Consumer Behaviour in Marketing: An Overview

Marketing is much more than generating eye-catching content and using engaging advertisements. One of the sole aspects of marketing is understanding consumer behaviour to offer products according to their tastes and preferences.

What is Consumer Behaviour in Marketing?

Consumer behaviour, by definition, is the study of customers, their likes, dislikes, and their trends in purchasing specific products and services. It is about understanding what they are likely to buy, why, and when. Knowing consumer behaviour meaning and studying it has become even more critical in the last few years, helping companies devise marketing campaigns.

For instance, if you sell commodities of a higher price amongst customers with a lower per capita income, your products are likely to fail, and you would earn no profits. Or suppose you sell an item that is against the general purchase trends of the customers. Your articles/products would not sell well. Thus, studying consumer behaviour helps select your target customers and alter your products according to their needs and choices.

Why is Consumer Behaviour Important?

There are several benefits of studying the scope of consumer behaviour. While on the one hand, consumer behaviour can help you implement specific field marketing strategies for your customer base. It also enables you to trace the prevalent trends in the market: this, in turn, helps you understand the kinds of products and services you can sell to maximize your profits. The characteristics of consumer behaviour is also crucial to trace the mode of purchase amongst your customers.

Do they visit the stores? Or do they purchase most things online? For instance, if you are running a retail store and typically your customers buy products online, you can orient your marketing strategy to tackle this facet and enable the customers to visit the store. In such a scenario, the importance of understanding consumer behaviour cannot be overstated.

If you have enabled the customers to visit the store, it is crucial to deploy relevant retail merchandising strategies to engage them. Assessing the factors influencing customer behaviour is also pivotal in designing the store and orienting merchandise to suit their preferences and purchasing decisions. Thus, consumer behaviour helps you develop a rich insight into their tastes and preferences and understand strategies to maximize sales.

What are the 4 Types of Customer Buying Behavior?

• Complex Buying Behavior

Complex buying behavior is a phenomenon where customers end up purchasing expensive goods from different brands. They conduct extensive research and concentrate on their buying process and experience. However, such behavior is also called Complex behavior because they have no specific buying trend. Examples of this behavior include buying real estate properties, etc.

• Dissonance-reducing Buying Behavior

Dissonance-reducing behavior is a trait where customers find it challenging to differentiate between brands. The confusion in customers is called ‘dissonance.’ For instance, a customer might buy a computer and think the other brand would have been better. Thus, they seek validation to ensure they choose the right brand. Such a habit helps customers overcome their confusion too.

• Habitual Buying Behavior

Habitual buying behavior is when customers buy products out of habit or everyday need. Customers are not concerned about the brand or exhibit brand loyalty in such a buying behavior. Instead, they purchase items because they need them daily. For instance, they are buying milk or groceries. In such cases, the customers buy the same product because of its utility and seldom purchase them because they prefer a specific brand.

• Variety Seeking Behavior

As the name suggests, variety-seeking behavior is a phenomenon where customers buy alternative products just to try them out. For instance, one might purchase various brands of shower gels just to check out the variety. Such brand changes do not mean the customer thinks the previous products were not up to the mark. Instead, they change these items just to try out something different.

Three Factors of Consumer Behaviour:

There are three factors affecting consumer behaviour in marketing and determining the extent of product sales. These factors include the following:

• Psychological Behaviour:

Psychological factors are the customers’ beliefs, perspectives, and thought processes. Customers are more likely to buy products whose message coincides with their ideologies. This inclusivity is one of the sole factors for the growing popularity of companies that adopt a sustainable business approach. Customers are increasingly becoming more aware and concerned about environmental factors and realize the need to protect the environment and prevent global warming. As a result, they are likely to buy products from companies that implement sustainable practices into business operations that include environment-friendly modes of production and much more.

• Personal Behaviour:

Personal factors include the unique tastes and preferences of the customers and their choice of purchasing a specific product. These personal factors aren’t similar to other groups and communities. Instead, they are inherent within the individuals. These factors include the personal reasons behind buying a specific product. It would help if you remembered that the personal factors do not influence any other group or individual. These factors define particular and unique consumption patterns and purchasing trends. For instance, an aged customer would prefer buying specific products over the youngsters. Thus, if you sell fast food items, the younger generations are most likely to be your target customers, whereas the aged customers are likely to buy health products, food supplements, etc.

• Social Behaviour:

Social factors are the ones that are entirely developed in association with other groups, communities, or individuals. These factors are not inherent in an individual. Instead, they are imposed upon or reinforced into the customer. These tastes and preferences emerge as a result of interactions with other groups of people. For instance, children visiting a school are more likely to buy attractive stationery, a young adult may buy gym equipment or sports shoes, and so on.

What are the Characteristics of Consumer Behavior?

These are the following characteristics of consumer behavior:

• Consumer behavior depends on products, ideas, and activities
• Consumer behavior can change from time to time and is dynamic
• Consumer behavior is not just about buying. Instead, it is about their tastes, beliefs, etc.
• Consumer behavior is framed through interaction amongst various consumers, indicating an exchange of ideas.

Key Insights:

Role of Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour plays a crucial role in merchandising. The amount of money a customer is willing to spend on a product also depends on their behaviour. It is these factors that determine your target customer base. Which customer base is ready to buy your products at a specific price? As a result, the nature of consumer behaviour plays a crucial role in determining marketing strategies. For instance, if you find your customers are unwilling to pay the price you fixed for your products, reducing it can cause a sudden increase in your customer base.

Consumer Behaviour Model

Remember that analysing consumer behaviour models is critical to offering products tailored to their interests and preferences. It is vital to match marketing techniques to client behaviour to reap maximum benefits from your marketing activities. Marketing your products can be expensive, so make the most of every action undertaken. Thus, it would be best to study consumer behaviour models before selecting a suitable market trend.

What Are the Steps Involved in a Consumer’s Purchase Decision Process?

The purchase decision process of a consumer involves several steps. When someone goes to a store they start making a purchase decision. The nature of consumer behaviour has stages, the first stage is recognizing what they need. Now, the search begins and they evaluate the available options. As per the available product information, they make a purchase decision. The factors influencing consumer behaviour to buy a product may depend on the budget, preference and need. Let’s know consumer behaviour definition and how to meet all their needs below.

What is Customer Loyalty? How Do You Build Loyalty?

Customer loyalty refers to the degree of commitment a consumer has towards a particular brand or company. Building a customer relationship helps your business as they tend to make repeated purchases. Here are some strategies that help build customer loyalty:

Excellent customer service:

Treat customers with respect, empathy, and prompt attention. This is one of the prime factors influencing consumer behaviour.

Quality products and services:

Be consistent with high-quality products or services that meet or exceed customers expectations.

Create a unique brand identity:

Stand out from the competition with a distinctive brand identity.

Reward loyal customers:

Provide discounts and exclusive offers to make customers feel valued and appreciated.

Encourage customer feedback:

Listen to customer feedback and take action.

Engage with customers:

Through social media and email marketing build an online presence.
Above strategies work only if you understand the consumer behaviour. This way, you can identify the types of consumer behaviour and meet their needs. So you should know the importance of consumer behaviour.

How Does the Internet Affect Consumer Behaviour?

Consumer behaviour has been dramatically altered by the internet. From information searches to shopping and purchasing decisions. Learn how consumer behaviour has changed:

Online Research:

Provide a vast amounts of information about the products and services

Online Shopping:

Shopping becomes more convenient, accessible and affordable with online retailers competitive prices, free shipping, and easy returns.

Price Comparison:

Help compare prices and product reviews online.

Personalization:

The internet helps collect data on consumer behavior. So design a marketing message that meets consumer preferences.

Customer Feedback:

It is essential to know types of consumer behaviour to help them what they need and what are their views on your product and how would they perceive it. Reviews help you know what customers need.

What is Social Intelligence?

Social intelligence helps understand and navigate social situations to effectively, build and maintain relationships with the consumer. It is a key aspect as it gives you the ability to understand what is consumer behaviour.
With active listening understand what they are saying. This way you can resolve conflicts in a constructive and positive manner. The ability to recognize consumer behaviour will impact your business positively.
So studying consumer behaviour is extremely important for retailers, especially with the internet presence. Using consumer behaviour, you can get insights and the required data to understand what their expectations are and how to retain a consumer. Understanding these are vital and can learn about it by tracking buying patterns and behaviour, ultimately it affects your business and brand’s overall growth.