During and after the time that consumers gather information
about various alternative solutions to a recognized
problem, they evaluate the alternatives and select
the course of action that seems most likely to solve the
problem. Consumer choices are sometimes based on extremely
simple decision rules such as "buy the cheapest
brand available." At other times, they are extremely
complex, involving multiple stages and processes.
There are a number of ways consumers make
choices. Affective choice is most likely when the underlying
motive is consummatory rather than instrumental.
Consummatory motives underlie behaviors that are intrinsically
rewarding to the individual involved. Instrumental
motives activate behaviors designed to achieve a
secondary goal.
Affective choice tends to be holistic in nature. The
brand is not decomposed into distinct components, each
of which is evaluated separately from the whole. The
evaluation of such products is generally focused on the
way they will make the user feel as they are used. Decisions
based on affect are said to use the "How do I feel
about it" heuristic or decision rule. Consumers imagine
or picture using the product or service and evaluate the
feeling that this use will produce.
Attribute-based choice requires the knowledge of the
specific attributes of the alternatives at the time the
choice is made, and it involves attribute-by-attribute
comparisons across brands. Attitude-based choice
involves the use of general attitudes, summary impressions,
intuitions, or heuristics; no attribute-by-attribute
comparisons are made at the time of choice. There can
also be combinations of these forms. A common combination
would be for the evoked or consideration set to
be formed using attitude-based processing, with the
final choice being made on the basis of a brand-by-brand
comparison on the price attribute.
Rational choice theory assumes a rational decision
maker with well-defined preferences that do not depend
on how the options are presented. Each option or alternative
in a choice set is assumed to have a value to the
consumer that depends only on the characteristics of
that option. The consumer is also assumed to have sufficient skill to calculate which option will maximize
his or her value and will choose on this basis.
Although useful, rational choice theory is incomplete.
An emerging view is that many choices are constructed
by the consumer as the decision is made. All
consumers have bounded rationality -- a limited capacity
for processing information. In addition, consumers
often have goals that are different from, or in addition
to, selecting the optimal alternative. A metagoal refers
to the general nature of the outcome being sought in a
decision. Four metagoals characterize many consumer
choices -- maximizing the accuracy of the decision,
minimizing the cognitive effort required for the decision,
minimizing the experience of negative emotion
while making the decision, and maximizing the ease
with which a decision can be justified. These goals may
shift in importance as the consumer moves through the
decision process.
Evaluative criteria are the various features or benefits
a consumer looks for in response to a specific problem.
They are the performance levels or characteristics
consumers use to compare different brands in light of
their particular consumption problem. The number,
type, and importance of evaluative criteria used differ
from consumer to consumer and across product categories.
And, the importance of various evaluative criteria
can be influenced by usage situation, competitive
context, and advertising.
The measurement of (1) which evaluative criteria are
used by the consumer, (2) how the consumer perceives
the various alternatives on each criterion, and (3) the
relative importance of each criterion is a critical first
step in utilizing evaluative criteria to develop marketing
strategy. The measurement task is not easy; however, a
number of techniques ranging from direct questioning
to projective techniques and multidimensional scaling
are available.
Evaluative criteria such as price, size, and color can
be judged easily and accurately by consumers. Other
criteria, such as quality, durability, and health benefits,
are much more difficult to judge. In such cases, consumers
often use price, brand name, or some other variable
as a surrogate indicator of quality.
When consumers judge alternative brands on several
evaluative criteria, they must have some method to select
one brand from the various choices. Decision rules
serve this function. A decision rule specifies how a consumer
compares two or more brands. Five commonly
used decision rules are disjunctive, conjunctive, lexicographic,
elimination-by-aspects, and compensatory.
The decision rules work best with functional products
and cognitive decisions. Marketing managers must be
aware of the decision rule(s) used by the target market,
because different decision rules require different marketing
strategies.
