POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

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Post-Purchase Consumer Behavior

Post-purchase Dissonance

• Doubt or anxiety experienced after taking a difficult purchase decision.

• Factors Affecting Post-Purchase Dissonance:• No. of alternatives being considered

• Difficulty in choosing one of the alternatives

• Substitutability – near equal alternatives to choose from

• Attractiveness of foregone alternatives

• Degree of familiarity with the product

• Information available at the time of purchase

• Time and comfort with which the purchase was made

• Expected negative reactions from others

Post-purchase Dissonance (Contd..)

• Consumers may regret the purchase made due to:• Product/brand purchased fails to live up to expectations• Positive post-purchase information about foregone

alternatives (upward comparison)• Negative post-purchase information about alternative

chosen – consumers may actively look for information• “Consumption guilt” – for using products that may be

potentially unhealthy or harmful in some way

• Product usage/non-usage influences post-purchase dissonance• May use product incorrectly or in a new way• May buy a product without much thought and may not use

it or discontinue using it after a short period – a product purchased is not necessarily a product consumed

Post-purchase Dissonance

• Approaches to reduce dissonance:• Increase desirability of the brand purchased

• Decrease desirability of rejected brand

• Decrease importance of the purchase

• Reverse purchase decision (return before use)

Disposal Alternatives

Expectations, Performance & SatisfactionPerceived Performance Relative

to ExpectationConsumer Reaction

Better Satisfaction

Same Non-satisfaction (neutral)

Worse Dissatisfaction

• Satisfaction is a function of expectation – hence manage expectations; do not make false promises

• Satisfaction is not to be confused with repurchase intention & customer loyalty. Satisfied customers too switch brands in search of better alternatives

• Dissatisfied customers may make repeat purchases due to lack of better alternatives or resistance to /cost of switching

• Therefore focus on total customer satisfaction and not on immediate repurchase intention

Service Quality - Expectation & Satisfaction

• Zone of tolerance or zone of accommodation is the difference between ‘desired’ and ‘acceptable’ service levels

• If service falls below ‘acceptable’ level, consumers are likely to switch

• Common reasons for switching to other brands in service industries:• Failure of main service, including service delay

• Service counter failure – impolite behavior

• Deceptive pricing or unfair price increase

• Inappropriate employee response to service failure

• Better service/pricing by competitors

• Ethical issues – unsafe & unhealthy services, etc.

Dissatisfaction Response – Customer Complaint Behavior

Passives

Voicers Irates Activists

“To err is human– to recover, divine”

• Listen to the squeaky wheel• Look for complaints -- make complaining easy• Anticipate needs for recovery• Accept responsibility (do not refuse to recognize the problem)• Quick action, e.g.,

• Replacement• Repair• Refund• Exchange

• Opportunity to improve customer experience – customer delight

• Empower and train employees

Effective Handling of Complaints

• The proportion-of-purchases method measures brand loyalty in terms of some arbitrary proportion of purchases (by a consumer) going to a particular brand. For example, if more than 75 per cent of a consumer’s purchases are of a particular brand during a given time period, that consumer could be considered as loyal to the brand.

• The basic premise is that brand loyalty is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Instead, it is viewed as a continuum from complete loyalty to complete brand indifference.

Brand Loyalty – Proportion-of-Purchases Method

Undivided loyalty: AAAAAAAA

Occasional switch: AAABAAAB

Switch loyalty: AAAABBBB

Divided loyalty: AABABBAB

Brand indifference: ABDCBACD

The different buying patterns, in which A, B, C and D are competing brands, can be portrayed as follows:

Brand Loyalty – Proportion-of-Purchases Method (Contd..)