The Communication Process

Consumer Behaviour

The basic model of communication

This has evolved over the years and is represented as below.

Sender’s field of experience

Source Encoding

Receiver’s field of experience

Decoding Receiver

Channel

Message

Feedback

Response

Noise

Consumer Behaviour

Source encoding: Here the sender of the communication is the source with information to share with the target group. The source could be an official spokes person of the company, a representative or a celebrity…

Message: The encoding process consists of the development of a message that consists of the information or meaning that the source hopes to convey. This could be verbal, non-verbal, symbolic and so on…several recent ads focus on semiotics – the study of the nature of meanings. From a semiotic perspective every marketing message has 3 basic components – the object that’s the focus of the message, the sign that’s the sensory image that represents the intended meanings of the object, the interpretant in the meaning.

Consumer Behaviour

Consumer Behaviour

Channel: The channel is a method by which the communications travel. At a broad level channels are of two types – personal (face to face) and non personal (mass media). Several companies have ‘agents’ who speak good about the products of a company and help in its sales. Those targeted are people who are high on their networking quotient and the partying types.

Non-personal includes newspapers, television, magazines, Direct Mailers, billboards, broadcast media and so on…

Receiving/ decoding: The receiver is the person with whom the sender shares his information. Receivers in the marketplace are the TG who receive the messages and decode it. Decoding is a process of deciphering and analysing the message and this process is heavily influenced by the receiver’s field of experience – experiences, exposure, attitudes and so on of the receiver.

Consumer Behaviour

For effective communication, the message decoding process of the receiver must match the encoding of the sender. Simply put, the receiver and the sender must have a similar ‘wavelength’ to ensure that the message is correctly interpreted.

Advertising folks who are usually from cities would have a problem in marketing for the rural segments as they would not have a clear idea of the culture of the rural people – preferences, customs, norms and so on… they would need the exposure to develop effective communication.

Noise: Throughout the communication process the message is subject to external influences and factors that can distort or interfere with its reception. This unplanned distortion/ interference is known as noise. Lack of common ground, language barriers, symbol barriers and interpretation variations cause noise…

Consumer Behaviour

Response/ feedback: The receiver’s set of reactions after seeing/ listening to the communication is known as response. This could include writing a mail, response in an interview, filling in a coupon, answering a telephone and so on…

Feedback is the most critical part of it all and marketers spend enormous amounts of money to obtain frequent feedback.

Analysing the receiver: To communicate effectively, marketers must understand who the TG is and figure out ways to effectively communicate with them. Planners must understand the TG and their profiles before arriving at the messaging and the media to be used to deliver the messaging.

Consumer Behaviour

Identifying the TG: The TG may consist of:

Individuals/ Group AudiencesNiche MarketsMarket Segments General Public/ Mass Audience

Targeting individuals requires one-to-one communication/ personalised selling. Mass advertising may be used to attract the target to the firm but conversion needs individualised/ personal selling – LIC, financial services and so on.

Niche Markets are targeted through dedicated journals, magazines, group newsletters, portals or lectures/events…Market Segments could also be targeted in a similar way…General Public/ Mass Audience – Is usually targeted through television, newspapers… here the marketer cannot clarify or convince the receiver and has to deliver the message with certain assumptions.

Consumer Behaviour

The Response process

The important aspect in developing effective communication programs is in understanding the response process the receiver may go through in moving towards a specific behaviour. In several cases the marketer may wish to deliver a detailed communication with the objective of changing the consumer’s behaviour.

Response Hierarchy Models

Several models have been developed to depict the stages a consumer may pass through in moving from a state of not being aware of the company/ product/ brand to actual purchase behaviour. The most popular among them are these 4 Hierarchy Models, developed for various reasons.

Consumer Behaviour

Models of Response

Stages AIDA Model

Hierarchy of Effects

Model

Innovation Adoption

Model

Information Processing

Model

Cognitive Stage

Attention Awareness

Knowledge

Awareness PresentationAttention

Comprehension

Affective Stage

Interest LikingPreferenceConviction

Interest

Evaluation

Yielding

Retention

BehaviouralStage

Action Purchase Trial

AdoptionBehaviour

Consumer Behaviour

The AIDA Model

The AIDA Model was developed to represent the stages a salesperson must take a customer through in the personal selling process. The model depicts the buyer as passing through the stages of Attention, Interest, Desire, Action . The Action stage involves getting a purchase commitment from the customer and closing the sale. This is the most important state to the marketer.

The Hierarchy of Effects Model

This is the best of the response models and is developed by Robert Lavidge and Gary Steiner as a paradigm for setting and measuring advertising objectives. It shows how advertising works - the consumer passes through a series of steps in sequential order from initial awareness to actual purchase. The basic premise is that advertising creates this effect over a period of time. The Hierarchy of Effects Model is a reference in several agencies to measure advertising agencies.

Consumer Behaviour

The Innovation Adaption Model -

This model represents the stages through which a consumer passes through in adapting a product or service. It says potential adopters must pass through a series of steps before taking some action. The steps prior to adaption are Awareness, Evaluation, Interest and Trial.

The challenge facing companies launching new products is to create awareness and interest among consumers and then get them to evaluate the product favourably. This is done through a demo to evince interest and then a trial is offered. After the trial the customer either adopts the product or rejects it.

Consumer Behaviour

The Information Processing Model

The final hierarchy model is the Information Processing Model developed by William McGuire. This model assumes the receiver in a persuasive communication situation like advertising is an information processor or problem solver. McGuire suggests that the series of steps a receiver goes through in being persuaded constitutes a response hierarchy. McGuire’s model includes a stage not found in other models which is Retention, the receiver’s capacity to retain a portion of the information he/she accepts as valid and important.

Consumer Behaviour

The Implications of Traditional Hierarchy Models

The models are useful from several perspectives. They define a series of steps that prospects must be taken through before they could come close to considering the product. The marketer also needs to know depending on the product/ service he is offering, which stage his prospective customer is in and what steps he needs to take to close the sale.

Consumer Behaviour

Alternative Response Hierarchies

Michael Ray has developed a model of information processing that identifies three alternative orderings of the 3 stages based on product differentiation and product involvement. These alternative response hierarchies are the standard learning, dissonance/ attribution, and low-involvement models.

High(Learning Model)

CognitiveHigh

AffectiveConative

Low(Low involvement

model)

Cognitive

(Dissonance/ attribution model)

ConativeAffectiveCognitive

Conative

Affective

Consumer Behaviour

The Standard Learning Hierarchy

In many purchase situations, the consumer will go through the response process in the sequence depicted by the traditional communication models. Ray terms this as the Standard Learning Model consisting of the Learn Feel Do sequence.

Ray suggests that the standard learning hierarchy is likely when the consumer is highly involved in the purchase process and there is sufficient differentiation among competing brands. Standard Learning Hierarchy is likely for high involvement purchase decisions like cameras, appliances, cars, printers and so on…

Ads in these categories are detailed and educate the customer helping them evaluate.

Consumer Behaviour

The Dissonance/Attribution Hierarchy

Ray’s second response hierarchy involves situations where the customers first behave and then develop attitudes or feelings as a result of that behaviour and then learn or process information that supports the behaviour. This is the Do-Feel-Learn approach. Here customers have to choose between two alternatives that are similar in quality but are complex and could have hidden attributes.

Here the customer purchases the product on the basis of some non-media advise and then develops a positive attitude towards the brand and then collects information that is pro his brand.

Ray suggests that the mass media messaging does not influence purchases in such case but contributes to reducing post-purchase dissonance.

Consumer Behaviour

The Low Involvement Hierarchy

This is the most interesting of the three models is the Low Involvement Hierarchy where the receiver is viewed as passing from Cognition to Behaviour to Attitude change. This is the Learn Do Feel sequence. This is more for products where the involvement is low and the differences between the competing products is minimal or none and mass media advertising is important.

In this category the consumer indulges in passive learning and random information catching rather than active information seeking. Advertisers deliver a simple message in high frequencies using one image/ copy piece/ audio etc to reinforce/ register the message/ product into the TG’s mind. For ex. Heinz has dominated the ketchup market by saying it is the thickest and the richest.

Consumer Behaviour

Implications of the Alternative Response Models

Advertisers agree that not all the response sequences and behaviours can be explained by the alternative response models. The various models can help marketing managers/ advertisers to formulate certain communication strategies and more often than not try to analyse their consumers and their mindsets.

The FCB Planning Model

The FCB planning model was proposed by Richard Vaughn of Foote, Cone and Belding Advertising. This model builds on the traditional theories of advertising such as the Hierarchy of effects and also considers high and low involvement.

Consumer Behaviour

They gave a new twist to the analysis by bringing a ‘Thinking vs. Feeling component – The left brain is capable of more cognitive thinking and the right brain is more visual and emotional. The model called the FCB grid differentiates between the 4 primary planning strategies - Informative, Affective, Habit Formation and Satisfaction.

Vaughn suggests that the Informative Strategy is for high involvement products and services where rational thinking and economic prudence is important. Here the Standard Learning Hierarchy model is valid.

The Affective Strategy is for highly involving, feeling purchases. For such products advertising should stress on emotional motives such as self esteem building or enhancing ego.

Consumer Behaviour

The Habit Formation Strategy is for low involvement/thinking products with such routinised behaviour that develop after a trial purchase.

The Self Satisfaction Strategy is for low involvement / feeling products that appeal to our sensory pleasures/ social motives. Here product experience is an important part of the learning process.

The FCB grid provides a useful way for the advertising planning process and helps in the analysis of the consumer-product relationship.

Consumer Behaviour

Thinking Feeling

HighInvolvement

Informative

Thinking required to buy things like car, home, household appliances, and so on…Media: Long copy formCreative: credibility, demos

Affective

Jewellery, cosmetics, fashionable accessories

Media: Large, FocusedCreative driven

LowInvolvement

Habit Formation

Food, household items

Media: small ads/ high frequencyCreative: direct messaging, reminder

Self satisfaction

Chocolates, candy, ice creams and so on…

Creative: attractive, attention grabbingMedia: POS, ads

Consumer Behaviour

Cognitive Processing of Communications - The Cognitive Response Approach

The hierarchical response models were the primary focus of approaches for studying the responses of receivers. In response to these concerns, researchers are also studying the cognitive reactions of persuasive messages. 3 basic categories of responses have been identified.

Product/message thoughts: This refers to the responses oriented towards product/service. There are two responses – support and counter arguments.

Counter arguments are the thoughts the recipient has, opposed to that delivered by the message. For ex., if a detergent ad makes a claim of removing a stubborn stain, the recipient may say that it is an exaggeration. Support arguments on the other hand support the claims made by the message.

Consumer Behaviour

Source oriented thoughts - This has got to do with the thoughts of the recipient about the spokesperson. Termed source derogation they lead to a drop in the acceptance of the message. Sometimes the message could also boost the feeling in which case they are termed source boosters.

Ad execution thoughts – This is to do with the execution of the ad – the tone, the look of the model, the effects, the treatment and so on… Much attention is focused on this aspect, especially TV commercials.

Consumer Behaviour

Elaboration Likelihood Model

This model perceives the way consumers process and respond to persuasive images. ELM was devised by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo to explain the process by which persuasive communication influences attitudes.

According to this model, attitude formation occurs depending on the amount of Elaboration or processing of the information that occurs as a response to a persuasive image.

When the receiver does not engage in active information processing or thinking, Low Elaboration occurs.

Consumer Behaviour

Elaboration likelihood is a function of two elements – Motivation and Ability to process the image…

Motivation to process the information depends on the recipient’s involvement, personal preference, the individual’s needs and arousal levels. For ex. If a person is concentrating on the humour in a commercial, his focus on information processing may drop.

ELM suggests that there are two routes to persuasion or attitude change The central route to persuasion views the receiver as very active and an involved participant whose ability and motivation to receive, comprehend and evaluate is high. Here the consumer pays close attention to the message and analyses the message argument and his cognitive faculties are deployed to a high level.

Consumer Behaviour

Under the peripheral route to persuasion the receiver lacks the motivation and ability to process the information and is not likely to involve in cognitive processing. Rather than evaluating the information presented in the ad, the viewer relies on certain peripheral cues. His reaction depends on how he perceives these peripheral cues.

Peripheral cues could also lead to the rejection of the message. For ex. Ads where the endorsers have credibility problems or those selling abstract concepts may be received negatively. Therefore repetitive advertising reinforces favorable cues in the prospect’s mind.

Consumer Behaviour

Implications of ELM – ELM is a significantly important cue for marketing communication specifically with respect to involvement. If the involvement levels of the TG is high the ad should contain strong arguments that are difficult to refute. If the involvement levels are low then peripheral cues play an important role in the registration of the message.