The Importance of Studying Consumer Behavior
Corporations invest in understanding customer behavior and applying plans that can help them retain customers. The study of consumer behavior significantly affects the success of businesses in the market. It is essential to understand that consumer behavior does not end with the purchase, but also involves post-purchase activities. It is also required to understand the effect of consumer behavior on shaping marketing strategies.
There is a great difference between consumer behavior and consumption behavior. consumer behavior focuses on studying the stages taken by a customer to take a purchasing decision, while consumption behavior is a study that focuses on the product or service consumed.
Consumer behavior can be understood by analyzing the phases of the purchasing process that the consumer goes through in five stages:
- In the primary step, the consumer begins to define his/her needs
- The buyer moves to the stage of searching for information, this stage facilitates access to the consumer’s need.
- In this stage the customer begins the evaluation phase, in which the consumer evaluates several features of a product or service.
- In the fourth stage the customer makes the buying decision, in which the intention is converted into actual purchase.
- The last step is the post-purchase reaction, in which the customer expresses his/her opinion about the product after using it.
Consumer behavior is determined by three main aspects:
- Economic aspect: Economic aspects focus on personal income, family income, and future income expectations (expected rise or cut in income).
- Social aspect: The behavior of the customer gets affected by many aspects such as, family, friends, and social roles. big companies try to conduct a detailed study on customer social aspects that might affect customer behavior while formulating their marketing plan in order to gain the maximum possible profit.
- Psychological aspect: The significant psychological effects are perception, education, motives, beliefs, and ideas. These psychological aspects can affect the consumer directly, so it is essential to study all of these factors before making any marketing plan.
