Consumer Behaviour - Consumer Perception and Decision Making

The organizations across the globe produce goods and services for their ultimate buyers who are termed as Consumers, in the business world. Ever-changing technology and an urge to deliver the best and unique products and services is what every organization, big or small, aim. This is not an easy task. It requires consistent efforts put in by the people backstage, i.e., the employees of the organization, who are specialists in their respective fields. Every organization studies its target market and audience in detail. This includes their demand patterns, family structure, age and gender, educational and work background, income, geographical area, etc. These factors cumulatively are termed as Consumer Behavior's.

Consumer is the king. Therefore, studying consumer behavior's will give you an edge and help the organization work towards the retention of loyal customers and attracting the new ones. Consumer Behavior's is required to be studied and analyzed not just by the production department so as to produce quality goods and services, but also by the:

• Statisticians to know the changing trends of the economy.
• Sociologists to study the growth and development of the society.
• Marketers to assess the demand patterns and changing needs of the target audience.

Therefore, undergoing a specialized training program for Consumer Behavior's can get you more and better career options to explore and unfurl your skills and talent.

What is Consumer Behavior's?

Consumer Behavior is defined as “the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior and the environment by the human beings conduct the exchange aspects of lives”. It means that the buying habits of the consumer are greatly affected by their thought process and their feelings experienced. Human beings are greatly influenced in their buying actions by various factors like opinions of others, marketing stimuli like product, advertising, packaging and product appearance.

Consumer Behavior is a branch which deals with the various stages a consumer goes through before purchasing products or services for his end use.

Any individual who purchases goods and services from the market for his/her end-use is called a consumer. In simpler words a consumer is one who consumes goods and services available in the market. Every customer shows inclination towards particular products and services. Consumer interest is nothing but willingness of consumers to purchase products and services as per their taste, need and of course pocket.

Scope of Consumer Behaviour

Consumer Behaviour has very wide scope due to the following reasons:

• Ever increasing intensifying competition.
• More aggressive competitors emerging with greater frequency.
• Changes based on competition
• Geographic sources of competition are becoming wider.
• Niche attacks are becoming frequent.
• Pace of innovation is rapid.
• Price competition becoming more aggressive.
• Product differentiation is declining.

Who is a Consumer Behavior's Analyst?

Organizations employ consumer behavior's analysts to examine and analyze consumer behavior's, such as prediction of what kind of products they prefer, and to prepare reports and estimates to help them increase sales as well as enhance customer relations. Different types of companies hire these analysts, regardless of their nature as most of companies sell physical products; other companies sell services, entertainment, or other intangible products. Generally, employers prefer hiring analysts who have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in either marketing or psychology; however, qualification and experience requirements differ, depending on the company’s needs. Some employers ask to the position as a director of consumer awareness or a manager.

A consumer behavior's analyst usually perform duties of a researcher and data analyst, studying consumer demand patterns, purchasing habits and other behavior's that affect the sales of an organization. Many employers expect these analysts to study past customer habits and forecast future habits and develop this information in the form of reports into an improved sales campaign. Typically, these analysts utilize this information to target customers based on various demographical factors, like age, education, gender, family structure, and location majorly. Other demographical aspects might include consumer’s buying habits, social status, or income bracket.

Often, an analyst collects data from various sources. These sources can either be internal or external or both, such as suppliers, wholesalers, and customers. Popular methods of data collection are Surveys, which can be undertaken by the organization’s personnel under the direction of consumer behaviour analyst or a professional survey or polling company can be hired to perform the same. Whatever be the case, the organization’s consumer behaviour analyst merges both the survey information and data gathered from other sources, to take proper decisions and make efficient plans for the organization.

Often, consumer behavior's analysts use data from several sources. For example, to analyze a motion picture or television production company, the consumer behavior's analysts may use television ratings and other industry statistics, data collected from the audience, and social media. The entertainment industry commonly utilizes the data gathered to enhance the marketing strategies and make better advertising campaigns for new television shows and movies.

Consumers do not realize if consumer behavior's analysts are tracking their spending patterns and buying habits. There are many traditional and modern methods to track a consumer’s buying patterns. Often these analysts or computer records can ascertain their target audience’s age, gender, income and other important demographical information through these sources. Using a strong psychological background, an analyst can forecast future demand patterns of consumers and suggest the organization on lucrative marketing and product development strategies.

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how:

• Your target audience thinks, feels, and selects between various alternatives;
• the psychology of your target audience is affected by its surroundings and environment;
• the nature and conduct of the target audience while making purchasing decisions;
• the constraints of knowledge or information processing skills affect decisions and marketing results;
• consumer motivation and decision strategies vary between goods and services that are different in their level of interest or need that they demand for their target audience;
• the marketers can change, alter and improve their marketing strategies and promotion campaigns to reach their target audience more effectively;

The course gives detailed explanation of each concept and aspect associated with consumer behaviour. The curriculum is divided into various sections and further into sub-sections:

• Section 1

Overview and Introduction of Consumer Behaviour, Success of Brands, Customer Loyalty & Retention Strategy, Effect of changing technologies, consumer decision making model, traditional vs. value-based marketing

• Section 2

Consumer Research Process, Primary Research & its design, Quantitative and survey research, Sampling, attitude scales, online focus groups, comparison between Qualitative & Quantitative research process

• Section 3

Market Segmentation & Strategic Targeting, basis for segmentation, personality traits, VALS Model (Values-Attitude-LifeStyle), Age-cycle concept of segmentation, Concentrated vs. Differentiated Marketing

• Section 4

In this section, we study Consumer Motivation, goals and trio of needs, Dynamics of Motivation, Defense Mechanisms, Murray’s list of Psychogenic Needs, and states of culture & need

• Section 5

This section explains Personality & Consumer Behaviour, various theories of personality, nature and characteristics of personality, self concept, social character, cognitive personality factors, and consumer materialism

• Section 6

This includes Consumer and subliminal Perception, perceptual organization and interpretation, and various stereotypes in Advertising

• Section 7

Consumer Learning, categories of learning theory, strategic application of classical conditioning, Instrumental conditioning and its application, Brand relations

• Section 8

Consumer attitude formation & change, Tri-component model, Multi-attribute model, Attitude formation, Strategies of Attitude change

• Section 9

Communication & consumer behaviour, credibility & dynamics of informal & formal sources, strategic marketing application, Barriers to communication, designing Persuasive message

• Section 10

Family and Social class, consumer socialization of children, Socialization process model, Dynamics of decision making, Functions and roles of members in family decision making

• Section 11

This section involves Influence of cross-culture on consumer, and levels of subjective culture

Career Benefits:

This training course covers all important aspects of consumer behavior's and buying process, thereby enhancing the career opportunities for the professionals and executives undertaking this course. Following are the benefits discussed:

• Increase in salaries – The course improves your knowledge and expertise by providing online teaching and practise case studies, thereby, giving an edge to your career. This leads to increase in salaries.
• Specialized role and responsibilities – Getting a certificate or diploma helps you get specific and specialized responsibilities and defines your role. It helps you focus on your specialized area.
• Master in One – This training makes you the master of a specific skill, i.e., understanding Consumer Behaviour and important aspects and theories that revolve around it. It’s better to master a skill rather than being a Jack of All.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

A certification from an accredited, competitive program can contribute to a strong professional reputation.

• What is the basic educational qualification required to take this training course?

There is no basic eligibility criterion or educational qualification required to take this particular training program. However, it is best recommended for marketing professionals and executives, and statisticians and researchers.

• What will I get along with this Training?

You will get access to e-learning via login id and password, and numerous case studies to get better understanding of each module, allowing you to set your own self-study pace.

• What does Consumer Behaviour Certification demonstrate?

Consumer Behavior's Certification demonstrates an understanding about changing behavioral patterns of consumers, and theories and approaches applied by the organizations in order to attain best results.

• Does my certification expire?

Our certifications do not expire. However, with the changing nature of the industry and the evolution of best practices and standards, we highly recommend becoming re-certified once every two years. If you have done any certification with us before, and want to get re-certified in that particular course, you can get it done with 25% off on the course fee.

• Whom do I contact to know more about the Training program?

Please join our Live Chat for instant support, call us, or Request a Call Back to have your query resolved and questions answered.

Career Options

This is a wide course explaining different modules and behaviours of the consumers for different products and services, and the approaches, theories and models that can be applied for better understanding of the needs and demand patterns of the consumers as well as executing and implementing strategies based on these. Thus, undergoing this training course will give various options, to someone who is new to this concept as well as if you have a good understanding of market and its aspects.

• Buyer behaviour Analysts
• Survey Researcher
• Consumer Sociologist
• Statistician

What is the target audience?

This training course provides an insight to every professional from every field of the industry, as each employee works for an organization to produce best results thereby maximizing its profits. Therefore, this course is designed for everyone in general. However, it is best recommended for people who want to further pursue careers as buyer behaviour analysts, sociologists, statisticians, etc mainly include professionals and executives. The list of target audience for the training module is:

• Young Marketing Executives and Non-Marketing Professionals;
• Marketing Students;
• Sales Professionals;
• Strategists and Sociologists;
• Statisticians;
• Researchers.