Consumer Behavior Overview

Michael J. De Jesus

Consumer Behavior Final

When compiling the list of 5 most important things I learned from Consumer Behavior class this semester, I came up with about 12 topics. I then narrowed down this list to these 5 important things:

Consumer-Rooted & Consumption Specific Segmentation

Perception

More specifically the Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Brand Personality

Deep Metaphors

Memory, Learning & Motivation

Okay, perhaps that is more than 5 but I will be concise and to the point!Essentially my list above represents a fundamental principle or theme which seems quite clear to me now as I look back.

“Consumers are sheep, marketers are shepherds!”

While this may seem cruel from the onset it’s quite the contrary. We are plagued with dozens upon dozens even hundreds or more decisions every single day of our lives. Our choice of toothpaste, deodorant, a new TV, or any other consumer-grade product under the sun shouldn’t be as daunting or distracting from the more important decisions of our lives such as “Should we get married?” or “What city will I live in after graduation?”, etc et al. It’s the job of marketers everywhere to ease, persuade, aid and inform consumers everywhere about everything—We’re making peoples lives and decision making easier! Kudos marketeers!

Consumer-Rooted & Consumption Specific Segmentation

Consumer-rooted and consumption specific segmentation stemming from the consumers physical, social, and psychographics is a pillar of marketing and behavioral targeting. I found our lab exercise of “Targeting the Premium Dog Market”, important in facilitating and solidifying the consumer-rooted and consumption specific marketing principle.

Perception

More specifically the Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

I found the JND effect especially fascinating. In the end we are all consumers but until I learned about the JND I was completely oblivious (as countless others) of the savvy and clever mechanisms such as the JND threshold and how marketers deploy it. For example, making product improvements that far exceed consumers’ JND is likely to maximize companies revenues. Conversely, increasing prices below a consumers JND is