Nature of Perception
Consumers formulate perceptions as they relate to the world and the environment around them.
Perception is defined as a process by means of which people select, organise and interpret stimuli. By using their senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste they become aware of all stimuli.
In other words, perception is the way people see the world.
Note that the process of perception begins by:
- firstly being exposed to a stimulus, such as an advertisement or product,
- then paying attention to it,
- finally, interpreting its meaning
- in order to respond to it.
The Five Senses
Hear, Smell, See, Taste, Feel
Sight plays a role in purchasing jewellery or clothes.
Hearing plays a role in purchasing musical instruments and electronic equipment.
Touch plays a role in purchasing material and clothes.
Taste plays a role in purchasing sweets, toothpaste and food.
Smell plays a role in purchasing perfume, fresh bread, flowers and deodorants.
Perception is selective
Consumers pay selective attention to stimuli.
They will be interested only in those that appeal to them and will mentally block out any stimuli that do not appeal to their needs.
- For example, BMW will try to entice consumers with an advertisement, but may find that some consumers are so passionate about Mercedes-Benz that this will block out any stimuli from BMW.
In the context of consumer behaviour, paying selective attention to stimuli is referred to as perceptual defence.
Perception plays a role in the interpretation of marketing messages by the individual consumer.
Selective Stimuli, in the context of consumer behaviour, is referred to as:
perceptual defence
Perception is subjective
This element involves the individual consumer’s reaction according to his or her interpretation of stimuli and not always according to the objective reality.
Subjective factors always play a role in perception.
Few people perceive things in exactly the same way.
Perception is based on the individual’s frame of reference
The individual’s perception is based on his or her experience.
This experience is the bedrock on which the individual’s frame of reference is based.
Individual consumers normally pay attention only to those things they have experienced or are interested in.
- For example, If a person is interested in going on safari, he or she will be inclined to notice advertisements for safari tours and tour operators that specialise in this type of activity.
The perceptual process consists of four phases:
- exposure
- attention
- interpretation
- recall (or memory).
Exposure
Exposure is the degree to which people notice a stimulus that is within range of their sensory receptors.
The marketer, therefore, has to place the company’s messages where targeted consumers will be exposed to them.
Most of the stimuli to which we expose ourselves are self-selected – we therefore refer to selective exposure as a perceptual defence mechanism.
- A consumer can, for example, avoid unwelcome stimuli by quickly paging through a magazine and ignoring the advertisements or by turning off the radio or television when commercials are aired.
A marketer may find different ways to gain exposure, for example:
- Place advertisements in unconventional places, such as on the front inside shopping trolleys, on walls in sports stadiums, and on cubicle doors in restrooms, where the marketer has a “captive audience”.
- Determine which type of media consumers in the target market are most frequently exposed to, and use these types of media as subsequent advertising vehicles.
Attention
Attention refers to the extent to which processing activity is devoted to a particular stimulus.
- Think, for example, about interesting and boring lectures.
This means the allocation of attention can vary according to the recipient (ie student’s mind set at the time) and the characteristics of the stimulus (ie the lecture).
In the same way, selective attention causes a consumer not to comprehend the content of the marketing message.
The marketer should try to overcome selective attention. The following are ways in which this can be done:
- Larger stimuli (full-page advertisements versus fractional advertisements)
- Higher frequency (the repetition of advertisements on the radio or in other types of media) will be more likely to be noticed.
- Colour and movement attract attention.
- Products in a store at eye level are more likely to be noticed than those on higher or lower shelves.
Interpretation
When a consumer has been exposed to a marketing message, and has paid attention to it, the message still needs to be interpreted in the way intended by the marketer.
Selective interpretation occurs when the stimuli are perceived, but the message itself is not interpreted correctly – the consumer distorts the meaning or misunderstands it.
To avoid selective interpretation, a marketer can, for example, do the following:
- Pre-test the message to ensure it will be interpreted correctly.
- Determine how cultural differences influence the use of colour, symbols and numbers.
Recall (or memory)
Consumers do not remember all the information they see, hear or read, even if it has drawn their attention and they have interpreted it.
Again, recall is also selective as the consumer often remembers only certain stimuli and forgets others which may _not be importan_t to him or her.
Marketers need to consider the following to overcome selective recall:
Visibility influences the ability to retrieve items from our memory for use in consumption decisions. In this case it would help to make use of demonstrations.
Repetition is important for reinforcing the message.
Make use of the consumer’s ability to learn, the result of a combination of motivation, attention, experience and repetition.
What can a marketer formulate in oder to influence consumer behaviour?
Retail strategy
The brand image
Price as a quality
Retail strategy
Retail strategy could involve the marketer having to make decisions that will positively influence the consumer’s perception with regard to the overall store.
- The retail strategy, for example, may use point-of-purchase displays in a colourful way and erecting big shelf spaces for products that attract more attention from consumers.
The brand image
The brand image of the product could be positioned in such a way that consumers perceive it in a positive and favourable manner when compared to other competing products.
- The Mercedes-Benz brand, for example, can be positioned as having safety features that are unmatched by competing brands.
Price as a quality
Price as a quality cue can be used to influence consumer perception by associating price with the quality of the highest standard and other supporting services to be derived from using and owning a product.
- such as Russell Hobbs appliances. These appliances are linked to high quality, performance and unique designs.
Nature of Learning
Learning is the process by which individuals acquire buying and consumption knowledge and experience, which they apply to future behaviour.
It is important to highlight that all aspects of the individual (motives, attitudes, perception and personality) are formed through the process of learning.
The external factors: such as the family, culture, social class and reference group also greatly influence the individual as he or she learns and experiences in these contexts and situations.
- The consumer must, for example, learn which product attributes relate to which brand, where it can be purchased and at what price it can be bought. Consumers must also be able to recognise the distinctive packaging and remember the information supplied in the marketing message when they are in a position to purchase the product.
Elements of Learning
- Stimulus
- Response
- Reinforcement
Stimulus
A stimulus, is something that stimulates the learner’s interest.
Marketers can stimulate consumers by using physical things, such as products, brands and size, or intangibles, such as service, quality and satisfaction.
Once consumers have perceived a stimulus, they must be motivated to seek the object before learning occurs.
Motivation, therefore, acts as a spur to learning, with motives serving as stimuli to learning.
The stronger the motivation, the quicker the consumer learn.
- For example: The marketer of Coca-Cola can use the fact that soft drinks have the ability to quench thirst, which serves as motivation for the consumer to obtain more information on the nutritional value, the price and the availability.
Response
Motives stimulate learning, while the cues are the stimuli that give direction to the motives.
A response is any action, reaction or state of mind resulting from a particular stimulus or cue.
The type of consumer response relies heavily on reinforcement.
- For example, the Coca-Cola advertisement is the cue or stimulus that suggests a specific way to satisfy a particular motive, which is to quench thirst by buying and drinking the soft drink. As soon as the consumer buys the soft drink he or she will respond to the Coca-Cola stimuli.
Reinforcement
Reinforcement involves an action by the marketer that will stimulate the consumer to buy more of the product or to test the product.
It is an inducement, which means there is a probability that a given response to a specific stimulus will reoccur, given the same stimuli and situation.
This means that reinforcement is the “thing” that causes the individual to relate the response to the stimulus correctly, resulting in repetitive behaviour that establishes future behaviour.
- For example, a woman, whose friends regularly ask her to serve a certain brand of soft drink when they visit her and subsequently comment on its flavour (in this case a Coke [stimulus]), may learn to prefer that particular brand (response).
