Social Influences on Consumer Behavior

By

Dr. Kevin Lance Jones

Social Influences Information and Pressures from Individuals, groups,

and the mass media that affect how a person behaves.

Why are social influences important? Source is creditable. Source can communicate information widely. Source uses communication frequently. Source determines socially appropriate and inappropriate

behaviors

Sources of Influence on Consumer Behavior

Sources of influence can be described as marketer dominated or non-marketer dominated.

Marketer dominated sources are influences delivered from a marketing agent (advertising, personal selling etc…)

Non-marketer dominated sources are influences delivered from an entity outside a marketing organization (friends, family, the media).

Sources of Influence on Consumer Behavior

Marketer and non-marketer dominated sources may be delivered personally or via mass media.

Marketer-dominated sources delivered personally refer to salespeople, service representatives, and customer service agents who deliver information in retail outlets, at consumers homes or office, over the phone or at trade shows.

Marketer-dominated sources delivered via mass media include advertising, sales promotions, publicity and special events.

Sources of Influence on Consumer Behavior

Non-marketer-dominated sources delivered personally refer to word of mouth communication from friends, family neighbors, casual acquaintances, and even strangers.

Non-marketer-dominated sources delivered via mass media refer to television coverage, internet sites, Consumer Reports, and other media not controlled by the marketer.

How Do These General Sources Differ?

Marketer and non-marketer dominated sources delivered personally or via mass media differ in the following ways:

1. Reach

2. Capacity for two-way communication

3. Credibility

How do marketers build on these differences? Marketers should use non-marketer

dominated sources to enhance credibility.

Use personal sources to enhance two-way communication.

Use a mix of sources to enhance impact

Special Sources of Influence Opinion Leaders and market mavens are two special

sources of profound influence.

Opinion Leaders are individuals who act as as an information broker between the mass media and the opinions and behaviors of an individual or group.

Market Mavens are consumers who has and communicates considerable marketplace information to others.

Opinion Leaders Learn a lot about products Heavy users of mass media Buy new products when first introduced into

the marketplace. Self-confident and Sociable Willing to share product information More important in China due to govt. system Regarded as knowledgeable about

acquisition, usage and disposition options

Market Mavens Know about the market place in general

Where and when to shop What is on sale when Which products are good and bad

Self confident about knowledge Heavy users of a wide range of information

sources, both getting and giving marketplace information.

How do Marketers Influence Opinion Leaders?

Target opinion leaders Use opinion leaders in marketing

communications Refer consumers to opinion leaders

Reference Groups as Sources of Influence

Types of Reference Groups: Aspirational Reference Groups: a group that we

admire and desire to be like.

Associative Reference Groups: a group to which we currently belong.

Dissociative reference groups: a group we do not want to emulate.

Reference Groups as Sources of Influence

Marketers should associate products with aspirational reference groups

Marketers should accurately represent associate reference groups.

Marketers should help to develop brand communities

Marketers should avoid using dissociative reference groups

Characteristics of Reference Groups Reference groups are described as follows:

Degree of contact Primary reference groups: a group with whom we

have physical (face-to-face) interaction.

Secondary reference group: a group that influences us but with whom we do not have direct contact.

Formality Similarity among members

Characteristics of Reference Groups

Group attractiveness Density Degree of identification Strength of the ties connecting

members

Reference Groups Affect Consumer Socialization

Socialization is the process by which individuals acquire skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes that are relevant for functioning in a given domain.

Consumer Socialization is the process by which we learn to become consumers and come to know the value of money; the appropriateness of saving versus spending; and how, when, and where products should be bought and used.

How Socialization Occurs Parents may instill thriftiness by:

1. Directly teaching children the importance of saving money.

2. Letting children observe them being thrifty.3. Rewarding children for being thrifty

Direct teaching works best for younger children while observational learning is most effective in older children.

How Socialization Occurs TV, music, video games, the internet, and ads

also serve as socializing agents.

Stereotyping of sex roles

Consumer products such as childhood toys could influence who we are and what was expected of us.

Normative & Informational Influences Sources of influence whether general, special or

group exert two types of influence, normative and informational.

Normative Influence is social pressure designed to encourage conformity to the expectations of others.

Normative influence is derives from norms, which are societies collective decisions about what behavior should be.

Normative & Informational Influences

Normative influences implies that consumers will be sanctioned or punished if they do not follow the norms and likewise implies consumers will be rewarded fro performing the expected behaviors.

Normative & Informational Influences Normative influences have several important effects on

consumption behaviors.

Brand-choice congruence: the likelihood that consumers will buy what others in their group buy.

Conformity: doing what others in the group do.

Compliance: doing what the group or social influencer asks.

Reactance: Doing the opposite of what the individual or grtoup wants us to do.

The Strength of Normative Influence The strength of Normative influence depends

on the: Product Characteristics Consumer Characteristics Group in which consumer belongs

Coercive power: the extent to which the group has the capacity to deliver rewards and sanctions.

Informational Influence Informational influence is the extent to

which sources influence consumers simply by providing information.

Informational influence is important because it can affect how much time and effort a consumer devote to information search and decision making.

The Strength of Informational Influence

The strength of the informational influence is dependent upon: Product characteristics Consumer and Influencer Characteristics Group Characteristics

Descriptive Dimensions of Information Information is described by the dimensions of

valence and modality when dealing with consumer behavior.

Valence refers to whether the information about something is good (positive valence) or bad (negative valence).

Modality refers to the method in which information is delivered -verbally or nonverbally.

Descriptive Dimensions of Information VALENCE:

Negative information is more likely than positive information to be communicated.

Dissatisfied customers are more likely to complain to 3 time’s (11 compared to 3) more people that satisfied customers are to tell about pleasurable experiences.

Negative information is given more weight and people pay more attention to it.

Descriptive Dimensions of Information MODALITY:

Word of Mouth is information about products or services that is communicated verbally.

It is more persuasive than written information and is the number one source affecting food and household product purchases.

It is seven times more effective than print media, twice as effective as broadcast media, and four times more effective than salespeople in affecting brand switching.

Viral Marketing Viral marketing is the online consumer to

consumer communication that supports a particular offering.

This source is non-marketer dominated and the message is delivered personally adding credibility

Marketing Implications for Word of Mouth

Word of mouth has a dramatic effect on consumer’s product perceptions and offerings the in the marketplace.

Marketers need to prevent and respond to negative word of mouth.

Marketers need to engineer favorable word of mouth.

Marketers options for dealing with rumors