Class 4 - The Consumer II Flashcards
Consumer emotion
Main Idea: Managing consumers emotions is critical to the success of marketing communication.
Topic 1: Discrete emotions
Topic 2: Incidental vs. Integral Emotions
Topic 3: Environment-Emotion congruence
What are emotions ?
An emotion is a short-lived state that produces coordinated changes in people’s physiology, thinking, and behavior
- Moods are general states of being (e.g., “I feel good”) where emotions are more specific (e.g., “I feel grateful”)
Whether someone feels an emotion will be determined by how they appraise the situation (e.g., good vs. bad, controllable vs. uncontrollable)
Emotions lead to specific action tendencies
- An action tendency is a coordination between physiology and thought to encourage a consumer to do a specific behavior (e.g., fight when angry)
- Action tendency is evolutionarily adaptive based on the appraisal
Types of emotion :
Sadness
Anger
Anxiety
Disgust
Joy
Interest
Serenity
Gratitude
Sadness
ELICITING APPRASIAL
You lost something that was important to you (e.g., a person, an item, a lifestyle, a goal) and nothing can be done to fix it.
ACTION TENDENCY
To process the loss, then change one’s circumstances by seeking reward (comfort).
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Reward seeking, and will take risks to get it
Engage in less heuristic processing
Anger
ELICITING APPRASIAL
Someone is accountable for harmful actions that hurt the consumer or another person.
ACTION TENDENCY
The “fight” response: To retaliate or punish the other person, by hurting or insulting them back
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Sense of personal control leads to risk taking
Engage in more heuristic processing
Anxiety
ELICITING APPRASIAL
Facing uncertain existential threats to the self or a loved-one, where we don’t feel in-control of outcomes
ACTION TENDENCY
To reduce uncertainty
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Feel that new situations are relatively more risky
Engage in less heuristic processing
Disgust
ELICITING APPRASIAL
Encountering something that you don’t want engage with in any way, because you expect it is bad (can be moral or physical).
ACTION TENDENCY
Very strong impulse to avoid or eject the offending idea/substance. Often accompanied by the urge to vomit.
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Expel current products and avoid taking on anything new
Unlikely to try any product in contact with source of disgust
Joy
ELICITING APPRASIAL
Unexpected good fortune caused by the self or situation rather than another person (e.g., good news or a pleasant surprise)
ACTION TENDENCY
To play or get involved — readiness to engage in whatever comes next
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Improved product evaluations, more likely to purchase and share
More heuristic processing
Interest
ELICITING APPRASIAL
Situations where people encounter novel and/or difficult tasks that don’t feel threatening or overwhelming
ACTION TENDENCY
To learn, explore, and immerse oneself
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Builds psychological resources, leading to more persistence and higher self-regulation
Serenity
ELICITING APPRASIAL
When the current situation is cherished, right, or satisfying. Derived from feeling comfortable or at-ease
ACTION TENDENCY
The surge to savor the current circumstance and integrate them into one’s priorities/values.
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Relatively less risk seeking
Engage in more heuristic processing
Gratitude
ELICITING APPRASIAL
When people acknowledge another person as a source of their unexpected good fortune.
ACTION TENDENCY
Express kindness and care to others (i.e., be generous oneself)
EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION
Greatly improved product evaluations and more willingness to share
Increased trust
Others positive emotions :
Hope
Pride
Amusement
Inspiration
Awe
Love
Integral emotions vs incidental emotions
Integral emotions: Emotions that are relevant to present judgements and choices (e.g., I am angry because of the customer service call)
Incidental emotions: Emotions that are irrelevant to judgements and choices (e.g., I am angry because of lunch, and I am on a customer service call)
BOTH incidental and integral emotions affect consumers’ judgement and decision making.
Many incidental factors can affect how consumers rate your product or your service.
Consider building an environment to encourage positive emotions, even if they are irrelevant to your product.
Principle 3: Emotion-Environment Match
If people cannot enact the action tendency of their emotion in their current environment, they will leave.
Emotions overview
Emotions—whether elicited by the sales environment / marketing communication or not—have a strong influence on consumer behaviour
It is important to:
- Be aware of the way your ad or environment may elicit emotions
- Make sure the action tendency you want from consumers matches the emotion you are eliciting.
CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS
Topic 1: Giver-receiver asymmetry in gift-giving
Topic 2: Choices for Others: Caregiving & Favors
Topic 3: Choosing for joint consumption
Types of Joint Consumption
Choosing for others
Gifts
Caregiving
Everyday pick-ups
Choosing for joint consuptions
Giver-Recipient Asymmetry:
In predictable ways, people give gifts that are different than what they would prefer if they were receiving the gift
Temporal Focus
Givers focus on the moment of receipt, rather than the long-term value.
Givers prefer complete gifts (e.g., $50 headphones) over gifts that eventually lead to something better ($50 deposit toward $100 headphones)
Givers prefer to give fun gifts than useful gifts. Recipients prefer useful gifts
Gifting Norms
Gift-givers are more concerned with following gifting norms than gift receivers.
Gift-givers prefer to give “traditional” gifts (e.g., jewelry on Valentines) where receivers prefer non-traditional gifts
Gift givers prefer not to give used gifts even though recipients would like them
Thoughtfulness
Givers over-give gifts that show they thought of the recipient.
To demonstrate their knowledge of the recipient, givers give narrow gifts (e.g., gift card to a store) vs. general (e.g., Visa gift card)
Give gifts showing unique knowledge of the recipient rather than buying from a registry
Risk Aversion
Givers are much more risk-averse than seekers would prefer.
Givers think sentimental gifts are too risky, and give gifts that superficially match recipient’s taste.
Experiential gifts (e.g., opera tickets) are perceived as harder to “get right”—& are thus given less often—than material gifts.
Givers prefer quality to quantity.
Making Choices For Others
Caregiving & Favors
Caregiving: Choosers believe that others’ decision-making deficits (caused by age, expertise, health, or emotional coping) interfere with their ability to make informed, appropriate choices for themselves.
Favors: When recipients are constrained in time, location or energy, they may ask a loved-one to make the choice for them. The chooser does so as a “favor” to the recipient.
Consumers think differently when choosing for others . 4 reasons
Regulatory Focus
People are more promotion focused when choosing for others — i.e., they are more focused on selecting the best option
People are less prevention focused when choosing for others (vs. themselves)—they are less focused on not selecting the worst option
Fatigue & Overload
When choosing for others, people are happier with their choice when choosing from large vs. small choice sets (reversing choice overload)
People find it more fun and less depleting to choose for others vs. themselves
Heuristics and Biases
People are less likely to use heuristics (and thus make biased decisions) when choosing for others vs. themselves
Decoy Effect
Hyperbolic discounting
Loss aversion
Information Search
When purchasing products for others (vs. themselves), people do more thorough search of both alternatives and attributes
When forced to make a trade-off people focus more on attributes for themselves and alternatives for others.
Joint consumption
In all other forms of choices for others, the chooser can be primarily focused on the recipient’s preferences.
In joint consumption, the chooser is balancing their own preferences against the preferences of the co-consumption partners
Co-consumption also presents opportunities to strengthen the relationship, which will affect decision-making.
Balancing own & other preferences
The process of balancing own and other’s preferences depends on whether people have the same preferred option or different preferred options.
When preferred options differ, it matters whether preferences are strong or weak.
Same preferred option
Generally, having the same preferred option has positive outcomes
Consumers with shared preferences like each other more than consumers without shared preferences
Discovering shared preferences while together can strengthen the relationship
There is one negative outcome:
When choice is made sequentially (e.g., ordering at a restaurant), people avoid purchasing the same thing as others, leading them not to choose their preferred option.
Different Preferred option
If preferences are weak…
People will choose a compromise option when possible.
If compromise is not possible:
People prioritize the experience with their partner over their preference, leading them to choose their partner’s preferred option
When people don’t know their partner’s preferred option, they still try to defer (“whatever you want”) but doing so actually harms the relationship
The choosing partner feels they must “guess” their partner’s preferences, leading to resentment over time.
If preferences are strong…
People decide whether to try to persuade their partner based on:
How effective they expect the persuasion attempt to be
People are more effective when they are experts, high status, or attractive
The cost of trying to persuade the partner (e.g., conflict, having no input on the next choice)
The benefit (e.g., how strong the preference is, how important the decision is)
The persuasion attempt may or may not be successful depending on:
The partner’s estimation of the penalties resulting from non-compliance
The benefits of non-compliance
Benefits of joint consumption
Celebrating with others makes consumers feel like they will have more social support when they need it.
Sharing a consumption experience makes the people who shared that experience feel closer to one-another.
Consuming alongside another person makes the consumption experience more enjoyable
Exemple ikea :
The article describes emotions such as frustration, tension, and a sense of loss that couples may experience at IKEA due to overwhelming choices, high stakes of joint decision-making, and the ensuing conflicts that can amplify minor disagreements into significant relationship stressors. This dynamic can affect IKEA’s image as it highlights the potential for shopping experiences to escalate into relationship conflicts, possibly deterring couples from visiting or impacting their perception of the brand as a stress-inducing environment rather than a place of positive retail experience.
Negative consequences of joint consumption can include heightened stress and conflict due to differing preferences and decision-making styles, leading to dissatisfaction and regret over choices made. This strain can adversely impact relationship dynamics, creating tension and reducing the overall enjoyment of the shared experience.
