The Buying Decision Process: The Five Stage Model

The consumer passes through five stages: problem recognition, information search, evaluation of
alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behaviour. Clearly, the buying process starts long
before the actual purchase and has consequences long afterward.

Consumers don’t always pass through all five stages- they may skip or reverse some. When you buy
your regular brand of toothpaste, you go directly from the need to the purchase decision, skipping
information search and evaluation.

Problem Recognition
The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need triggered by internal or
external stimuli. With an internal stimulus, one of the person’s normal needs- hunger, thirst, sex
rises to a threshold level and becomes a drive. A need can also be aroused by an external stimulus. A
person may admire a friend’s new car or see a television ad for a Hawaiian vacation, which inspires
thoughts about the possibility of making a purchase.

Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need by gathering information
from a number of consumers. They can then develop marketing strategies that spark consumer
interest. Particularly for discretionary purchases such as luxury goods, vacation packages and
entertainment options, marketers may need to increase consumer motivation so a potential
purchase gets serious consideration.

Information Search
We can distinguish between two levels of engagement in the search. The milder search state is
called heightened attention. At this level a person simply becomes more receptive to information
about a product. At the next level, the person may enter an active information search: looking for
reading material, phoning friends, going online and visiting stores to learn about the product.

 Information Sources
Major information sources to which consumers will turn fall into four groups:
Personal- Family, friends, neighbours, acquaintances
Commercial- Advertising, Web sites, salespersons, dealers, packaging, displays
Public- Mass media, consumer rating organizations
Experiential- Handling, examining, using the product.
 Search Dynamics
By gathering information, the consumer learns about competing brands and their
features. The first step is total set of brands available. The individual consumer will
come to know a subset of these, the awareness set. Only some, the consideration
set, will meet initial buying criteria. As the consumer gathers more information, just
a few, the choice set, will remain strong contenders. The consumer makes a final
choice from these.
Marketers need to identify the hierarchy of attributes that guide consumer decision
making in order to understand different competitive forces and how these various
 sets get formed. This process of identifying the hierarchy is called market
partitioning.
Evaluation of Alternatives
The consumer is trying to satisfy a need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain
benefits from the product solution. Third, the consumer sees each product as a bundle of
attributes with varying abilities to deliver the benefits. The attributes of interest to buyers
vary by product. For example
Hotels- Location, cleanliness, atmosphere, price
Mouthwash- Colour, effectiveness, germ killing capacity, taste, price
Tires- Safety, tread life, ride quality, price
Consumers will pay the most attention to attributes that deliver the sought after benefits.
We can often segment the market for a product according to attributes and benefits
important to different consumer groups.
Beliefs and Attitudes
Through experience and learning; people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These in turn
influence buying behaviour. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds
about something. Attitudes are a person’s enduring favourable or unfavourable
evaluations, emotional feelings and action tendencies toward some object or idea.
Attitudes out us into a frame of mind: liking or disliking an object, moving toward or
away from it. They lead us to behave in a fairly consistent way toward similar
objects. Because attitudes economize on energy and thought, they can be very
difficult to change.
Expectancy-Value Model
The consumer arrives at attitudes toward various brands through an attribute
evaluation procedure, developing a set of beliefs about where each brand stands on
each attribute. The expectancy value model of attitude formation posits that
consumers evaluate products and services by combining their brand beliefs- the
positives and negatives- according to importance.
Purchase Decision
In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set
and may also form an intention to buy the most preferred brand. In executing a purchase
intention, the consumer may make up to five sub-decisions: brand, dealer, quantity, timing,
and payment method.
Non Compensatory models of Consumer Choice
 The expectancy value model is a compensatory model, in that perceived good things
about a product can help to overcome perceived bad things. But consumers often
take mental shortcuts called heuristics or rules of thumb in the decision process.
With non-compensatory models of consumer choice, positive and negative attribute
considerations don’t necessarily net out. Evaluating attributes in isolation makes
decision making easier for a consumer, but it also increases the likelihood that she
would have made a different choice if she had deliberated in greater detail. We
highlight three choice heuristics here:
1. Using the conjunctive heuristic, the consumer sets a minimum acceptable cut-off
level for each attribute and chooses the first alternative that meets the minimum
standard for all attributes.
2. Using the lexicographic heuristic, the consumer chooses the best brand on the basis
of the perceived most important attribute.
3. Using the elimination by aspects heuristic, the consumer compares brands on an
attribute selected probabilistically- where the probability of choosing an attribute is
positively related to its importance- and eliminates brands that do not meet
minimum acceptable cut-offs.
Intervening Factors
Even if consumers form brand evaluations, two general factors can intervene between the
purchase intention and the purchase decision. The first factor is the attitude of others. The
influence of another person’s attitude depends on two things:
1. The intensity of the other person’s negative attitude toward our preferred
alternative.
2. Our motivation to comply with the other person’s wishes.
The more intense the other person’s negativism and the closer he or she is to us, the more
we will adjust our purchase intention. The converse is also true.
The second factor is unanticipated situational factors that may erupt to change the purchase
intention.
A consumer’s decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a purchase decision is heavily
influenced by one or more types of perceived risk:
1. Functional risk- The product does not perform to expectations.
2. Physical risk- The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health of the
user or others.
3. Financial risk- The product is not worth the price paid.
4. Social risk- The product results in embarrassment in front of others.
5. Psychological risk- The product affects the mental well-being of the user.
6. Time risk- The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another
satisfactory product.
Post purchase Behaviour
After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance from noticing certain
disquieting features or hearing favourable things about other brands and will be alert to
information that supports his or her decision. Marketing communications should supply
beliefs and evaluations that reinforce the consumer’s choice and help him or her feel good
about the brand. The marketer’s job therefore doesn’t end with the purchase. Marketers
must monitor post purchase satisfaction, post purchase actions and post purchase product
uses and disposal.
Post Purchase Satisfaction
Satisfaction is a function of the closeness between expectations and the product’s
perceived performance. If the performance falls short of expectations the consumer
is disappointed; if it meets expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds
expectations, the consumer is delighted. These feelings make a difference in
whether the customer buys the product again and talks favourably or unfavourably
about it to others.
Post Purchase Actions
A satisfied consumer is more likely to purchase the product again and will also tend
to say good things about the brand to others. Dissatisfied consumers may abandon
or return the product. They may seek information that confirms its high value. They
may take public action by complaining to the company, going to a lawyer, or
complaining to other groups. Private actions include deciding to stop buying the
product or warning friends.
Post Purchase Uses and Disposal
Marketers should also monitor how buyers use and dispose of the product. A key
driver of sales frequency is product consumption rate- the more quickly buyers
consume a product, the sooner they may be back in the market to repurchase it.

Moderating Effects on Consumer Decision Making

The manner or path by which consumer moves through the decision making stages depends
on several factors, including the level of involvement and extent of variety seeking, as
follows:
Low Involvement Consumer Decision Making
The expectancy value model assumes a high level of consumer involvement, or
engagement and active processing the consumer undertakes in responding to a
marketing stimulus.
Richard Petty and John Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood model, an influential model
attitude formation and change, describes how consumers make evaluations in both
low and high level circumstances. There are two means of persuasion in their model:
the central route, in which attitude formation or change stimulates much thought
and is based on the consumer’s diligent, rational consideration of the most
important product information; and the peripheral route, in which attitude
formation or change provokes much less thought and results from the consumer’s
association of a brand with either positive or negative peripheral cues. Peripheral
cues for consumers include a celebrity endorsement, a credible source, or any object
that generates positive feelings.
Consumers follow the central route only if they possess sufficient motivation, ability
and opportunity. If any of those factors is lacking, consumers tend to follow the
peripheral route and consider less central, more extrinsic factors in their decisions.
Marketers use four techniques to try to convert a low involvement product into one
of higher involvement. First, they can link the product to an engaging issue, as when
Colgate linked its toothpaste to avoiding cavities. Second, they can link the product
to a personal situation- for example, fruit juice makers began to include nutrients
such as calcium to fortify their drinks. Third, they might design advertising to trigger
strong emotions related to personal values or ego defence, as when cereal makers
began to advertise to adults the heart healthy nature of cereals and the importance
of living a long time to enjoy family life. Fourth, they might add an important
feature- for example, when GE lightbulbs introduced Soft white versions.
Variety Seeking Behaviour
Some buying situations are characterized by low involvement but significant brand
differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Example- Cookies.
The market leader and the minor brands in this product category have different
marketing strategies. The market leader will try to encourage habitual buying
behaviour by dominating the shelf space with a variety of related but different
product versions, avoiding out of stock conditions, and sponsoring frequent
reminder advertising. Challenger firms will encourage variety seeking by offering
lower prices, deals, coupons, free samples, and advertising that tries to break the
consumer’s purchase and consumption cycle and presents reasons for trying
something new.