Powered by Harvard Business Education material, the “Consumer Behavior and the Buying Process” module describes and analyzes four frameworks for understanding how consumers make decisions: cognitive versus emotional, high-involvement versus low-involvement, optimizing versus “satisficing,” and compensatory versus non-compensatory decision-making. This Core Curriculum module presents the activities that occur during the 3 phases in the consumer buying process: pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase. It also analyzes consumer decision-making units, including roles played within such units, such as buyer, influencer, gatekeeper, and approver. The module includes an in-depth example of how a pharmaceutical company analyzed decision-making processes and decision-making units to develop marketing campaigns for a new product. It also explores three developments that profoundly affect consumers’ decision-making processes: social media, co-creation and customer involvement, and “conscience” marketing. This module also aims at preparing marketers to design effective advertising and marketing campaigns for products and services.
The Reading also includes links to 3 videos: “United Breaks Guitars,” “Use Social Media to Listen to Customers,” and “Harnessing Creativity.”
Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, you can:
- Describe and analyze four frameworks for understanding how consumers make decisions.
- Explain the activities in which consumers engage during the 3 phases of the buying process: pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase.
- Identify a decision-making unit and describe several roles often played within decision-making units.
- Analyze a case study to identify how the featured organization used insights about the consumer decision-making process and decision-making units to design a marketing campaign for a new product.
- Examine how social media, co-creation and customer involvement, and “conscience” marketing are reshaping consumers’ decision-making process and decision-making units, and analyze these developments’ implications for marketers.
Delivery Method
Online
Credential
Certificate of Compeltion
Number of Credits
1
Duration
The module will be available for 120 days.
