consumer psychology It is the field that studies the mechanisms and factors that determine the decisions of a buyer when purchasing a good or service. Understanding your reach will help you understand how to trigger the interest of your potential customers in your products.
Have you ever wondered why some commercials seem to speak directly to you? Or why are your customers interested in some of your products, but not in others? Deciphering this is the goal of consumer psychology and today I will explain some key points of this field so used by marketing and advertising. are you coming with me?
What is consumer psychology?
Consumer psychology is the discipline in charge of study the factors and processes by which users consider, select and purchase products. This knowledge helps companies develop strategies that increase sales or brand recognition based on knowing the behavior of their customers.
Although it seems that this field of study is only based on psychology, the reality is that it goes further. Curtis Haugtvedt, master of consumer psychology, explains in his book :
…is a discipline at the interface of marketing, advertising and psychology. Work in consumer psychology integrates theories and methods from different areas, as well as different approaches to research and practice.
We can then consider that it is an area of study within psychology, supported by techniques and theories of advertising and marketing, to explain why people make certain decisions when purchasing a good or service.
What is consumer psychology for?
The purpose of consumer psychology is to indicate, based on analysis and research techniques from various areas, why people lean towards certain decisions when they make a purchase.
Much of this field of study focuses on understanding the buying process and how different factors —personal, cultural, social and psychological— influence user behaviour, even before deciding on a certain product.
To the extent that a business understands the reasoning behind this process, it is possible to design and implement more effective marketing, advertising andwhich increase the attractiveness of their products in the market.
When did consumer behavior begin to be studied?
consumer behavior cIt began to gain more attention and relevance from the 1950swhen in Europe and the United States, marketing had a perspective more focused on the economy and prices.
It was then that, hand in hand with psychology, advertising, and even sociology, marketing adopted research methodologies to study and be able to replicate its operating models in different audiences.
in his book consumer psychology guideCurtis Haugtvedt mentions how in the 1950s, psychologists began to work informally, mainly in Chicago, for advertising agencies, polling companies, and marketing research firms.
But it was in 1959 when these groups of specialists approached the APA (American Psychological Association) to establish a new division within the scope of this field of study. This is how the division of ‘Consumer Psychology’ was officially born.
Who studies consumer psychology?
Being a multidisciplinary area, professionals from different areas contribute to the study of buyer behavior. The main disciplines that study consumer psychology are:
- Marketing
- behavioral psychology
- Sociology
- Advertising
- Anthropology
Let us briefly see from what approach these fields have studied consumer psychology.
Marketing
Marketing has been the main recipient of contributions from other disciplines to consumer psychology. Its objective is to improve strategies based on the understanding of the buyer and the determining factors in their behavior.
behavioral psychology
This branch of psychology seeks to explain, by analyzing conscious and unconscious elements of the individual’s behavior, how these influence their way of buying.
Sociology
This discipline focuses on explaining how the environment and life of the consumer in society determine their decisions throughout the purchase process.
Advertising
Through the use of message and impact strategies, advertising seeks to influence the consumer’s purchase decision and better understand this influence.
Anthropology
The focus of this discipline is to structure consumer behavior within a cultural and historical context and to understand how products modify this behavior.
What are Kotler’s theories about consumer behavior?
Among the little more than 50 books he has published, Philip Kotler has established different theories regarding consumer behaviorheto psychology of this during the purchase and the applications that this has in marketingbeing the three main ones:
- Factors influencing consumer behavior
- Decision Roles in Behavioral Segmentation
- The five stages of the buying process
Kotler is an American author, professor, mathematician, and lecturer whom He is known as “the father of modern marketing”. Let’s take a closer look at his theories related to consumer behavior.
Factors influencing consumer behavior
According to Kotler in his book , there are four factors that influence consumer behavior:
- Cultural: factors such as culture, subculture and system.
- Social: family, reference groups, roles in society and status.
- Personal: age, occupation, economic situation and lifestyle.
- Psychological: motivations, perceptions, learning, beliefs and attitudes.
During the purchase process, Kotler establishes that consumer behavior responds to a model of stimuli and responses aimed at satisfying . The objective of marketing is to understand what happens between the arrival of these stimuli to the buyer and the moment when the purchase decision finally occurs. 🎯
Decision Roles in Behavioral Segmentation
also in his book Marketing direction, Philip Kotler assigns roles to people according to their participation in the purchase process. These are:
- Initiatorwho detects the need to acquire a product or considers doing so for the first time.
- Influentialdoes not intervene directly in the purchase, but advises others.
- deciderthe person with the power to decide if the purchase is made.
- Buyerwill be the person who makes the purchase of the product.
- Useras its name indicates, the person who consumes or uses the product.
The same person can play one or more roles during the purchase process. Let’s look at an example to make it clearer. Let’s say a family decides to purchase a computer. The roles might look like this:
- initiator: The eldest daughter states that, due to the number of jobs and virtual classes, a single computer is no longer enough for her and her younger brother. It is necessary to purchase other equipment.
- Influential: The daughter goes to a tech expert’s reviews on YouTube to find out which computing device is better.
- decider: The mother listens to her daughter’s conclusion and determines that they will buy the new computer equipment.
- Buyer: The father uses his department store credit card to pay for the equipment.
- User: the youngest son uses the computer that will help him in his classes, while the daughter keeps the first computer.
Kotler tells us that each role responds to its own behavioral factors and influences the rest of the roles differently. How many of these roles have you played during a purchase? How should your brand speak to ensure that your product is taken into account by each of the roles? These are some questions that will help you take strategic actions. 📝
The five stages of the buying process
Philip Kotler explains the five stages a buyer goes through before, during, and after purchasing a product. These are:
- problem recognition
- information search
- Evaluation of alternatives
- purchase decision
- Post-purchase behavior
Let’s review each one. Surely you identify with all of them for that last time you bought something. 😊
problem recognition
The consumer recognizes the presence of a need, which arises as a result of internal and external stimuli. Then, it is possible to replicate and trigger, through marketing strategies, that interest with certain stimuli.
information search
Although Kotler explains how, in general, consumers search in a limited way for information related to what they want to buy, more and more current users turn to information sources and modify their search dynamics to educate their purchase.
Evaluation of alternatives
There is no universal process used by all buyers for this step, but there are models and processes that segment the way in which consumers classify the information they collect. Then, marketing can anticipate and generate the information that the customer will look for to find out.
purchase decision
As in the previous point, there are various models by which a consumer decides which of the options best meets their needs. Here appear the opinions of others regarding the product or unforeseen situational factors, which can even modify the decision suddenly.
Post-purchase behavior
Even after the purchase, marketing informed by consumer psychology can help reinforce the buyer’s decision. In this way, it increases post-purchase satisfaction or increases user loyalty towards the brand, for example.
Understand and apply Kotler’s theories of consumer behavior they help you give much more focus and certainty to the marketing strategies you carry out. The analysis you make of the factors, roles and stages during the purchase process will guide you to understand more clearly the psychology of your consumer.
What is the psychology of the Mexican consumer?
Although it is complex to standardize the behavior of the entire Mexican society, it is possible to interpret the dynamics and factors that influence their purchase. If we start from this point, the decisive factors for the Mexican consumer are:
- The family as influence (social factor): the opinion of his closest nucleus about what he consumes.
- Family values (cultural factor): what the individual learned and consumed in family.
- The price (personal factor): the cost of the product and the position it gives you within the social scale.
- The motivation (psychological factor): what motivates and how do you prioritize your needs based on…
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