We all make purchase decisions every day, but have you ever realized that so many processes are involved in making such decisions? The journey we go through before purchasing is the buyer decision process. Sometimes we make a quick decision before buying something, but sometimes we take months to make the right purchase decision. Ever wondered why? In this article, we'll explore the different types of buyer decision processes, the five steps involved in buying decision process and provide real-world examples to help you understand how it all works.
Buyer Decision Process Definition
The buyer decision process also called the consumer decision process, is a five-step process through which customers decide if they want to make a purchase or not. The steps are need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior.
The buyer decision process is a five-step process in which a customer evaluates whether or not to make a purchase.
It is important to note that the buyer decision process extends beyond the physical purchase.
Buyer Decision Process in Marketing
The buying decision process in marketing helps marketers understand the consumer's journey - how and why they made a purchase decision.
It starts when the consumer recognizes a need for a product and extends until after they have made the purchase.
Understanding this journey of customers, especially a target segment, is essential for brands to be successful. Marketers must understand and analyze the changes in the buying decision processes of customers as they may gain valuable insight. This might result in them changing marketing campaigns according to the new consumer trends.
Understanding the buying decision process helps marketers design their marketing campaign to be recognizable and identifiable by customers so that they recall the product in their time of need.
Five Steps in Buying Decision Process
There are five steps in the buying decision process. It starts with the pre-purchase stage and ends at the post-purchase stage. The buyer decision process consists of the following steps:
Need recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase decision
Post-purchase behavior
The marketing department must take action to ensure they influence their customers and make a memorable impression.
Need Recognition Stage
Need recognition is the first step in the buyer decision process. In this step, the buyer recognizes a need or realizes that a product or service they require is missing. They may recognize this need either through external or internal stimuli.
Internal stimuli include hunger and thirst, for instance. Marketers do not have much control here, as they cannot induce internal stimuli. The product's marketing must focus on generating an external stimulus through a successful campaign.
Marketers must create brand awareness through campaigns and ensure that customers recall the brand during a time of need. The brand must be memorable and trustworthy among the target segment.
Information Search Stage
Once an internal or external stimulus prompts consumers, they start collecting information about possible solutions from various sources. Consumers also rely on past experiences with brands while making a decision. A brand must successfully provide its customers with all the information they want. Customers should be able to interact with a brand - e.g. leave reviews and comments for future customers.
Evaluation of Alternatives Stage
In this step, customers evaluate their options - different companies provide means to meet their needs. Marketers must convince the consumer that their product is superior to competitors'. Consumers compare the available solutions and opt for the best one that fits their situation. This decision may be based on price, additional features, or other product or service factors.
Purchase Decision Stage
Once the customer has all the information, they will finally decide to purchase one of the alternatives. Two main factors influence this decision: attitudes and unexpected situational factors.
Attitudes refer to how consumers are influenced by other consumers' opinions (e.g., through word-of-mouth). If someone whose opinion we value were to speak in favor of a brand, our likeliness of purchasing from that brand will be high.
Unexpected situational factors refer to unforeseen changes in any factors that may affect consumers' purchase decisions. These may include an unexpected price rise, better product benefits, etc.
By this stage, marketers must have convinced customers that their product is the best in the market.
Post-purchase Behavior Stage
It is wrong to assume that a marketer's job is done once the customer makes a purchase. Knowing if the customer was satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase is also crucial. The product or service will fail to meet the customer's expectations if the brand promises more than what it can deliver.
It is vital to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the product's performance, as this is the key to building trust and a loyal customer base for the brand.
What can impact the (before purchasing) decision-making of a customer?
There are several factors that can impact a customer's decision-making process before making a purchase, including:
Personal factors: age, gender, income level, lifestyle, and personality.
Psychological factors: motivations, perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes.
Social factors: family, friends, and social networks.
Cultural factors: culture, values, and beliefs.
Marketing factors: price, promotion, and availability, as well as the brand's reputation and image.
Buyer Decision Process Example
An example of the buyer decision process will help you understand the concept in more detail. Let us look into the journey of a customer - Samuel - who is planning to buy a laptop.
- Problem recognition: Samuel realizes the need for a new laptop when he notices that his current laptop's battery is weak and causing him inconvenience.
- Information search: Samuel collects information about various laptop brands by reading specs, reviews, and talking to friends and colleagues.
- Evaluation of alternatives: Samuel shortlists a few alternatives and evaluates their pros and cons to make the best logical decision considering other benefits and his budget.
- Purchase decision: Samuel may be influenced by people's attitudes and unexpected situational factors while making the final purchase decision.
- Post-purchase evaluation: Samuel engages with the brand based on his experience with the product. If the product meets his needs or exceeds expectations, he will be satisfied, but if it falls short, he will be disappointed.
Types of Buyer Decision Process
The four main types of buyer decision processes are:
We can understand the types of buyer decision processes with the help of the matrix shown below:
Figure 2. Types of Buying Behaviour, Vaia Originals
Complex Buying Behavior
A type of buying behavior where the buyer is highly involved in the process, and the differences between brands are significant. This buying behavior is usually seen when the buyer makes a risky purchase, a purchase that involves a lot of money, or one that will impact their life significantly. In such cases, the buyer will have to research and gather significant information about the brands and products not to make a mistake in the purchase decision stage. Such purchases may be hard to reverse and involves higher than usual risks. Examples include buying a car or a house.
Variety-Seeking Buying Behavior
Such buying behavior involves low customer involvement but significant differences in brands. In such cases, customers switch between brands to try out different variations of a product. For example, switching from one brand of chocolate to another.
Such purchases involve low risks. Consumers do not change brands because they are dissatisfied. They switch to experience variety.
Other products that fall under this buying category typically include fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) like drinks, ice cream, dish soap, etc.
Habitual Buying Behavior
Habitual buying behavior involves few differences in brands and low involvement from the consumer. This buying pattern develops through passive learning.
Consumers do not evaluate the brand or gather much information about it. Consumers already know the product and therefore are not highly involved in the purchase decision.
For example, when you buy toothpaste and go back to the store to buy one more, you habitually pick out toothpaste from the same brand.
Habitual buying behavior is not to be confused with brand loyalty.
Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior
This buying behavior is characterized by high involvement and low differences in brands, meaning that brands do not have many differences in the varieties they can offer. Therefore, consumers are not very focused on the brand. Consumers will, however, be very involved in the process, as such purchases are costly. One example could be carpeting the floor. Carpet brands do not have many differences regarding the number of features they can offer. They mainly offer differences in the designs and prices of carpets.
After making the purchase, customers might experience dissonance with the product. This is because they hear about the benefits they might have missed out on from not buying from another brand.
Dissonance in marketing is the phenomenon whereby a customer's expectations about a product are unmet.
To avoid this, marketers must have excellent post-purchase services to help customers make sure they have made the right choice.
The buying decision process is, therefore, the process that displays a customer's journey from before they make a purchase to their post-purchase behavior. Every marketer must thoroughly understand their customers' journey to implement the most effective marketing strategy.
Buyer Decision Process - Key takeaways
- The buyer decision process is a five-step process in which a customer evaluates whether or not to make a purchase.
- The buyer decision process starts when the consumer recognizes a need for a product and extends until after they have made the purchase.
- The buyer decision process consists of the following steps:
- Types of buyer decision processes:
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