Pre-Purchase & Post-Purchase Behavior
Consumer decision making involves a continuous flow of interactions between environmental factors and behavioral actions.
The process of consumer decision making involves pre-purchase information and post-purchase outcomes.
Pre-Purchase Behavior
When a consumer realizes the needs, he goes for an information search. He does the same, so that he can make the right decision. He gathers the information about the following −
- Product Brands
- Products Variations
- Product Quality
- Product Alternatives.
The consumer can gather information about a product depending on his age, gender, education and product’s price, risk and acceptance.
Types of Search Activities
The information search activity can be classified into various types such as the following −
Specific
Specific kind of activities are directly related to the problem. These kinds of requirements need immediate assistance.
Ongoing
Consumers go on with their research for a particular period of time if they decide or if they want to buy a particular product. Ongoing activities basically show the work in progress.
Incidental
Now, anything that we observe incidentally or just accidentally or naturally comes under incidental research. Such information can be observed in our daily routine lives.
Following are the information sources available −
The information sources are of two types which are listed under
Internal Sources − Internal sources includes the consumer himself. Here he himself recalls the information that is stored in his memory and uses his experiences.
External Sources − External sources of information include all sorts of interpersonal communication with the external environment such as friends, family, marketing people, through advertisements, etc.
Post-Purchase Behavior
All the activities and experiences that follow purchase are included in the post purchase behavior. Usually, after making a purchase, consumers experience post-purchase dissonance. They sometimes regret their decisions made. It mainly occurs due to a large number of alternatives available, good performance of alternatives or attractiveness of alternatives, etc.
The marketers sometimes need to assure the consumer that the choice made by them is the right one. The seller can mention or even highlight the important features or attributes and benefits of the product to address and solve their concerns if any.
A high level of post-purchase dissonance is negatively related to the level of satisfaction which the consumer draws out of product usage. To reduce post-purchase dissonance, consumers may sometimes even return or exchange the product.
