CONSUMER MOTIVATION

CONSUMER MOTIVATIONIn this presentation, we will give you a

comprehensive picture of consumer psychology. Marketers make the consumers aware of their unfelt needs.e.g, Revlon introduces new nail colors every fall & spring , through heavy and effective advertising, which would persuade their customers to buy their products in order o satisfy their needs to appear more fashionable and attractive.

MOTIVATION:

Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action. This driving force is produced by a state of tension, which exists as a result of an unfulfilled need. Individuals strive both consciously and subconsciously to reduce this tension through behavior that they anticipate will fulfill their needs and thus relieve them of stress they feel. The specific goals they select and the patterns of action they take to achieve their goals are the results of individual thinking and learning.

NEEDS:

Every individual has needs: some are innate and others are acquired. Innate needs are physiological (biogenic): they include the needs for food, water, air, clothing, shelter and sex. They are considered to be the primary needs of individuals.

Acquired needs are needs that we learn in response to our culture or environment. They may include needs for self-esteem, prestige, affection, power, learning. They are the secondary needs or motives.

GOALS:

Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior. Individuals set goals on the basis of their personal values and they select means to achieve those goals

For any given need, there are some appropriate goals. The goals selected by individuals depend on their personal experiences, physical capacity, prevailing cultural norms and values, and the goals accessibility in the physical and social environment.

GOALS:

An individual’s personal characteristics and own perception also influence the specific goals selected. Research on personal goal orientation distinguished two types of people:

People with promotion focus are interested in their growth and development, have more hopes and aspirations and they favor the presence of positive outcomes.

People with a prevention focus are interested in the safety and security, are more concerned with duties and obligations and the favor the absence of negative

GOALS:

Another study distinguished between two types of goals:

Ideals; which represent hopes, wishes and aspirations

Oughts; which includes duties, responsibilities and obligations

The study showed that the people concerned with ideals relied more on feelings and affects in evaluating advertisements while people more concerned with oughts relied more heavily on the substantive and factual contents of the ads.

Needs and goals are interdependent, neither exits without the other. However, people are often not as aware of their needs as they are of their goals. For example, a teenager may not consciously be aware of his social needs but may join a number of chat groups online to meet new friends.

Individuals are usually somewhat more aware of their physiological needs than they are of their psychological needs.

INTERDEPENDENCE OF GOALS

Motivation is highly dynamicIf individual attain goal they either move to

achieve the higher goal or set new goals. if individual don't obtain goal they strive for the old one or they develop substitute goal

Needs are never fully satisfiedNew needs emerge as old needs are satisfied

Success and failure influence goalsSuccess and failure also influence goals. if

individual is good in taking snapshot or have been successful in taking good snaps he might be motivated to buy sophisticated camera on the other hand is the person is not able to take good snap shot he might not be motivated to buy the more complex and expensive camera

Arousal of motivesPhysiological arousal: A drop in the blood sugar level might be

motivated person to buy something that is sweet

Emotional arousal young women who daydreams of romance

and love might get motivated to spend time on matrimonial site

Arousal of motivesCognitive arousal: a reminder that triggers the reminder of

home might motivate a person to buy a long distance phone cards

Environmental arousal: young college student might get motivated

to purchase a slick looking cell phone displayed or used by his friends

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS• Physiological needs• Safety Needs• Social needs• Egoistic needs• Need for self actualization

EVALUATION OF THE NEED HIERARCHY AND MARKETING APPLICATIONS

• Five levels of need are sufficiently generic to encompass most lists of individual needs.

• Major problem : can’t be measured empirically.

• Adaptable to marketers in two ways; enables to focus advertising appeals on a need level and it facilitates product positioning or repositioning.

SEGMENTATION AND PROMOTIONAL APPLICATIONS

• Physiological needs.. E.g. health foods, medicines and low fat products

• Safety Needs..E.g. insurance, preventive medical services and home security systems

• Social needs.. E.g. personal care and grooming products(cosmetics, mouthwash, shaving cream) and clothes

• Egoistic needs.. E.g. expensive furniture, big cars, furs

• Need for self actualization.. E.g. adventure trips, hobby-related products.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MOTIVATIONMotivation can be positive as well as negative in any direction. We may

feel a driving force towards an object or certain condition or away too.For example a person may be impelled towards a restaurant to fulfill

hunger need and away from motorcycle transportation to fulfill safety need.

Some psychologists refer to positive drives as needs, wants or desires and to negative drives as fears or aversions.

Although positive and negative motivation seem to differ in terms of physical activity but they are similar in terms of sustaining human behavior.

Needs wants and desires even lend to goals that can be positive as well as negative.

A positive behavior is one towards which behavior is directed thus it is often referred to as approach object.

A negative goal is the one from which the behavior is directed away and is referred to as avoidance object.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES USED IN MOTIVATIONAL RESEARCH

. Metaphor analysis2. Storytelling3. Word association and sentence

completion4. Thematic appreciation test5. Drawing appreciation and photo sorts

1. Metaphor analysis

ZMET named tool is used. Actually this analysis was used to study things like women’s emotions and also checked the affect of ads on them.

2. StorytellingThis method consists of customers telling about

their real life stories regarding use of their product under study.

One application of story telling requires subjects to tell story about someone else. For example persons that are afraid to fly may feel embarrassed to elaborate on the reasons for that fear when asked directly. But if they are asked why an individual is afraid to fly, subjects are likely to ascribe their own fears to another person. So in doing so they project their own apprehensions.

Word association and sentence completion

In this method respondents are presented with word, one at a time and are asked to say the word that comes to their minds.

This method is highly useful in determining consumers associations with existing brand names and those under development.

Thematic appreciation testThis method consists of showing pictures

to respondents and asking them to tell story about each picture.

Drawing appreciation and photo sortsVisual images are often used to study

consumer’s perception of different brands and develop their advertising strategies. It may also help in repositioning of products.

Evaluation of motivational researchApart from criticism, it is considered as an

important tool to get deeper insights. As it might reveal unsuspected consumer motivations concerning product or brand usage

It also provides marketers with a basic orientation for new product categories and enables them to explore consumer reactions to ideas and advertising copy at an early stage to avoid costly errors.