"Decision Precision"

"I thought I was indecisive, But now I am not too sure.” Unravelling the consumer’s decision-making process

Mrs. Pundit enters her regular grocery store to buy her favourite brand of soap. She discovers something new. A product that promises to make her skin glow. She is confused. On one hand, the favourite brand is tried and tested. On the other, there is something new. What does she do to resolve the struggle?

We all go through this problem of not being able to decide what to buy, at a particular stage. Often, these consumers use Price and Value for Money as decision factors.

Have you ever questioned why there is a prolonged involvement in a decision while purchasing? Not all consumer decision-making situations receive the same degree of attention. If all purchase decisions required extensive effort, then consumer decision-making would be an exhausting process leaving little time for anything else. After a few purchases of that brand, if the buyer is satisfied, the process of decision-making becomes routine. A single trigger is enough to complete the decision-making process. On the other hand, if all purchases were routine, then imagine the lost pleasure of having discovered something new!

According to a consumer survey, nine out of ten shoppers of frequently purchased items possess some specific shopping strategy. These consumers can be grouped into:

• Practical loyalists: Those who look for ways to save on the brands and products they would buy anyway.
  
• Bottom-line price shoppers: Those who buy the lowest priced item, with little or no regard for the brand.
  
• Opportunistic switchers: Those who use coupons or sales to decide among brands.
  
• Deal hunters: Those who look out for the best bargains.

Routinised purchasing implies that the consumer’s decision rules are well established, and that the buyer has strong brand preferences. The process where the buyer reduces the complexity of a buying situation with the help of information and experience is called the ‘Psychology of Simplification’.

For instance, to make things easier for her to make a purchase, Mrs Pundit asks the salesperson for further information about the new product.

Decision-making can be divided into three stages:

I. Extensive Problem Solving (EPS)
II. Limited Problem Solving (LPS)
III. Routinised Response Behaviour (RRB)

The buyer becomes more consistent in choosing the brand, as he moves towards routinisation. This is due to the formation of habit. If you use Colgate every morning, you get used to the product. Incoming information is then screened with regard to its magnitude and quality. The buyer after routinising his decision process, may find himself in a simple and routinised process.

Sometimes this becomes monotonous. He may feel that all existing alternatives including the preferred brand are now unacceptable. He feels a need to complicate his buying situation by considering new brands. The intention is to look out for something that can be useful and appealing to his aesthetics. Also, there is the underlying challenge of probing, exploring and finally discovering a new brand! This process can be called the ‘Psychology of Complication’. The new situation causes him to identify brands and he once again begins to simplify the above-mentioned process.

Hence, marketers need to study the decision patterns of the customer in order to enhance the experience of purchase and consumption and retain the customers for life.

Further Reading:

“A Theory of Buyer Behaviour”
John A. Howard, Jagdish N.Sheth,
Marketing Classics.