1. POST-DECISION PROCESS

2. 2
Exhibit 10.1:
Chapter
Overview:
Post-Decision
Processes

3. A MODEL OF COMPLEX
DECISION MAKING
3
Problem
Recognition
Information
Acquisition
Information
Processing
Comparative
Evaluation/
Purchase
Post-Purchase
Evaluations

4. CHAPTER OVERVIEW
 Post-Decision Dissonance and Regret
 Learning from Consumer Experience
 How Do Consumers Make Satisfaction or
Dissatisfaction Judgments?
 Responses to Dissatisfaction
 Is Customer Satisfaction Enough?
 Disposition
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5. DISSONANCE
 Dissonance Theory:
 Your different beliefs (about related objects) should be
consistent with one another
 Inconsistency = “Dissonance”
 What is Post-Purchase Dissonance??
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6. DISSONANCE
 Post-Purchase Dissonance
You purchased one alternative; rejected others
Believe that others also have desirable attributes
Inconsistency!!
And often, regret
 Try to reduce dissonance by changing
inconsistent beliefs
How??
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7. DEALING WITH DISSONANCE
 Downgrading other alternatives
 Searching for supportive info on chosen
brand
 Ignoring dissonant information
 Selectively interpreting information
 Dissatisfaction
Cancel Purchase
Not Purchase Again
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8. WHEN IS DISSONANCE MOST LIKELY?
 High Involvement or Low Involvement Product?
 When alternatives are rated about equally, or when
one alternative is clearly better?
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9. MARKETING IMPLICATIONS OF
DISSONANCE
 Providing Supportive Information
 Product warranty or money back guarantee
 Downgrading Alternatives:
 Comparative Advertising
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10. LEARNING FROM
CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
 After purchase, consumers use the product
 Usage provides opportunity to learn about the product
 Learning by hypothesis testing
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11. 11
Exhibit 11.3: A Model of Learning from Experience
What factors affect learning from experience?
MotivationAbility
Opportunity
Processing biases

12. LEARNING FROM
CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
 What Affects Learning from Experience?
Motivation
Prior Knowledge or Ability
Ambiguity of the Information Environment or
Lack of Opportunity
Processing Biases
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13. HOW DO CONSUMERS MAKE
SATISFACTION OR
DISSATISFACTION JUDGMENTS?
 Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction
Based on Thoughts
Disconfirmation Theory
Attribution Theory
Equity Theory
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14. DISCONFIRMATION THEORY:
SATISFACTION / DISSATISFACTION
 Better Product Performance = More satisfaction??
 Does satisfaction depend on anything else?
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15. 15
Exhibit 10.6: The Disconfirmation Paradigm

16. DISCONFIRMATION THEORY
(CONT.)
 P > E: Positive disconfirmation; Satisfaction
 P = E: Confirmation; Satisfaction
 P < E: Negative disconfirmation; Dissatisfaction
 So what should you do as a marketer?
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17. “MANAGING” EXPECTATIONS
 Phone response systems: “Your call will
be attended to in the order in which it
was received”
 Earnings forecasts
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MARK242ConsumerBehavior,Elaine
ChanSpring2010

18. ATTRIBUTION THEORY
 People try to find reasons for what happens
 Find “attributions” for events
 Negative outcomes (e.g., bad exam performance, bad product
performance)
 Dimensions of Attributions:
 Focus: Is the problem due to the consumer or the marketer?
 Controllability: Is the event under the consumer’s or the
marketer’s control?
 Stability: Is the reason temporary or permanent?
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19. MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF
ATTRIBUTIONS: FOCUS
 Focus: Blame Reduction
 You buy a chest-of-drawers from IKEA and soon find that a
couple of the drawers don’t slide smoothly and the bases are
falling. Would you feel the problem is caused by poor-quality
materials or by your skills at carpentry?
Internal to Marketer/External to Marketer: Which
one leads to more blame?
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20. MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF
ATTRIBUTIONS:
CONTROLLABILITY
 Controllability: Blame Reduction
 You are going to Bangkok for a 3-day vacation. However, your
flight is delayed by several hours. Will you blame the airline…
 if you learn that the delay was caused by severe weather
conditions?
 if you learn that the delay was caused by a mix-up in the
pilot staffing roster?
Marketer controllable/non-controllable: Which
causes more blame?
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21. MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF
ATTRIBUTIONS: STABILITY
 Stability: Exchange vs. Refund
 You go to IKEA and order a coffee table. A few weeks after
delivery, you find a large crack at the juncture near one of the
legs. Would you be more angry…
 If you thought the defect had developed due to poor quality
of the wood?
 If you thought the defect might have been caused during
delivery?
When is the consumer more likely to ask for
exchange (vs. refund): when cause is stable or
unstable?
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22. ATTRIBUTIONS FOR PRODUCT /
SERVICE FAILURE
 Focus: Who has the problem been caused by?
 Consumer / non-marketer  less blame
 Controllability: Is the event under the consumer’s or
the marketer’s control?
 Marketer-focus + controllable  even more blame
 Stability: Is the reason temporary or permanent?
 Stable attributions  more blame, prefer refunds
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23. EQUITY THEORY
 Fairness in Exchange
 Inputs Versus Outputs
 Consumer’s side
 Marketer’s side
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24. SATISFACTION BASED ON
FEELINGS
 Experienced Emotions and Coping
 Post-decision feelings
 Mispredictions of feelings
 Affective Forecasting
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25. RESPONSES TO
DISSATISFACTION
Complaints (i.e., talking to the firm)
When Complaints Are Likely to Occur
MAO
Severity
Attribution
 Negative WOM
 i.e., talking to other consumers
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26. CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION
Is a major problem…
 Dissatisfied customers stop purchasing, complain, and
spread negative WOM.
 The average business does not hear from 96% of its
unhappy customers.
 The average person with problems tells 9 or 10 people.
But also an opportunity!
 95% of complainers will do business with you if
complaint is resolved quickly.
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27. IS CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION ENOUGH?
 Customer Retention
After-sales
Relationships
Extras
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28. OPTIONS FOR
POST-ACQUISITION DISPOSITION
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Give Away
Trade
Recycle
Sell
Use Up
Throw Away
Abandon
Destroy

29. QUIZ 1: SAMPLE QUESTION
 Consumers deal with decision dissonance by:
a) Ignoring dissonant information
b) Selectively interpret information
c) Downgrade other options not chosen
d) Search for information that supports chosen option
e) All of the above
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30. QUIZ 1: SAMPLE QUESTION
 It was discovered that several children had developed
food poisoning from eating a hamburger at an outlet
of a local restaurant chain. The company put out a
message saying that the problem had been caused due
to a power outage at their refrigeration, and would
not happen again. This message was appealing to:
a) Product evaluations
b) Customer relationship management
c) The perceived stability of the problem
d) The type of disconfirmation
e) Consumers’ perceptions of equity
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31. ANNOUNCEMENTS
 No class on March 1, Quiz 1 at 7pm, LTJ.
 For class on March 6, read Chapter 3
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