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Consumer Motivation (Summary Notes)

-------Human Needs------*You gotta find the unfilled need of the consumer to motivate him/her. *You gotta build innovation in your business, changing trends. Consumer becomes motivated when he/she sees new products or services. *For example: Revlon launches new nail polishes every fall, GM presents new models of automobiles every year.

*Sell style with your product instead of merely selling just product to motivate the consumer. For example, Revlon, instead of selling dark red hot color nail polish, it sells ice and cold. GM, instead of selling just car, it gives consumer the style, the self-esteem, the power of having a car. You can do it by how you sell i.e Marketing ethics and advertisement.

*Its not about lower price always. With a reasonable price, you gotta enhance the quality of your product and services. *You dont need to make consumer needs. Rather you must educate about its unfelt need. You just have to diagnose the disease consumer is facing. Companies who launch themselves in terms or their products and services, face unthinkable problems or seldom go out of business and face a huge loss as a result. *For example: Savvy company says

We dont earn by our product or services, we make our fortunes because we satisfy the consumer needs, always.

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-------MOTIVATION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCE----------

*Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to take action. This driving force is produced by a state of tension, which exists as the result of an unfulfilled need. *Motivation is a result of psychological force, for example: consumer either buys a product or service because he needs it, or because of his status, race or ego.

------NEEDS------*Need is a thing without which the life of individual is either impossible to live, or difficult to live. *TYPES OF BASIC NEEDS: Basic needs are of 2 types, 1)Innate need: It is physiological need (i.e biogenic): they include the needs for food water, air clothing shelter and sex 2)Acquired need: This need is one learn in response to our culture or environment. (i.e Selfesteem, cars luxury, affection, power, learning etc). For instance, shelter is a innate need, whereas the luxuries shelter is a acquired need. *The easiest way to motivate the consumer is by targeting its acquired need. You start satisfying it more efficiently, and the consumer will become more motivated to buy your product or services, not because of your product or service, but because of with you are giving extra with it. *Classification of acquired need: 1)Extrinsic need: Extrinsic need motivates an individual to achieve the end result. For example: Buying a product that symbolizes status to impress others. 2) Intrinsic need: Intrinsic need motivates an individual for self-satisfaction or comfort. For example: Buying a comfortable car for self-comfort instead of impressing others.

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*Motives or needs can have a positive or negative direction. For example: A motive which is directing away from anything is leading to a negative direction (Doing exercise in order to avoid diseases). A motive or need which is driving one near to something is leading to a positive direction. (Doing exercise for attaining fit health). It refers to PPP (Pain Pleasure principle). PPP states: One do any action either to avoid pain, or to achieve pleasure). If marketer will offer consumer for pleasure, the consumer will become more motivated. Its a human nature. Human runs towards pleasure more than running away from pain.

------GOALS----*Goal is referred as : A destination, a target etc. *There is always a motive or need behind every goal. For example: A consumer purchases an air conditioner because of summer season is very hot this year. Now purchasing an air conditioner is a goal of consumer whereas buying air conditioner due to hot summer season is a motive behind it. *TYPES OF GOALS: There are two types of goals 1)Generic Goal: If a student tells his parents that he wants to become an entrepreneur, he has started a generic goal. 2)Product Specific Goal: If he says he wants to get an MBA degree from the HBS, he has expressed a product specific goal.

*Marketers are particularly concerned with product specific goals, that is, the specifically branded products and services that consumers select for goal fulfillment. *Goals can be either positive or negative. Positive Goal called approach object: A positive goal is one toward which behavior is directed.

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Negative Goal called avoidance object: A negative goal is one from which behavior is directed away. *Individuals set goals on the basis of their personal values, and they select means (or behaviors) that they believe will help them achieve their desired goals. -------THE SELECTION OF GOALS------*Goals Selected by individuals depend on their personal experiences, physical and social environment. *Study identified two types of people: 1) Persons with promotion focus are interested in their growth and development, have more hopes and aspirations, and favor the presence of positive outcomes. 2) Persons with a prevention focus are interested in safety and security, are more concerned with duties and obligations and favor the absence of negative outcomes, and also favor status quo and inaction over action in their consumption decisions. *Study discovered that people prefer to purchase things which creates the feelings of delight and joy rather than buying products or services which just satisfy the need. So to motivate consumer, products and services must be presented in a unique, creative and stylish method *One study revealed that personal goals that focus on extrinsic benefits (such as financial success social status, and being attractive to others) are associated with higher degrees of compulsive buying than goals that stress intrinsic benefits (Such as self-acceptance, affiliation, and connection with community).

------Interdependence of Needs and GOALS------*Needs and goals are interdependent; neither exists without the other. However, people are often not as aware of their needs as they are of their goals.

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For instance: A teenager may not consciously be aware of his social needs but may join a number of chat groups online to meet new friends. So actually they are finding means to fulfill their needs but they are thinking they are completing their goals. Bottom line is this Individuals are usually somewhat more aware of their physiological needs than they are of their psychological needs.

-----Rational VERSUS Emotional Motives-----*Rational motive in the traditional economic sense, which assumes consumers behave rationally by carefully considering all alternatives and choosing those that give them the greatest utility. Rational motive consumer considers all logical aspects about the product i.e size, quality, price, presentation, taste, reliability etc.

*Emotional motive consumer looks towards presented product or service according to his/her values. It may be the standard, the ego being satisfied, the high self-esteem being provided etc. *Study illustrated that providing unique emotional experiences to customers is crucial in keeping customers of services coming back and recommending the service to others. *The Blissful Ignorance Effect: Consumers who had more ambiguous information about a product expected to be happier with their purchases than those who used more specific and detailed information in their purchases. *So in order to motivate consumer more effectively, his/her emotional motives must be considered with the rational motives as well. THE DYNAMICS OF MOTIVATION:

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As individuals attain their goals, they develop new ones, If they do not attain their goals, they continue to strive for old goals or they develop substitute goals. Some of the reasons why need driven human activity never ceases include the following 1) Many needs are never fully satisfied, they continually impel actions designed to attain or maintain satisfaction. 2) As needs become satisfied, new and higher order needs emerge that cause tension and induce activity. 3) People who achieve their goals set new and higher goals for themselves. -------NEEDS ARE NEVER FULLY SATISFIED------*There are some human needs which are never fully satisfied, and one of these needs is food. This is why food industry is becoming more competitive every time.

-----NEW NEEDS EMERGE WHEN OLD NEEDS ARE SATISFIED----*It is the human nature that whenever his/her desire is completed. He demands something new. As soon as marketer will satisfy the current need, the consumer will come up with a new one. For example: A customer has a desire to buy a beautiful house on a decent living place, and somehow you fulfilled this desire. Now the same customer has a desire to decorate his house with luxuries furniture, wind chimes producing beautiful sound at the window etc. So new needs will keep on coming as soon as the older ones will be satisfied.

-----SUCCESS AND FAILUERS INFLUENCE GOALS-----*Individuals who become successful in achieving their goals usually set new ones because of the rise in aspiration, self-esteem and self-confidence due to former achievements. So success of former goals impact consumer motivation more positively.

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*Those people who fails in achieving previous goals are become depressed, and as a result, they either become less motivated or do not set goals any further. Conclusion is that failures have negative impact on consumer motivation. *Bottom line is that consumer sets more or less goals for future according to the previous experiences with a particular product or service. *In order to increase the consumer motivation, the success ration of previous experiences must be increased. And in order to increase the success ration, the marketers must not promise more than they deliver. Advertisements must be creative and promised. Consumer will remain loyal and happier if he will get what he is promised of. Marketers fail when they become over confident in this matter. ------SUBSITUTE GOALS------*Continued deprivation of a primary goal may result in the substitute goal assuming primary goal status. For example, a woman who has stopped drinking whole milk because she is dieting may actually begin to prefer skim milk. A man who cannot afford a BMW may convince himself that a new sporty and less expensive car has an image he clearly prefers. -----FRUSTRATION----*Continues failures to a goal, often leads to frustration. *Regardless of the cause, individuals react differently to frustrating situations. Some people manage to cope by finding their way act differently to frustrating situations. Some people manage to cope by finding their way around the obstacle or, if that fails, by selecting a substitute goal. Others are less adaptive and may regard their inability to achieve a goal as a personal failure. Such people are likely to adopt a defense mechanism to protect their egos from feelings of frustration.

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----DEFENSE MECHANISIMS----*People who cannot cope with frustration often mentally redefine their frustrating situations in order to protect their self-image and reputation in their community. For example: A women want to take a vacation of Europe but cannot afford. The coping individual may select a less expensive vacation. The person who cannot cope may will blame the poor economy or will blame her boss because of not paying her enough money so that she can make take vacation of her choice. Blaming can be in following ways: 1) Regression. 2) Withdrawal. 3) Projection. 4) Daydreaming. 5) Identification. 6) Repressions.

------MULTIPLICITY OF NEEDS AND VARIATION OF GOALS-------*A consumer always wants to hit multiple by 1. It is human nature. Therefore a consumer always try to purchase that product or services which fulfill his/her multiple needs or desires. When he/she purchase a single product, they expect multiple uses of it. For example: A consumer wants to purchase a pair of dress suit from Shirt And Tie Shop, and it is the winter season. He will look for multiple traits and benefits in it (i.e thickness in cloth, its quality, its warmness, current fashion, which color will be good for him?, will it suit him?, etc. So while launching or marketing any product or service, think of its multiple benefits, think of what characteristics and benefits are in it for our consumer.

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----Emotional Arousal---*Sometimes day dreaming results in the arousal or stimulation of latent needs. People who are bored of or frustrated of achieving their dream often engage in activities like daydreaming. While day dreaming, a person imagines him/her in all feasible and impossible conditions. This process leads towards motivation again and consumer as a result, instead of quit, try other products or services to fulfill his/her desires or starts engaging in activities which will pay him enough to buy his/her desired product or service to satisfy his/her need.

----Cognitive Arousal---Sometimes random thoughts born cognitive arousal, an advertisement running on television may create a need or desire in the mind of person who is watching it. Advertisements are the only cause of these kind of arousals. These kinds of arousals are temporary. Consumer buys product or services but often remains unsatisfied. Research discovered that advertisement are so effective that even uneducated people run in the race of fashion, and to buy expensive products. But still, as a result, it is not satisfactory and beneficial.

------------------TYPES AND SYSTEMS OF NEEDS------------------------

------MASLOWS HIERARCHY OF NEEDS-----Maslows theory identifies five basic levels of human needs, which rank in order of importance from lower level (biogenic) needs to higher level (psychogenic) needs.

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*The theory postulates that individuals seek to satisfy lower level needs before higher-level needs emerge. The lowest level of chronically unsatisfied need that an individual experiences serves to motivate his or her behavior. *The explanation of this theory goes somewhat this When a need of lower level is fully satisfied, then a need of second level comes, and so on. For example: If a person is full of dangerous hunger, he will think of food, he will talk food, he will search food, food and food and food but nothing else unless his hunger is crunched. After this, he will move to 2nd level of need. *There are 5 levels of need according to this theory, and the lowest level of need is hunger of food or water. *5 LEVELS OF NEED ACCORDING TO MASLOWS Hierachy of needs

Same rule applies here that no level will be fully satisfied, but will be satisfactory as a result.

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Lets discuss each level of human need briefly. *Physiological: This level of need is placed at the bottom of the pyramid, because it is the most important one. Without completing this, one cannot even survive. *Needs included in physiological level: The needs of these levels includes basic survival like food, cloth, shelter and sex (intercourse). Without these needs, one cannot survive. *Safety and security: After completing the physiological needs, one struggles to meet his safety or security needs. These needs are required for good and peaceful survival. This type of survival is the responsibility of government everywhere. *Needs included in safety and security level: Security from being roped, raped, theft, and like good school for children, secured bank account, life insurance, etc. By having this level of need complete, individual feels peace and become loyal to its state. Marketers are encouraged by the government to provide this level of need cheaply make it readily available. It will even motivate the consumer behavior, because this level of needs are to be satisfied better than before, everytime. *Social: Every individual wants to be social, wants to contribute to society, wants to be recognized and active member of the globe. *Needs included in social level: This included, being more loved by everyone, having good friends, being appreciated, having belongings, having affection and acceptance by the society. When products or services offers to complete these needs, every consumer becomes part of motivated rush.

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*Ego: After the fulfillment of first 3 levels of need, there comes an ego in every individual, another word can be used but I like to use Ego instead of any other word. Because these needs, infact values often leads towards negative direction. *Needs included in Ego: Self-acceptance, power, achievements, fame, respect, etc are included in this level. I do agree that these values or needs not always lead to negative way, but they seldom do. *Self-actualization: This level is placed at the top of the pyramid, the reason is that nobody ever even think about it if the other 4 levels of need are not satisfied. *Desires of self-actualization level: One always try to be the best of himself or herself at this level. For example: Persuading a degree of post-graduation or the degree of MPhil PHD, being the richest person, owning enterprises, etc.

------USING THIS THEORY IN MARKETING OR ADVERTISEMENT-------*This theory is accepted and encouraged internationally by most of the marketing and advertisement gurus. Those who applied this theory in the marketing and advertisement of their products or services, achieved tremendous level of success. But using it in a right way is also an important element. Knowing how to use it, is a learning level as well. ------HOW TO USE THIS THEORY----*There is really a simple and easy method of implementation of this theory. Which is Just consider at which level of product and service are you offering, and then target those consumers whose that level of success is not being satisfactory satisfied. For Example: If you are providing life insurance, so according to the theory this is the need of level 2 which is Safety and Security.

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All you have to do is to target those individuals who are willing to have life insurance but cant have due to some sort of problems. Minimize those problems in your advertisement or marketing and then deliver what youve promised in advertisement or marketing.

------A TRIO OF NEEDS----*Some psychologists believe in the existence of a trio of needs. Instead of defining levels, these psychologists has made it simple, short and easy to understand. * A trio of needs is a collection of only 3 needs. Which are as followings: 1) Power: The power need relates to an individuals desire to control his or her environment. It includes the need to control other person and various objects. This need appears to be closely related to the ego need (4rth level of need)

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2) Affiliation: Affiliation is among one of the important motive of consumer behavior. The affiliation need is very similar to Maslows social need and suggests that behavior is strongly influenced by the desire for friendship, for acceptance, and for belong.

*IMPORTANCE OF HIGH AFFILIATION: People with high affiliation often select goods they feel will meet with the approval of friends. Teenagers who hang out at malls or techies who congregate at computer shows often do so more for the satisfaction of being with others than for making a purchase. In other words They buy things to have more affiliation instead for the sake of buying. If your product or service offers high affiliation with it, you consumer will be more motivate than that of competitors. 3) Achievement: People with high achievement need are the people of egoistic level. They have high self-confidence, high self-esteem and prefer to have feedbacks and also prefer to choose tasks in which they can take personal responsibility to find solutions.

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Offering the feeling of more achievement can be a very good promotional tool for consumer motivation behavior. Like GM does.

----THE MEASUREMENT OF MOTIVES---This topic is about how to understand how human motives are studied and measured.

-----Methods to study human motives----There are 3 methods to study and measure the human motives ever changing. These are followings: 1)Surveys: Taking surveys by websites, social media (facebook, twitter, linkedin, digg, buzz, SWOM etc) is the most cheap and direct method to study the human motives.

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The best part is that it gets answers direct from the target consumers. *Method to take survey effectively: Following are some tips to conduct a better survey: ~Dont make questions too complicated, make it simple. ~Allow users multiple answers so it will be easy to answer for him/her. ~Allow the option of Others so if the consumer is not finding desired option as an answer, then he/she can simple write it. ~Assure them that their information always will be confident, you wont share it or sell it to 3 rd party and even will not use it again without asking them theirs permission. 2) Focus Groups: Focus group is a group meeting of some intellectual people of a target community with the people of company.

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Company people simply asks them how company can make a better relationship with them or what type of attributes or extra services they want to have with the product.

*Method to get deep information from focus group: Followings are some easy tips to implement while conducting focus group ~Welcome them warmly. ~Give them an open environment where they feel comfortable, ask them what type of environment will they like. ~Be polite while questioning them, instead of acting as interrogative, ask as a close friend, use deep body language and friendly tone. ~Serve refreshments while conducting focus group so that they wont fell tiered or stressful. Make them feel home. 3) Emails: Get email IDs of consumers or people, make a friendly email with questions. Studying about consumer by emailing method is often discouraged. Because people dont like to write answers, it takes time, or they simple dislike receiving emails from unknown person. So there are chances of being labeled as spammer by consumer, which is a very dangerous result

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about companies entire reputation. There are no tips to send emails effectively because this method is seldom implemented by new kids in town who dont have proper knowledge or guidance.

------MOTIVATIONAL RESEARCH-----*Motivational research was labeled and first conducted by Sigmund Freud. *Motivational research is defined as The research conducted to study about all the motives of consumer behavior. *Motivational research attempts to discover underlying feelings, attitudes, and emotions concerning product, service or brand use.

*Marketers were quickly fascinated by the glib, entertaining and usually surprising explanations offered for consumer behavior , especially since many of these explanations were grounded in sex. For Example: Marketers were told that cigarettes and Life Save candies were bought because of their sexual symbolism, that men regarded convertible cars as surrogate mistress, and that women baked cakes to fulfill their reproductive yearnings.

---------QUALITATIVE CONSUMER RESEARCH---------

*Qualitative consumer research methods, consisting of focus group sessions and depth interviews (as described above), and a wide range of lines of questioning an probing, are routinely used by large and small businesses seeking to gain deeper insights into the whys of consumer behavior. Since motivational research often reveals unsuspected consumer motivations concerning product or brand usage, one of its strategic uses today is the

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development of new ideas for promotional campaigns aimed at penetrating consumers conscious awareness by appealing to unrecognized. * Qualitative research also enables marketers to explore consumer reactions to ideas and advertising copy at an early stage and avoid the costly errors resulting from placing ineffective and untested ads. *Furthermore, as with all qualitative research techniques, motivational research findings provide consumer researchers with insights that serve as the foundations of structured qualitative marketing research studies conducted on larger, more representative sample of consumers.

--------CULTURE AND NEED STATES--------