LIFE STYLE
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
MKT 402 - CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
WEEK 1
1. Definition of Life Style
Consumer life style is defined as the way consumers live in spending time, energy and
money on everything they consider important (pattern in which people live and spend time
and money, Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard, 1995 p449). There are people who like to seek
entertainment with their friends, some like to be alone, some like to travel with family, shop,
do dynamic activities, and some have free time and excess money for social-religious
activities. Studying consumer lifestyles is just one way to psychographically categorize
consumers.
Lifestyle can influence a person's behavior, and ultimately determine their
consumption choices.Understanding personality is not considered complete without
understanding the concept of lifestyle. Lifestyle is a newer and more easily measurable
concept compared to personality. Lifestyle reflects consumption patterns that describe a
person's choice of how he uses his time and money. (lifestyle refers to a pattern of
consumption reflecting a person's choice of how he or she spends time and money, Solomon
1999 p. 1).
174). Lifestyle denotes how people live, how they spend their money, and how they allocate
their time (Mowen and Minor, 1998 p. 220).
Lifestyle is different from personality. Lifestyle describes the external behavior that is
seen in consumers, while personality describes the deepest characteristics of consumers.
Lifestyle is often referred to as the way a person thinks, feels and perceives. Although the
two concepts are different, lifestyle Life and personality are interconnected. Personality
reflects the internal characteristics of the consumer, lifestyle describes the external
manifestation of these characteristics, namely in the form of a person's behavior. Consumers
who have a brave personality may prefer activities or hobbies that defy nature, while
someone who is less brave may prefer activities that are less risky such as playing chess and
rhythmic gymnastics.
Lifestyle is often described by a person's activities, interests, and opinions. A person's
lifestyle is usually not permanent and changes quickly. A person may quickly change the
model and brand of his clothes because it adapts to changes in his life. For example,
someone has just been promoted to director of a well-known company. The new position
requires him to dress appropriately. He may wear ties and suits more often, dine at
restaurants more often with his clients, which he rarely did before. The point is that lifestyle
changes will change a person's consumption patterns. Gudang Garam advertisements
highlight the lifestyle of the creative generation, namely the active and productive young
generation. The ad tries to reveal its product as a product that is suitable for consumers who
have an active lifestyle. In short, the ad uses a consumer lifestyle approach in
communication. Ujang Sumarwan (2002).
2. Psychographics
A concept related to lifestyle is psychographics. Psychographics is an instrument for
measuring lifestyle, which provides quantitative measurements and can be used to analyze
large amounts of data. Psychographic analysis is usually used to look at market segments.
Psychographic analysis is also defined as consumer research that illustrates Consumer
segments in terms of their life, work and other activities. Psychographic means describing
(graph) consumer psychology (psyco). Ujang Sumarwan (2002).
Psychographics is the quantitative measurement of consumer lifestyle, personality and
demographics. Psychographics are often defined as the measurement of consumer activities,
interests and opinions. Psychographics contain several statements that describe the activities,
interests and opinions of consumers. The psychographic approach is often used by
manufacturers in promoting their products. Figure 3.5 shows a brochure for prolene brand
milk that positions its product as a milk for consumers who have a very active lifestyle. The
milk also contains high iron and calcium. Ujang Sumarwan (2002).
Psychographic studies can take several forms (Solomon, 1999) as follows:
1) A life style profile, which analyzes several characteristics that distinguish between
users and non-users of a product.
2) Profiles that identify target groups then profile these consumers based on relevant
product dimensions.
3) Studies that use personality traits as explaining factors analyze the relationship
between several variables and personality traits, personality traits that are strongly
associated with consumers who are very concerned about the environment.
4) Lifestyle segmentation (a general life style segmentation), grouping respondents
based on similar preferences,
5) Product-specific segmentation, is a study that groups consumers based on the
similarity of the products they consume.
The following is an example of a psychographic instrument or sample questions in the
AOI inventory as proposed by Mowen and Minor (1999).
Sumarwan (2001) conducted a survey of MMA-IPB students about their attitudes or
opinions or opinions on savings and credit. Consumer opinion about savings and credit is
measured by the following instruments as shown in table 2.3
Respondents were asked to agree on the six questions, if they agreed, they were given
a score of 3, neutral = 2, and disagreed = 1, the results of research on 131 MMA-IPB
students are shown in table 2.4.
All respondents agreed that saving money is good behavior and should be instilled in
children. Respondents were also asked their attitudes about buying vehicles and houses on
credit. These two products are relatively expensive, so it is very relevant if the purchase of
these products is associated with credit. Approximately 16% stated that they do not need to
wait to have enough money to buy a car, in other words they agree to buy a car on credit, but
46% did not express their opinion. These are the people who can be changed by vehicle
marketers, so that they are interested in buying a car on credit. Almost 50% of respondents
agreed to buy a house on credit. Home loans are often considered investments rather than
consumer loans, so it is logical that many consumers are willing to buy houses on credit.
Respondents also had a positive attitude towards credit in general, with 755 of them
agreeing that it is not a bad thing to buy something on credit as long as they can afford it.
3. The VALS Psychographic Inventories
An expert named Arnold Mitchell from The Standford research Institute (SRI)
International in California developed a concept called The Value and Lifestyle (VALS)
System, which classifies the lifestyle of Americans. The VALS concept is an instrument to
identify the values and lifestyles of American consumers based on how consumers agree or
disagree with various social issues that are developing, which is then known as VALS 1, the
results of the research show that approval of social issues turns out to be less predictive of
buying behavior. This weakness was then corrected by developing the VALS 2 concept.
According to Mowen and Minor (1998), the VALS concept has been used by various
companies for many years to segment the market, and is used as a reference for developing
advertising concepts and product strategies (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002).
The development of VALS 1 resulted in VALS 2, which is a 39-item instrument (35
items representing psychological aspects and 4 items representing demographic aspects).
VALS 2, as shown in Figure 3.6, divides American adult consumers into several groups,
each with different characteristics. VALS 2 is shown in the following figure. Vertically, the
groups are divided based on their resources (income, education, strong desire to buy). The
lower vertical shows little resources, the upper vertical shows a lot of resources. On the
horizontal line, consumers are divided based on self-orientation, self-orientation is divided
into three categories: principle orientation, status orientation, and action orientation.
Consumers who have a principle orientation will make purchasing decisions based on their
beliefs (beliefe system), they ignore the views of others. Consumers with status orientation
will consider the opinions of others when purchasing products. Meanwhile, consumers with
an action orientation will buy products that have an impact on the people around them.
(Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
a. Actualizer: consumers who are successful, active, care for and nurture others, have high
confidence and self-esteem, and have high income and economic resources.
b. Fulfilled: Mature, responsible, professional and well-educated with a high income.
Prefers to stay at home during free time, but is always aware of the outside world. very
open to new ideas and social change.
c. Believers: relatively small income, conservative, prefer American products and well-
known brands. Like to stay with family, go to church, do social activities.
d. Achivers: have high incomes and are status-oriented. They are successful, work-oriented
people who derive happiness from their work and family. They are conservative in
politics. Appreciate rules and status quo. Favor famous products that showcase their
success to their close friends.
e. Strivers: have low income, and are status-oriented. They share the same values as
Achivers but they have little economic resources. For them, style is important in order to
emulate the people they admire.
f. Experiences: consumers who have high income and are action-oriented. They are young
with the age range of 25 years old. They have a lot of energy so they are active in social
activities and sports. They like to buy clothes, eat fast food, buy music tapes and vcd's
and products for other young consumers, and like new products.
g. Makers: consumers who have low incomes and are action-oriented. Like practical things
and value independence. Love being with family, enjoy work and nature recreation, and
dislike the wider outside world. As consumers, they value products that provide
functional benefits.
h. Struggles: consumers who have the lowest income. They have the lowest resources so
they cannot be placed into one of the self-orientations, so they are placed at the bottom
of the chart. they are old with an average age of 61 years. With their limited resources
they tend to be brand loyal consumers.
INFORMATION PROCESSING AND CONSUMER PERCEPTION:
1. Information Processing
When consumers see a problem or need that can only be satisfied through the purchase
of a product, they begin to search for the information needed to make a purchase decision.
Consumer search efforts in the early stages often take the form of extracting information
from memories of past experiences.
Have we ever paid attention to our condition when we just returned from a long trip?
During the trip we hear so many sounds, from the sound of passing vehicles, the shouting of
kernet pulling passengers, sellers shouting to sell their merchandise, the sound of our
cellphones. During that time we also see the activities of many people, the colors of the
clothes of the people around us, billboard advertisements along the way. We may also feel
the heat or even the rain on the road. Even at that time we feel hungry and smell the
delicious aroma of goat satay.
Everything we hear, see, and smell is called a stimulus. Every moment, our five senses
receive hundreds or even thousands of stimuli. But not every stimulus that comes becomes
an object of attention and we store it in memory. This happens because our ability to process
information and knowledge is very limited. This process is called internal search. For
example, someone who buys a product repeatedly (routine user) then the information that
has been stored in the brain is enough to produce a purchase decision.
Consumers who will fulfill their needs will be encouraged to seek information along
with alternative choices for a product that can meet their needs. We can divide information
seeking into two levels. First, a milder information-seeking situation is called "heightened
attention". At this level, a person simply becomes more sensitive to information on a
product. Second, if internal search and heightened attention still do not provide enough
information, consumers will seek additional information through external search, which is
an active search for information. For example, looking for reading material, calling friends
and visiting stores to learn about a product. In this case, the main concern of marketers is to
know the main sources of information that consumers refer to and the influence of each
source on purchasing decisions. Consumer information sources are categorized into four
groups: (Morissan, 2007)
1) Personal sources: family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances
2) Commercial sources: advertising, salespeople, distributors, packaging, in-store displays
3) Public sources: mass media, consumer rating organizations
4) Source Experience: handling, assessment, and product use
There are a number of factors from information search that consumers use to decide
whether or not to buy a product, namely: how much importance the product has, how much
effort is needed to obtain information, past experience, consumer views on the risk of a
product and time availability. The influence and number of information sources also vary
depending on the product category and consumer characteristics. In general, consumers get
information about a product from commercial sources, i.e. sources dominated by marketers,
such as instructions on packaging. But the most effective information comes from personal
sources. (Morissan, 2007)
Each piece of information performs a different function in influencing purchasing
decisions. Commercial information usually serves the function of providing information and
personal sources serve the function of legitimizing and/or evaluating. For example, doctors
often learn about a new drug from commercial sources (e.g. the description on the
packaging), but it is possible that a doctor who is not familiar with the use of a drug will ask
other doctors to get more complete and clear information.
Marketers must implement strategies to get their product brands into the awareness
pool, consideration pool, and choice pool of potential consumers. The company must also
identify other brands in the consumer choice pool so that it can plan its competitive appeal.
In addition, the company must also identify the sources of consumer information and
evaluate the relative importance of these sources. Consumers should be asked about where
they first heard of the brand, what information they obtained subsequently and the relative
importance of different sources of information. The answers to these questions will help the
company prepare effective communication to the target market. (Morissan, 2007)
Information processing in consumers occurs when one of the consumer's five senses
receives input in the form of a stimulus. Stimuli can be in the form of products, brand
names, packaging, advertisements, or the name of the producer. Advertisements for various
products aired on television and radio are stimuli specifically designed by producers /
marketers to attract consumer attention, so that consumers want to listen and see the
advertising message. Manufacturers expect consumers to like their product advertisements,
then like their products and buy them. Manufacturers, marketers and advertising makers do
not want the hundreds of billions of funds they have spent to make advertisements in vain,
because consumers do not pay attention, do not understand, and do not even remember the
products and product brands they advertise. Producers must understand how consumers
process information. This knowledge is important for producers so that they can design an
effective communication process for consumers. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
2. Consumer Perception
Knowledge of how consumers receive and use information from external sources is
important for marketers to know in designing marketing communication strategies. In this
case, producers and marketers need to know the following:
a. How consumers receive and perceive external information;
b. How they select and respond to different sources of information;
c. How information is interpreted and given meaning.
The definition of perception according to Gilbert Harrel (1986) is: The process by
which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a
meaningful picture of the world (the process by which individuals select, organize and
interpret information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world). Perception is an
individual process, highly dependent on internal factors, such as: beliefs, experience, needs,
mood and expectations. Perception is also influenced by stimulus (size, color and intensity) and
the place where the stimulus is seen and heard. (Morissan, 2007)
Perception depends not only on physical stimuli but also on stimuli related to the
surrounding environment and the state of the individual concerned. A motivated person will
be ready to do something, but how that person does will be influenced by each person's
perception of a particular situation. People can have different perceptions of the same object
because there are differences in the perception process in each individual starting from the
sensation stage which continues with selective reception, selective attention, selective
understanding and selective memory.
Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1995) cite McGuire's opinion which states that there
are five stages of information processing (the information-processing model), which are as
follows:
1) Exposure: exposure to a stimulus, which causes consumers to realize the stimulus through
their senses.
2) Attention: the processing capacity that consumers allocate to incoming stimuli.
3) Comprehension: interpretation of the meaning of the stimulus.
4) Acceptance: the impact of persuasive stimulus on consumers
5) Retention: transferring the meaning of stimulus and persuasion to long-term memory.
Information processing is defined as "is the process through which consumers are
exposed to information, become involved with it, attend to it, comprehend it, place it into
memory, and retrieve it for later use" (Mowen and Minor, 1998 p. 63).
Mowen (1998) also mentions that the stages of exposure, attention and understanding
are referred to as perception. This perception arises because there is consumer involvement
(lefel of consumer involvement) and his memory will affect information processing.
Furthermore, he defines perception as "perception is the process through which individuals
are exposed to information, attend to that information, and comprehend it" (p. 63).
Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) define as "perception is defined as the process by which
individuals select, organize, and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of
the world".
A consumer is said to have perception if he is able to see the reality outside himself or
the world around him. Often consumers decide to buy a product based on their perception of
the product, and not because of the nature of the product itself. So it is important for
marketers and producers to understand consumer perception.
Two consumers who receive and pay attention to the same stimulus, may interpret the
stimulus differently. This is because a person's understanding of the stimulus will be greatly
influenced by his values, expectations and needs, which are very individual in nature. Figure
2.1 shows the stages in the information processing process.
3. Exposure:
3.1 Sensation
The first stage of information processing is exposure. Exposure is an activity carried
out by marketers to convey stimulus to consumers. Stimuli can take the form of
advertisements, packaging, brands, gifts. Stimulus is any input that comes from the market
that is conveyed to consumers through various media such as shops, newspapers, magazines
and others. This stimulus will be felt by one or more of the five senses of consumers.
Consumers who feel the stimulus that comes to one of their five senses is referred to as
sensation. The first stage in the perception process is sensation.
Solomon (1996) defines sensation as the rapid response of the receiving senses (matta,
ears, nose, mouth and fingers) to basic stimuli such as light, color and sound. Sensation is
the immediate and rapid response of the five senses to an incoming stimulus (whether in the
form of advertising, packaging or brands). Consumer senses or sensory organs (known as
eyes, ears, nose, tongue skin) function to see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. (Morissan, 2007)
In a marketing perspective, George and Michael Belch (2001) define sensation as the
immediate and direct response by the senses (taste, smell, sight, touch and hearing) to
stimuli such as advertisements, brand names, packaging, demonstrations etc. In this case,
marketers need to understand the importance of the physical reactions that consumers show
to marketing stimuli aimed at them.
A consumer will have different levels of sensation. Consumers who live in Jakarta are
accustomed to listening to a variety of very loud car horns all the time, so the sound does not
bother them over time. Conversely, consumers who are accustomed to living in quiet rural
areas, may be sensitive to the sound of vehicle horns.
Marketers sometimes try to increase stimuli so that the advertising messages they
convey can be immediately captured by consumers' senses. For example: marketers of
perfume products who advertise in magazines use striking images accompanied by perfume
samples that can immediately emit a fragrant smell. This creates a sensation to readers as
well as attracting their attention. (Morissan, 2007)
3.2 The Ansolute Threshold
Sensation is influenced by the absolute threshold and differential threshold. The
absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulus intensity or energy required by a
consumer so that he can feel a sensation. The point at which a consumer perceives the
difference between the "presence" and "absence" of a stimulus is called the absolute
threshold of the stimulus for these consumers. A consumer will see various outdoor
advertisements in the form of billboards along the road he is traveling. There is a new
consumer can see and read a product on a billboard size of 30 cm writing may be from a
distance of 200 meters, while other consumers may be from a distance of 100 meters. The
number 100 meters or 200 meters is what is referred to as the absolute threshold for
consumers. This understanding has important implications for marketers and advertising
designers. They must decide how big the font size, the amount of sound or what color is
suitable so that it attracts the attention of consumers. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2007)
Consumers who continuously receive the same stimulus in intensity and type, may
initially attract their attention. But when consumers are used to seeing and hearing the
stimulus, over time their senses will adapt to it (sensory adaptation) and boredom will
occur. This boredom problem is an important concern for producers and marketers and
advertisers, because it will greatly affect the effectiveness of communication delivered to
consumers. When consumers feel bored with advertisements that are seen continuously and
consumers feel unimportant this is what is known as advertising wearout. As a result,
consumers will actively choose which stimulus they will see that is new. This process is
known as selective exposure (Ujang Sumarwan, 2007).
Because this selective exposure activity makes consumers have a habit of zapping,
namely changing channels when watching television. This is very likely because with
advances in television technology there are many conveniences for consumers. For example,
there is a remote control and quite a lot of television channel facilities. Consumers only need
to subscribe to Indovision or Top TV, and there are already more than a hundred television
channels available both at home and abroad.
In Indonesia alone there are currently several international, national and local
television channels, including ANTEVE, METRO, TVRI, RCTI, SCTV, TPI, LATIVI,
INDOSIAR, TRANS, TV 7, TV B, Borobudur TV etc.
Consumers have the freedom to watch and choose any program from the available channels.
If consumers get tired of seeing one channel, they often change to another channel. The
existence of sensory adaptation, advertising wearout and zapping activities encourages
marketers and advertisers to be more creative in designing marketing communications for
their various products. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
Some of the efforts made by marketers and advertisers to deal with the above
problems can be by increasing the intensity of the stimulus. For example, by sponsoring a
badminton match broadcast on television. By becoming a sponsor during one broadcast
period on television, advertisements for their products will appear frequently, because
usually only one or two kinds of products advertise during the event. This is one of the
marketers' strategies to increase the intensity of the advertisement. The efforts of marketers
and advertisers can also reduce the intensity of the stimulus. Maybe we have seen
advertisements on television that appear as if our television is broken or there is a
disturbance because there is no sound, but two seconds later an advertising message appears
that is made interesting, funny and very brief. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2007)
3.3 The Differential Threshold
The second factor that affects sensation is the distinct threshold. The limit of the
smallest difference that two similar stimuli can perceive is called the different threshold
(Schiffman and kanuk, 2000). The concept of different threshold is also known as the Just
Noticeable Difference Threahold (JND), which is defined as "the minimum amount of
difference in the intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time" (Mowen and
Minor, 1998 p. 70). Another definition is put forward by Blackwell, Engel and Miniard
(1995 p. 475) "the smallest change in stimulus intensity that will be noticed". (Ujang
Sumarwan, 2007)
To clarify the concept of JND, it can be explained through the pricing of a product, if
the price of Pop Corn is Rp. 3000, -. if the producer wants to reduce the price. Then the next
question is how much the price of Pop Corn should be lowered so that consumers can feel a
price reduction. suppose the price must be reduced by Rp. 300, -. Reducing the price by Rp.
300, - this is what is called the JND concept. In other words, JND is the minimum amount of
price difference that consumers can feel and accept.
The concept of JND was explained by a 19th century German scientist named Ernest
Weber, who suggested that JND between two stimuli is not an absolute amount but an
amount relative to the intensity of the first stimulus. Weber scientists formulated the very
famous Weber model to explain this JND concept as follows: Ujang Sumarwan (2002)
∆I = I X K
∆I = JND, the smallest difference of stimulus intensity required to produce a JND
I= Initial stimulus intensity before any change
K = A constant that describes the proportion of the amount of change in the stimulus required for it
to be perceived. The value of K will vary between the five senses.
Weber's law also explains that the greater the intensity of the initial stimulus, the
greater the amount of stimulus difference needed so that the second stimulus can be
perceived as different from the initial stimulus. Weber's law can also be used in determining
price changes between two products:
If producers will reduce prices as a stimulus for consumers, by what percentage should
the prices of Filma Cooking Oil and Tropicana Slim Cooking Oil be reduced, so that
consumers feel a price reduction? If both products are reduced in price by Rp.500 each, then
the price reduction change for Filma Cooking Oil is 10% (K=10%), and the price reduction
for Tropicana Slim Cooking Oil is only 1% (K=1%).
If the price reduction is based on absolute numbers, then it is not appropriate to apply
this method to all products. Price reduction of Rp.
500 may be large for the Filma Cooking Oil price reduction but very small for the Tropicana
Slim Cooking Oil price reduction. Perhaps consumers will only feel the difference in the
price of Filma Cooking Oil and Tropicana Slim Cooking Oil if both are reduced by a
percentage of 10%. So that the price of Filma Cooking Oil would be IDR 8500 per kg, and
the price of Tropicana Slim Cooking Oil would be IDR 14,400.
One of the most popular applications of Weber's Law in marketing is in pricing. The
consensus of marketers is that price reductions will be effective if the K amount (in
percentage) is determined in advance. Other objectives of applying this JND concept are:
a. In order to make negative changes to the product invisible to consumers (e.g., size
reduction, quality reduction, or price increase), the changes are kept below the JND
value;
b. Make positive changes to the product visible to consumers (e.g. improved packaging,
increased product quality, or price reduction).
Snack manufacturer "Chiki Ball" reduced the number of ball grains in it, from 20
grains to 15 grains, while the price did not decrease (fixed). In order to make the decrease in
the number of ball grains invisible to consumers, do not change the volume of the
packaging. This is one form of JND application to maintain profitability in the face of rising
raw material costs while prices cannot be increased. And manufacturers should also include
the number of ball grains in the new packaging, so as not to be accused of deceiving
consumers. Since the volume of the new packaging is the same as t h e old packaging,
consumers do not really feel the reduction in product content.
Pepsoden toothpaste packaging currently uses plastic, previously using silver
aluminum packaging. The manufacturer makes changes by replacing the packaging material
with plastic, but with the same silver color. This is another example of the use of JND in
changing packaging, so that consumers do not feel a significant change in the packaging,
another example is given by Schiffman and Kanuk (2000), Betty Crockers is a symbol of a
very famous Generals mills food company in the United States, this simole has been
modified seven times since its first appearance in 1936, as shown in Figure 4.3 the
manufacturer wants to update the packaging design of its famous product, but did not want
to lose its distinctive symbol that consumers have known for years. What manufacturers do
is make small changes gradually, and these changes are under JND, so consumers only see
insignificant changes. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
4. Attention
Consumers receive an overwhelming amount of stimuli every day. The average person
may be inundated by hundreds and even thousands of advertisements per day. Consumers
cannot possibly respond to all stimuli, hence most stimuli will be filtered out. This process
of filtering stimuli is called selective attention which occurs when consumers choose to pay
attention to certain stimuli and ignore others. This means that advertisers must be creative in
creating advertisements that are able to attract people's attention. (Morissan, 2007)
The second stage of information processing is attention. In the first stage, producers
expose stimuli to consumers. Not all stimuli presented and received by consumers will get
attention and continue with processing the stimulus. This happens because consumers have
limited cognitive resources to process all the information they receive. Therefore, consumers
select which stimulus or information they will pay attention to and will be processed further.
This process is known as perceptual selection. Manufacturers certainly want that the
stimulus presented is noticed by consumers. Manufacturers must try to grab the attention of
consumers, so that they read, see, and listen to what is communicated by their marketers.
There are two main factors that influence perceptual selection or consumer attention to the
stimulus that he will pay attention to: (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
a) personal factors,
b) stimulus factor.
4.1 Personal Factor
Personal factors are consumer characteristics that arise from within consumers. This
factor is beyond the control of marketers. The first is consumer motivation and needs.
Consumers who feel hungry will certainly pay attention very quickly to everything related to
food, for example, the type of food, the aroma of food, the place to eat (restaurant or food
stall) they encounter. Consumers will immediately pay attention to the stimulus that will
provide a solution to their hunger. This is what is called voluntarily attention.
Another factor is consumer expectations. Consumer expectations are heavily
influenced by consumers' past experiences. Consumers usually see what they expect to see.
What they expect to see is usually based on personal experience and events they are used to
seeing (familiar). Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) argue that stimulus or information that is
contrary to expectations often gets greater attention than those that are in line with
expectations. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
4.2 Stimulus Factor
The second factor that affects consumer attention is stimulus characteristics. This
factor can be controlled and manipulated by marketers and advertisers, with the main
objective being to attract consumer attention. Consumers who pay attention to a stimulus
because of the attractiveness of the stimulus, for example because of a loud sound, beautiful
color, or large font size, it is referred to as attention that is not involuntarily attention.
Marketers must be creative in communicating with consumers so that what is conveyed gets
serious attention from consumers. The stimulus factor consists of:
a. Size.
Consumers are attracted to the large size of the stimulus. The larger the size, the more
it will attract consumer attention. And the cost will be more expensive. So for producers
who use this method are companies that have been established in terms of business growth.
For example, advertising a new sunslik in the form of a large billboard mounted on the side
of the highway.
b. Color
A colorful stimulus will attract greater attention than a stimulus that is only
black/white. For example, "Cathilac" wall paint uses a variety of attractive rainbow colors in
its advertisements.
c. Intensity
Stimuli that appear more frequently will generate greater attention from consumers.
Likewise, louder sound and longer duration of advertising time are some examples of
stimulus intensity.
d. Contrast
Stimuli that are often displayed using the principle of contrast with the background
often attract consumers' attention. For example, in the Walls Ice Cream advertisement,
which releases a very small Mini Conetto. And this is different from the usual large size of
Walls.
e. Position (positition)
Consumers will also pay more attention to stimulus that is strategically located in a
room location. Ads placed on the first page of the magazine will attract more attention.
compared to those on subsequent pages. This causes the cost of advertising on the first page
to usually be more expensive than on subsequent pages.
f. Directionality
Consumers' eyes are often more drawn to stimuli that are made in the form of clues,
for example by using arrows to indicate places.
g. Movement
A moving stimulus will attract consumers' attention rather than a stationary one. For
example, the words "rabbit crunchy peanuts" in red color running on the pati-Kudus
highway attract the attention of consumers.
h. Novelty
An unusual or unexpected stimulus is one that deviates from one's level of adaptation.
Stimuli displayed with novelty techniques usually cause curiosity and curiosity. For
example, there is an advertisement that only says "wait for the play date", without any other
information. This ad turns out to continue the next day. Figure 4.10 shows a print media
advertisement that uses the principle of novelty. The ad uses two full pages of a weekly
news magazine. On page 13, the reader is made curious about what advertisement is listed
on the page. The reader's curiosity is a stimulus that encourages the growth of recognition.
When the reader opens the next page, he will get the type of product and brand that is
advertised.
i. Isolation
The concept of isolation is often referred to as white spice, which is a technique of
placing a stimulus in a space where the space used by this stimulus is only very small, while
the rest of the large room is unused.
j. Deliberate stimuli ("Learned" Attention-Inducing Stimuli)
Some stimuli such as car alarms, telephone ringtones, house bells and others are
stimuli that are deliberately installed to attract our attention. We will react quickly to see the
condition of the car when the car alarm sounds, we will immediately pick up the cell phone
when we hear the ringtone, and we will immediately be moved to open the door when our
house bell rings.
k. Attractive Spokesperson
Marketers often use celebrity endorsers, public figures, religious leaders and
executives as advertising stars. The goal is to attract more consumer attention.
l. Quick image changes (Scene Changes)
Some ads show a lot of images in a very short period of time. This will inadvertently
cause brain activity, and subsequently attract consumers.
5. Understanding
The third stage of information processing is comprehension. Understanding is the
consumer's attempt to interpret or interpret the stimulus. Engel, Blackwell and Miniard
(1995) call this stage the stage of giving meaning to the stimulus classified meaning to the
stimulus. This meaning depends on how the stimulus is classified and elaborated in relation
to consumer knowledge.
In this third stage, consumers perform "perceptual organization". The stimuli received
by consumers number tens or even hundreds, these stimuli are not treated as separate things
from one another. Consumers tend to group stimuli so that they see them as one unit. This is
what is referred to as perceptual organization or stimulus organization. This principle was
developed by the discipline of gestalt psychology, which describes how a person organizes
and integrates stimuli to obtain a comprehensive meaning. There are three principles of
perceptual organization: figure, grouping, and closure (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002).
Although consumers pay attention to advertisements, the information that has received
attention does not always appear in people's minds, exactly the same as the sender of the
message wants. Selective comprehension, also known as selective distortion, is the tendency
of people to change information or interpret information according to their attitudes, beliefs,
motives and experiences. Consumers often interpret information in a way that supports their
position. Information becomes personally meaningful and people interpret the information in
a way that will support their position. But unfortunately there is not much marketers can do
about such selective distortions.
5.1 Figure and BackGround
An image is an object or stimulus placed in a background. Consumers tend to see,
think about and then organize which objects to pay attention to and where the background is.
As stated earlier that objects that look contrasting with the background will attract more
attention from consumers. Marketers must be able to create advertisements where objects
and backgrounds can be easily distinguished and then associated.
5.2 Grouping
Consumers in remembering information, it will be easier by grouping (grouping)
into stimulus groups so that they form a unified meaning. For example, if we are asked by
someone to say a phone number, we might say 648 489 or 64 84 89. It would be more
difficult to say 648489 at the same time. Mentioning a phone number into the next three
digits or two digits, two digits, is one example of grouping.
In Ujang Sumarwan (2002), three grouping principles are proximity, similarity, and
continuity, proximity is an attempt to associate a stimulus / object with something, because it
is considered that the two have a close relationship. Consumers will group objects based on
similarity in shape, name, or others (similarity). Consumers will unite objects into a single
unit without being separated (continuity).
5.3 Closure
Usually, consumers try to understand an object in a unified whole even though
sometimes there are parts of the object that are missing or incomplete. But then there is an
effort from consumers to complete or fill in the missing parts of the object. This effort is
called the closure principle. And the closure principle can be used by ad makers to create
sensation and curiosity for consumers about the emergence of new products.
6. Reception
Every moment, humans receive so many stimuli from the surrounding environment.
But not all stimuli will be responded to. The determining factor whether stimuli will be
responded to or not, depends largely on the internal psychological factors of consumers.
Such as: consumer personality, needs, motives, expectations and experiences. It is these
psychological factors that explain to us
why someone pays attention to one stimuli but ignores others.
The fourth stage of information processing is reception. As stated earlier, every
exposure, attention, and understanding is part of consumer perception. After consumers see
the stimulus, pay attention, and understand the stimulus, they come to a conclusion about an
object. This is what is referred to as consumer perception or product images. Consumer
perception is the output of consumer acceptance of stimulus. In the context of marketing,
consumer perceptions can be related to products, brands, services, prices, product quality,
stores, or companies. Ujang Sumarwan (2002)
7. Retention
Consumers cannot remember all the advertising messages they see, hear or read even
if they have paid attention and understood the advertising message. Advertisers must strive
to keep an advertising message in the consumer's memory for as long as possible, which will
be used when making a purchase. In addition, people will forget many things they learn but
tend to remember information that supports their views and beliefs.
The fifth stage of information processing is retention, which is the process of moving
information to long- term memory. The information stored is the consumer's interpretation
of the stimulus he receives. Furthermore, what i s stored in the consumer's memory will
affect his perception of the new stimulus (exposure, attention, and comprehension). Mowen
and Minor (1998) discuss this retention topic in the memory cognitive learning chapter. He
argues that memory influences the attention process and mobilizes attention sensory system
so that consumers can concentrate selectively on certain stimuli. The stimulus will trigger
expectations and associations between other stimuli in memory so that it affects consumer
expectations. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
Solomon (1999) places memory in the perception chapter, he states that memory
always involves a process to collect information and store it repeatedly so that one day it can
be used again when needed. While Loudon and Della Bitta (1993) discuss memory in the
learning and memory chapter, they suggest that the memory process is very important for
understanding consumer behavior. This is because consumers often behave based on their
cognition, knowledge or beliefs outside of themselves. These cognitions are stored in
memory and will affect the interpretation of the stimulus that comes. (Ujang Sumarwan,
2002)
7.1 Sensory Memory
Sensory memory is the temporary storage of information. The information is
received from the five senses. The storage lasts only very short (less than a second). When
passing by a restaurant. We will smell the aroma of delicious food. This smell will be
transferred to sensory memory very quickly for further processing, and will continue to be
transferred to shot-term memory. If the smell only reaches the sensory memory, then we will
forget the smell as soon as possible. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
7.2 Short term memory
Short-term memory is where information is stored for a limited time, and has a
limited capacity. The storage time is less than 30 seconds. If Compared to a computer
device, short-term memory is similar to working-memory. For example, someone shows or
mentions their phone number two or three times. If we do not record it, relying only on
hearing and memory, the phone number will quickly disappear from our memory. (Ujang
Sumarwan, 2002)
7.3 Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory is a place to store information over a long period of time and has
unlimited capacity. Long-term memory stores all consumer knowledge permanently. This
memory system model can be seen in Figure 7.1. The process of storing information in long
term memory involves two important activities that consumers do Rehearsel
Rehearsal is "the silent, mental repetition of material. Also the relating of new data
to old to make the former meaningful" (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000 p. 178). Rehearsel is a
metal consumer activity to recall the information it receives and connect it with other
information that has been stored in memory. The amount of rehearsel will affect the amount
of information transferred from short-ther memory to long-term memory, remember when
we are asked to remember someone's phone number without having time to write it down.
we will mumble to repeat the number so that it can be remembered. This is called the
rehearsal process. The purpose of rehearsel is to hold information in short-term memory for
a sufficient amount of time so that encoding can be done. (Ujang Sumarwan, 2002)
7.4 Encoding
Encoding is the process of selecting a word or image to express a perception of an
object. Kentucky Fried Chiken uses the KFC symbol to help consumers encode the
Kentucky Fried Chiken brand. some manufacturers use symbols or logos to symbolize their
product brands so that consumers can easily remember them. Visual images are believed to
be easier to remember than words.
7.5 RETRIEVAL
After consumers store information in long-term memory, then one day they will call
back or remember the information to be used as a consideration in making decisions. this
process is known as retrieval. One of the goals of advertising is to help consumers' ability to
recall the information they have received.
The main problem faced by marketers is that consumers cannot remember all the
information in their memory, as a result consumers may not be able to remember the brand,
advertisement or product advertised by marketers. Therefore, marketers must immediately
make efforts to improve their marketing communication programs so that they are easily
accepted by consumers.
