLAN FOR GROUP WORK
• For “Class Activity – Consumer Buying Behavior,” divide the class into small groups of four or five people. Provide
the information and the questions asked by the class activity.
• Application Questions 3 and 5 lend themselves well to group work. For this activity, divide the class into small
groups of four or five people. Each group should read the question and then use their textbooks, or any work that
was completed previously, to perform the exercise. Then each group should discuss or present their work to the
class.
Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making 7
Class Activity – Consumer Buying Behavior
Have students select a product such as athletic shoes or jeans and determine the way in which their selection of that
particular brand reflects their self-concept. Then have them determine a slogan and sketch a print ad that would appeal to
consumers who seek to express this same self-concept through their product purchase.
REVIEW AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR CHAPTER 6
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. The type of decision making a consumer uses for a product does not necessarily remain constant. Why?
Support your answer with an example from your own experience.
Students’ answers should address some of the following points. Once a consumer has had experience in purchasing
2. Describe the three categories of consumer decision-making behavior. Name typical products for which each
type of consumer behavior is used.
Although students’ answers will vary, they should address some of the following points. Consumers engage in
3. Describe the level of involvement and the involvement factors likely to be associated with buying a new
computer. Do you think Apple’s Web site at http://www.apple.com simplifies or complicates the process for
the average consumer? Explain.
4. How do beliefs and attitudes influence consumer behavior? How can negative attitudes toward a product be
changed? How can marketers alter beliefs about a product? Give some examples of how marketers have
changed negative attitudes about a product or added or altered beliefs about a product.
Beliefs are organized patterns of knowledge that an individual holds as true about his or her world. Consumers tend
8 Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
1. Visit CarPoint’s Web site at http://carpoint.msn.com/home/New.asp. How does the site assist consumers in
the evaluation stage of choosing a new car? Develop your own hypothetical evoked set of three or four car
models and present your comparisons. Which vehicle attributes would be the most important in your
purchase decision?
2. Recall an occasion when you experienced cognitive dissonance about a purchase. In a letter to a friend,
describe the event, and explain what you did about it.
Although students’ answers will vary, the following example shows some of the points students should address.
3. You are the new marketing manager for a firm that produces a line of athletic shoes to be targeted to the
college student subculture. For your boss, write a memo in which you list some product attributes that might
appeal to this subculture, list the steps in your customers’ purchase process, and recommend some marketing
strategies that can influence their decision.
Students’ answers should address some of the following points. American college students represent a large and
4. Family members play many different roles in the buying process: initiator, influencer, decision maker,
purchaser, and consumer. Identify the person in your family who might play each of these roles in the
purchase of a dinner at Pizza Hut, a summer vacation, Froot Loops breakfast cereal, an Abercrombie &
Fitch sweater, golf clubs, an Internet service provider, and a new car.
5. Assume you are involved in the following consumer decision situations: a) renting a video to watch with your
roommates, b) choosing a fast-food restaurant to go to with a new friend, c) buying a popular music compact
disc, and d) buying jeans to wear to class. List the factors that would influence your decision in each situation
and explain your responses.
Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making 9
APPLICATION EXERCISE
Principles of consumer behavior are evident in many areas of marketing. Perhaps the easiest place to see this critical
foundation of marketing activity is in print ads.
Activities
1. Review the main concepts in this chapter and create a checklist that itemizes them. Then, comb through your
favorite magazines and newspapers for advertisements that illustrate each concept. To get a wide variety of ads, you
will need to look through several magazines. If you don’t have many magazines at your disposal, go to the campus
library periodical room. Photocopy the ads you select to support this chapter.
2. Because pictures can help reinforce understanding, consider doing this exercise for each chapter in the book. At the
end of the semester, you will have a portfolio of ads that illustrate the concepts in the entire book, which can help
you study. Simply look through your portfolio and try to recall the concepts at work in each advertisement. This
exercise can be a prelude to a longer study session for comprehensive exams.
Purpose: This exercise requires students to closely examine print ads to see how they use the principles of consumer
buying behavior to make their message more successful. By collecting ads and creating a portfolio showcasing different
products, different ad styles, and so forth, students will see how many marketing concepts discussed in the book are
played out in print media.
Setting It Up: Students may not subscribe to a diverse enough set of magazines to create a varied portfolio. Also, they
may be unwilling to spend a large sum photocopying ads in the library periodical section. Encourage them to select 10
concepts from the chapter and find ads to illustrate them. If your class is small and conducive to group work, you can
have student group their ads according to chapter concepts and then compare how advertisers convey their messages.
Alternatively, you could have students group ads by product categories and see if any consumer behavior concepts are
more prevalent in ads for certain products. For example, which kinds of products seem to rely on opinion leaders, on
self-concept, and so on?
10 Chapter 6 ♦ Consumer Decision Making
This exercise was inspired by the following Great Idea in Teaching Marketing:
P.J. Forrest
Mississippi College
PRINT AD PROJECTS FOR CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
If you use a managerial approach to teaching Consumer Behavior (i.e., this is the concept, this is what you do with it),
you might find the use of Print Ad Projects very helpful. This project has evolved over the years from my asking the
students to bring in a single magazine ad that related to the topics we were discussing in class that day, to requiring a
portfolio of ads that illustrates each of the topic areas we cover.
One of the main benefits for the student in using this project is simple: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” For
example, one undergraduate would not be convinced that the automobile market specifically targeted women. I handed
her a Chevy ad, which showed a young woman and the phrase “this is not my boyfriend’s truck.” In gathering ads that
are examples for the various consumer behavior concepts, the students are forced to look at dozens of ads in a critical
thinking manner. They must analyze both the ads they chose to use and the ones that are unsuitable for the topic they are
trying to illustrate.
Over the years I have kept the “best of” ads from the student projects, and as a result I now have a thick folder of ads for
every chapter in the text. After I lecture on a topic, I whip out a bundle of ads that illustrate the concept and show them
how it is used. It is much easier to create understanding when you can show them the differences in ads that use latent
motives versus manifest motives, or a series of ads that are directed at each of the VALS 2 lifestyle segments.
Generational marketing is also very interesting and illustrates the changes that must be made when advertising to baby
boomers, generation X or generation Y. And you would be amazed at the true depth and breadth of the “Where’s your
mustache?” milk campaign—I must have 50 different print ads.
Depending on the size of the class, I sometimes use this as an individual project or group project. Sometimes I require a
presentation, and sometimes I have the students turn in a portfolio of ads. This project has been a major contribution to
the learning process in my consumer behavior classes and has made them more interesting—for the students and for me.
ETHICS EXERCISE
EyeOnU operates a Web filter service for public schools and libraries to protect students from inappropriate material on
the Internet. Like the industry as a whole, the company’s market share has been stagnant for the past two years. Looking
for new sources of revenue, the company is considering selling the data it has collected about student surfing habits to
marketers trying to learn more about students’ behavior on the Web. The data are anonymous, but privacy advocates are
concerned about the precedent of selling information about children to marketers.
Questions
1. What should EyeOnU do? Should it protect the students’ data or should it take the opportunity to create new
revenues?
EyeOnU could create new revenues from its information, but in order to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy
2. Does the AMA Code of Ethics address this issue? Go to http://www.marketingpower.com and review the
code. Then write a brief paragraph on what the AMA Code of Ethics contains that relates to EyeOnU’s
dilemma.
Although the AMA Code of Ethics does not specifically mention collecting information from children, it does state,
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT: Ski Butternut
Ski Butternut is a ski and snowboard mountain in the Berkshires. Because the mountain is a “soft” mountain, Ski
Butternut collects large amounts of data based on rentals and Web traffic to make sure that they understand who the
customer is and to whom they need to market. Matt Sawyer also discusses how they change the mountain itself to meet
the needs of the customer.
1. For Ski Butternut, racers, first-timers, and terrain-park enthusiasts would be considered
a. opinion leaders
b. lifestyle groups
c. subcultures
d. high-risk categories
2. Matt Sawyer says that first time skiiers tend to stay with their first mountain for as many as seven visits before
trying another ski area. That makes choosing Ski Butternut what for the first-time skier?
a. a want
b. a consideration set
c. a highly visible decision
d. an enduring involvement decision
3. When Ski Butternut put in the terrain park, it
a. began to change the belief that Butternut was only for first-timers by adding a cool and fun feature for more
advanced skiers and snowboarders.
b. changed the importance of the mountain being for families by adding a feature that was not geared towards
families.
c. changed the psychographic make-up of people on the mountain.
d. created a new self-concept for people who visit Ski Butternut.
4. Ski Butternut surveys allows them to compile a database, which reveals
a. typical family life cycle stage for individuals and families.
b. each person’s primary reference group.
c. family subcultures.
d. motivation for skiing.
