mkt 450 test 2

Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse vision

"The metaverse is a logical evolution. It's the next generation of the internet - a more immersive, 3D experience. Its defining quality will be a feeling of presence, like you are right there with another person or in another place,"

Bounded rationality

A counter to Maximizing vs. satisficing •As illustrated through even the fast-food tier list illustration, it is quite difficult and complicated to weight numerous comparable options. •Plus, most decisions are not important enough to impose such high cognitive costs on ourselves. •So, we take mental shortcuts when we can to arrive at more expedient solutions. • •Stated differently, we're not always trying to optimize choice. •We may be maximizing in some other dimension. Let's use a restaurant scenario to illustrate!

The "3 A's"

Affective-based Attribute-based Attitude-based

Affective-based

Affective-based: Holistic judgment based on how we think we'll FEEL about the option when we use it •Based around questions like, "How do I feel about it?" •Affective choice is most likely when the underlying motive is consummatory rather than instrumental. •Consummatory motives—underlie behaviors that are intrinsically rewarding; emotional. •Instrumental motives—underlie behaviors designed to achieve a specified goal; functional. - ex. victoria secret when they did away with the angels - ex. job market: •that being a likeable job candidate can be even more important than being a competent one.

Attitude-based:

Attitude-based: Involves the use of general thoughts, summary IMPRESSIONS, INTUITIONS, or heuristics •Tend to be made when information is difficult to find or access, or when consumers face time pressures, attitude-based choices are more likely. •Decisions in this realm are made with the help of heuristics—or mental shortcuts. •Familiarity—we tend to think more fondly of options we're already acquainted with. •Price-quality—the more expensive the item, the higher its quality. •Time-effort—the longer something takes, the more labor was involved. •Status quo—we tend to maintain consistent behaviors over time and refrain from change.

Attribute-based

Attribute-based: Effortful attribute-by-attribute COMPARISONS to arrive at a more optimal ultimate choice •More effortful and time-consuming process; requires the knowledge of specific attributes at the time the choice is made. •Consumers with high purchase involvement or motivation are more likely to make attribute-based choices, which most resemble extended decisions. •This can be used by marketers of brands that have important attribute-based advantages but lack strong reputations or images in the target market (see: lots of prescription drug advertising). •Any example for you in which you relied on all available information to make as informed and optimized a choice as possible?

Billie razors

Billie Razors indicates that you are in control. You don't have to use the razor to be perfect and shave everything. You can shave some, you can shave non, you can shave all. This aligns with many values of not following the norms.

"Customer obsession"

Customer obsessed describes a commitment to having a customer-first approach. That means: Customer needs are at the center of everything you do. The customer experience, everything from sales to marketing to support, is built around these needs

Digital dystopia

Digital dystopia, cyber dystopia or algorithmic dystopia refers to an alternate future or present in which digitized technologies or also algorithms have caused major societal disruption

Exploratory research vs Conclusive research

Exploratory: •Primary objective: Provide insight into the nature of the research problem •Data collection: Loose and quite unstructured •Primary methods: Focus groups, depth interviews, direct observation conclusive: •Primary objective: Provide conclusive answers to a well-defined research problem •Data collection: Formal and quite structured •Primary methods: Pure experiments, field studies, natural experiments

Frictionless pay and one-click buying

Frictionless pay: •Psychologists often refer to the pain of paying—the viscerally negative feelings we experience when making a purchase. •We're saying goodbye to our hard-earned cash! •What do you think might reduce this pain? Any ideas on how you mitigate this? • •Answer: Make the experience of giving away money less felt and more abstract. one-click buying: •Allows a shopper to purchase an item without manually inputting billing and shipping information—the transaction is finalized right away. • •Why was Amazon's adoption of this technique such a game-changer? •No-pain purchases: It minimizes effort expended and maximizes convenience. •Rash decision-making: It significantly diminishes our tendency to second-think our purchases.

Maximizing vs. satisficing

Maximizing: •A tendency to exert effort on selecting the very best option—as opposed to satisficing by settling for a sufficient one. Satisficing: •Essentially, a fancy behavioral economic term for saying, "Eh, good enough." •When your goal is to purchase something satisfactory, not optimal. •Does this resonate with anyone? Can you think of a time in which you satisficed? • •Recent example: my new lunchbox!

The nature of comparisons

Measuring pre workout --> how much you bench press before using it and after using it some issues are diverse markets (place method), time of year marketing (time method), large companies and available resources (problem with multi-brand dataset)

Advantages of nominal

Nominal: •A figurative labeling scheme in which numbers serve only as labels or tags for identifying and classifying objects. •Some common examples are demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, geography). •Ex: To which political party are you currently registered? 1= democrat 2=republican 3=independent •Importantly, these numbers are not considered in terms of value. •In other words, everything is made up, and the points don't matter! •Independent (3) is not a metric of superiority over Democrat (2); the numbers are merely codes for distinguishing numerically between different categories. •Spoiler: In statistical analysis, this is how we will chart differences in outcome measures (i.e., dependent variables) between established groups. More on this later! • •In summary, the numbers here are meaningless and are only used to differentiate groups from one another. "How would you describe the area in which you live in?" •The categories you provide for nominal scaling should be mutually exclusive (no overlap between them) and collectively exhaustive (cover all bases).

Relatability marketing

People also respond better when they can relate to a person, if they can't relate to a person in an ad they are less likely to use the product. So adverts aimed at a certain societal class will often use actors and make them look/speak in a way that aims to that specific socio-economic group.

Primary vs Secondary research

Primary data: •Collected for the specific purpose of the research at hand •Pros: Assurance of quality; essentially necessary for determining causality •Cons: Expensive and time-consuming secondary data: •Collected by external organizations for reasons outside the research at hand •Pros: Saves time and money; the foundation for many research projects •Cons: May be inaccurate, contain missing data, etc.

Interpretivism

Qualitative data—that which is based on description; cannot be assigned numerical values •Multiple socially constructed realities exist •Primarily seeks to understand meaning •The researcher should be immersed in the lived realities of the subjects they study •True relationships are ever-changing and reflect a particular time and context saying "this can happen"

Qualitative vs quantitative research

Quantitative data—that which can be quantified, counted, and given a numerical value Qualitative data—that which is based on description; cannot be assigned numerical values

Positivism

Quantitative data—that which can be quantified, counted, and given a numerical value •A single reality exists and can be uncovered •Primarily seeks to explain and predict •The researcher should be removed from associating with the subjects they study •True relationships should carry over into natural settings saying "this does happen"

SHEIN and Patagonia

SHEIN is bad for environment and Patagonia gives back to the environment

Emotional display and sales

Sales went down as emotions went up...this could be due to the more store traffic, the more sales go up which leads to less emotion because of all the in-store traffic. "In-store traffic simultaneously decreases employee positivity and increases sales."

TV Advertising & ROI

TV Advertising increases Financial Indicators like Sales, profits, ROI. Why? Root Mechanism(s): •Awareness •Information •Persuasion •Reinforcement •Engagement What did the authors find? TV advertising --> effectively null --> Financial indicators: Ad elasticities, ROI Decision problem: Should I advertise on TV? Is TV advertising a good idea? Research problem: What are the financial outcomes associated with TV advertising? Does advertising yield effective returns?

Detectives and Executives

The Detective—objective, not agenda-driven; just reporting on the "facts"; looking to uncover root causes. The Executive—agenda-driven; seeks facts for a competitive advantage; looking to treat symptoms.

What is buyer behavior?

The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.

What is problem recognition?

When the buyer becomes aware of a difference between desired state and actual state •An acknowledgement that there is a discrepancy between your current situation (i.e., actual state) and your wanted state of affairs (i.e., desired state).

Post-purchase dissonance

buyer's remorse •Core service failure •Service encounter failures •Pricing •Inconvenience •Responses to service failures •Attraction by competitors •Ethical problems •Involuntary switching

Cycle of stakeholder influence

consumer culture influences promotion which influences consumer culture which influences promotion, etc.

Effort over ease

consumers value effort over ease when caring for close others - ex. robo crib parents would rather rock their child to sleep themselves caregivers feel better when they put more effort into putting a baby to sleep rather than letting something else put it to sleep "Many products and services are designed to make caregiving easier, from pre-made meals for feeding families to robo-cribs that automatically rock babies to sleep. Yet, using these products may come with a cost: consumers may feel they have not exerted enough effort."

Reasons for buying online

fast, free shipping broad selection prime best prices easy returns product reviews unique items that can't be found in-store quick communication

Descriptive vs causal research

in terms of interpretivism: Descriptive—"thick description" is employed to better capture richness and vividness Causal research: also known as explanatory research or causal-comparative research, identifies the extent and nature of cause-and-effect relationships between two or more variables. It's often used by companies to determine the impact of changes in products, features, or services process on critical company metrics. Causal research is used to identify the cause-and-effect relationship between variables and provides conclusive results that can answer the research problem. Descriptive research and exploratory research don't answer a research problem and are instead used to gain a deeper understanding of the problem itself.

Sources of information

intentional learning sources: ask a friend, user testimonials, online reviews, Trade or independent outlets incidental learning sources: Traditional adverts, Algorithmic intervention, Influencers

Amazon's marketplace dominance?

many reasons why people shop online however, amazon's turn over rate is bad 1. an intentional, militarized disposable workforce 2. An automated, mass-scale recruitment process 3. A lack of meaningful overhead feedback and supervision 4. A limited capacity to advance within the organization

Retailing success matrix

product benefits customer experience - product brand - experiential increase pleasure nike sephora warby parker ikea - low price -frictionless walmart amazon eliminate pain points costco

Product non-use and metacognition

product non-use: •Occurs when a consumer uses a product sparingly relative to potential use. •Ex: The decision to purchase food at a supermarket is really a two-stage process: first to buy, then to prepare and consume. Just because you bought the chicken breast doesn't mean you'll cook it. •In such cases, the consumer has wasted money—low chance of repeat sales or positive referrals. • •This may occur due to a lack of calibration between intentions and behavior. •A major conundrum in marketing research (see: the dreaded behavior-intention gap). •We intend to do many things, but this may not necessarily lead to action. Why not? metacognition: •Awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, as well as the circumstances under which one optimally performs. •Metacognition can help avert product non-use—go into the purchase situation with a realistic sense of what you have the physical, mental, and emotional capacity to use fully. •What was holding me back with cookbooks? I didn't want to scour the grocery store for ingredients—lack of baseline culinary familiarity. • •This kind of thinking is helpful in many domains, from health and wellness to studying and new skill acquisition.

Mixed-reality

the combination of the real physical world with interactive virtual images or objects

Satisfaction and dissatisfaction

the positive or negative feeling consumers get with the outcome of product or service consumption

What is marketing research?

the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions

What is information search?

the stage of the buyer decision process in which the consumer is motivated to search for more information

Negativity bias

•A cognitive bias that results in adverse events having a more significant impact on our psychological state than positive events. •This is reflected in the phrase, "Losses loom larger than gains." •We tend to dwell on the worst and overlook the best. Can you think of any examples of this? • •This is absolutely impactful when it comes to post-purchase evaluation. •Not only do poor experiences suck—but they also stick. We will remember our disappointments. •"Negative information tends to be more specific and diagnostic than positive information," according to recent research by Hamed Qahri-Saremi and Ali Reza Montazemi.

Constructs & indicators

•A construct is a complex idea formed from a synthesis of simpler ideas (indicators). •Constructs are inherently abstract and unobservable, so they require defining what tangible characteristics indicate its presence, existence, etc. •Imagine a construct as the label we give to someone or something—and the indicators as the observable reasons we know the label to be true. Let's illustrate with an example! • •Who is a celebrity we might consider to be "cool"? cool is a construct and rebellious, popular, unique, high status, and iconic are indicators if extraversion was a construct, gregarious, talkative, outgoing, and assertive are indicators

Brand loyalty

•A consumer's positive feelings towards a brand—and their dedication to purchasing the brand's products and/or services repeatedly, regardless of deficiencies, a competitor's actions, or changes in the environment. •Does anyone feel a proclivity toward any brand in particular? •Where do those feelings come from? In other words, why be loyal to the brand? • •There are rational and irrational reasons for the emergence of brand loyalty. •Rational: Helps mitigate choice difficulty; an accessible default option comes in handy! •Irrational: A felt connection or bias toward the brand that feels almost like a human relationship.

Single-option aversion

•A documented phenomenon whereby consumers are hesitant to make a choice when presented with only a single alternative. Why single-option aversion? •A big component: price! We rely on additional options to make cross-comparisons. •Why are such comparisons so important for us as consumers? •We often don't know how valuable something is otherwise!

Managerial implications

•A key element that separates research in business from other that in other disciplines is its focus on managerial implications. •These summarize what research results mean in clear, actionable terms for managers. •Marketing research should help practitioners do their jobs better. •When doing research, ask yourself this question: How might knowing this finding change the way companies go about their business operations, strategy, etc.? • •On a personal note, this element here is what made me fall in love with buyer behavior—and the field of marketing more broadly. •Maybe it's a personnel issue? Hire more people to reduce individual workload. •Maybe it's a scheduling issue? Make sure people aren't slated to work too many days in a row. •Maybe it's a breaks issue? Allow employees to take rests throughout the day.

Locavorism

•A preference for locally provided foods; stems from three core beliefs: •Lionization—local produce is of superior quality; the food is intrinsically superior. •Opposition—to long-distance food systems, driven primarily by distrust. •Communalization—a care for the community spaces of local food options.

Intuitive judgment

•A preference reached on the basis of subjective feelings that cannot easily be articulated and may not be fully conscious. •Example: Why did you decide to come to UD for undergrad? Did an on-campus visit help to sway you in any way? •Sometimes, preferences are formed and decisions are made just because they "felt right."

Advantages of ordinal

•A ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to objects to indicate the relative extent to which the objects possess some characteristic. •This allows you to determine whether an object has more or less of a characteristic than another —but not how much more or less (relative position). •Some examples include quality rankings, socioeconomic class, and occupational status. ex. ranking albums Notice that the numbers don't capture the difference between the absolute rankings.

Evoked set

•A small group of brands that consumers consider when a particular need arises. •This has to do with the options that spring to mind when considering a given category. •As an example, when I say "soda," what's the first brand you think of? • •Much of advertising is aimed at getting a given brand in consumers' evoked sets. •Think about it: If a particular option appears almost by default in your head, there is a decent chance you will seek it out and make a purchase down the line. •That is, unless the option is appraised as terrible, in which case it belongs to the "inept" set.

SWOT analysis

•A strategic framing tool for identifying and considering a venture's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. • •Typically depicted as a 2 × 2 grid. •Let's define all of these terms. •What are Strengths in the context of SWOT?

What is measurement?

•Also known as operationalization—assigning numerical values to non-numerical concepts and abstractions (e.g., happiness, satisfaction, attitudes). • •Why might it be important to quantify concepts like these? •Statistically analyzable—numbers allow for statistical analysis of the resulting data. (Remember how qualitative data was rich in substance but a bit messy to summarize and interpret?) •Collapsible—numbers facilitate the communication of data in a streamlined format.

Focus groups

•An interview conducted by a trained moderator in an unstructured and natural manner with a small group of respondents. •The main purpose is to gain insights by listening to a group of people from the appropriate target market talk about issues of interest to the researcher. •What value do you think focus groups might offer in the research process? • •Big factor: Unexpected findings obtained from a free-flowing group discussion! advantages: •Immediacy and richness—group interaction produces a wide range of insights •Generative—the comments of one person can trigger unexpected reactions from others Disadvantages: •Moderation—multiple participants at once can be chaotic; need management skills •Unstructured—how do you consolidate this information in a digestible format?

Depth interviews

•An unstructured, direct, personal interview in which a single respondent is questioned by an interviewer to uncover motivations, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings on a topic. •A depth interview may take from 30 minutes to over an hour. •While the interview attempts to follow a rough outline, the specific wording of the questions and the order in which they are asked is influenced by the subject's replies. • •Before examining a research example, let's delve into a late-night interview and make some observations about what we see...

Positive and negative correlations

•As we'll discuss more in-depth later, a correlation is a measure of simultaneous variation—the extent to which a change in X is associated with a change in Y. • •In general, there are three different types of correlation: •Positive correlation = when two variables move in the SAME direction (e.g., more sleep → more energy; less preparation → worse performance). •Negative correlation = when two variables move in the OPPOSITE direction (e.g., more stress → less sleep; more distractions → worse performance). •No correlation = when there is NO relationship between two variable (e.g., sleep and shoe size).

Values-driven marketing

•Brands are in a conundrum: Consumers increasingly want to buy from values-driven companies, but we're also skeptical of business involvement in these issues. • •Much of this stems from perceptions of the ever-hazy concept of authenticity. •Here, we can define "authenticity" as the alignment of a brand's stated values, cause-related messaging, and prosocial corporate practice. •What do you think it takes for a brand's values-based positioning to read as authentic? •A recent paper by Abas Mirzaei and colleagues comes up with some interesting ideas.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

•Created by Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), this conception of "needs" is probably the most widely known and discussed in popular culture. • •The hierarchy does a few interesting things that will be helpful for us to think about. •First, it categorizes needs into five distinct "layers." •Second, it suggests a "hierarchy"—these needs can be organized by urgency and abstraction. •Third, it posits that life satisfaction involves meeting deeper psychological needs. •But—fourth—these needs can only be considered once more basic needs are met.

Screening

•Focus groups are cost-intensive (i.e., in terms of time, money, etc.)—and, in turn, we want to select participants we think will be most generative in insights. •What kinds of people do you think would be good to participate in this McD's focus group? • •We can think about both homogeneity and heterogeneity.

Heterogeneity vs. homogeneity

•Homogeneity—how people are the same (e.g., we may want only McD's enthusiasts). •Heterogeneity—how people are different (e.g., we may want adults with and without kids).

Consumer trust - Algorithms and influencers

•If consumers are generally distrustful of conventional advertising, they need a way to stay one step ahead of the game and relay their messages, anyway. • •There are two notable strategies here to discuss: •Algorithmic intervention—use consumer search behavior to populate feed with customized content the consumer is predicted to be interested in. •Influencers—recruit trusted and well-followed individuals to advertise on behalf of the brand.

Positioning strategy

•If you're a brand manager for Impossible Foods, where do you put your products? •Amongst other meat products? •Or in its own section? • •What is the thinking behind either strategy? •What needs are potentially being met through these different approaches?

Collapsible measures

•Imagine that we wanted to use the seven questions on the previous slide to create a single measure that captured consumers' attitudes toward McDonald's. •What we could do, assuming the items were reliable, is add the points together and average across the number of items. •In turn, after calculating the mean, the maximum number of possible points is five (5). •But given the phrasing of the items, would simply adding across the selected numbers be the right way to go? Does something seem a bit off—why? • •Some questions are framed in the negative, so a "5" isn't always good!

External influence of needs

•In many scenarios, our fundamental needs remain constant, but outside sources provide information that expands or limits the number of suitable options. • •Rick Berman's WSJ op-ed is unlikely to change people's fundamental health needs. •It also won't necessarily diminish people's awareness of plant-based meat alternatives. •But it can impact the extent to which plant-based meat alternatives are viewed as suitable options for satisfying one's fundamental health needs. •To Berman: "If you're looking to eat healthy, plant-based isn't the way to go."

What is scaling?

•Involves creating a continuum upon which measured objects are located. •You have likely encountered many "scales" in your lives used to capture many different ideas—can you think of any examples off the top of your head? •In fact, we think pretty often in terms of scales. Imagine your personal physician asks, "How are you feeling today ON A SCALE OF 1-10..." • •To better illustrate the role of scales on more abstract notions, let's explore an example that might be fun and enlightening for us all—a personality inventory!

Organization-donor asymmetry

•It is widely known that nonprofit organizations tend to prefer receiving financial donations rather than material goods—or even your time! •Why do you think this might be the case? Doesn't $ feel not quite as thoughtful? •Let's take a look at this issue in the context of charitable canned food drives. • •Yet, research has long identified that donors are more eagerly willing to donate time (e.g., volunteer hours) or personal items (e.g., canned food) than hard cash. •What might be driving this? Time to think like a consumer psychologist!

Marketing research problems

•Lower sales in happier stores isn't really diagnosing the correct problem. •The symptom was lower sales, but the underlying cause was something else. •High traffic made employees less likely to display positive emotions, and this also drove sales. • •Now we can think in very different ways about how best to treat the issue. •Positive displays of employee emotion aren't dropping sales—they're merely a byproduct of a less stressful, less busy working environment. •So, if positive employee expression isn't the core problem... what do you think is? •What recommendations might you suggest to managers related to this problem?

Primary measurement scales

•Nominal •Ordinal •Interval •Ratio

advantages of interval

•Numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal values in the characteristic being measured; the most popular form of scaling in marketing research. •Contains all the information of an ordinal scale—but also allows you to compare differences. •In marketing research, attitudinal data obtained from rating scales are often treated as interval data—ex: "I like Starbucks coffee" on a 7-point scale. •If KFC received an attitude rating of six (6) and Subway a preference rating of three (3), that does not necessarily mean KFC is preferred two times as much as Subway. • •Big takeaway: Relative position can be assessed, but there is no "absolute zero."

Consumption guilt and self-care

•Occurs when feelings of wrongdoing are aroused by using a given product or service. •Can we think of any examples of goods likely to evoke these kinds of emotions? •My mind goes to offerings that are maximally hedonic. • •We can lump these into different discrete categories: •Health and wellness—ice cream, hamburgers, French fries, etc. •Harmful substances—drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. •Convenient options—microwave dinners, pre-made greeting cards, etc. •Expensive options—designer handbags, personal indulgences, etc.

Indicators of authenticity

•Of the factors listed on the previous slide, three really stick out to me: •Practice—the extent of substantive actions taken by the brand to support a given issue. •Fit—involves the perceived congruency between a brand's cause-related marketing efforts and overall marketplace positioning. ("Does it make sense for this brand to be supporting X?") •Social context independency—the deployment of cause-related messaging specifically when a given cause is not the most prominent or widely discussed. • •Curious what you guys think: Do you think low fit—say, Burger King and equity-based internet access—helps or hurts the brand's credibility?

Decision problems

•Oftentimes, the key managerial takeaway is related to a cause-based explanation. •This is also referred to as a process explanation—an underlying explanation for why a given outcome has occurred and may reasonably be predicted to occur in the future. •We will talk much more about process later in the course. • •Why is process so important from a managerial perspective? •Knowing why something has occurred allows you to make better decisions in the future. •It is potentially quite costly to execute on the basis of educated guesses and intuition. •Repeat success over time requires a deep knowledge of why things worked the first time.

Effort justification

•Our tendency to attribute greater subjective value to an outcome that we put effort into achieving than the objective value of the outcome itself. •Might getting matched with a car feel like being cheated out of a more effortful experience? •Is it possible that we assign less value to a decision if it's already provided for us? • •Does this line of reasoning remind you of anything you've experienced personally?

Self-determination theory

•Popularized by Edward Deci (1942-) and Richard Ryan (1953-), this framework concerns people's growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. • •SDT recognizes three fundamental psychological needs. •Autonomy—the ability to make to make choices driven by one's own values. •Competence—the experience of mastery and being effective in one's activity. •Relatedness—a feeling of interconnection and belonging with others.

advantages of ratio

•Possesses all the properties of the nominal, ordinal, and interval scales, plus an "absolute zero" point; this scale conveys the most information. •Some common examples include height, weight, age, and income that are measured as exact numbers rather than as categories (i.e., 6'0" is double 3'0"). •Some marketing examples include sales, costs, market share, and the number of customers. • •For many psychological measures, it is either complicated or impossible to assess an "objective" quantity or amount of a given construct. •What does "absolute zero" extraversion mean? Does that even exist?

Celebrity appeals

•Predominantly attentional in nature—an attempt to captivate viewers with a recognizable face and a relatable personality. •"Hey, I know Neil Patrick Harris! What's he doing in a HelloFresh commercial?" •These celebrities tend not to be experts by any means, and their brand endorsements are often the result of a hefty compensation package. •But the hope among advertisers is that you'll let your guard down if you like the celebrity enough. • •This particular example of NPH also attempts to humanize the talent. •"Wow, even a multi-talented, award-winning celebrity struggles to cook for his partner! #ItMe"

Compromise effect

•Preferences are not so stable! A third option totally changed our decision. •What does this illustrate? •Options receive greater decision share (i.e., are more likely to be chosen) when they become the intermediate rather than the extreme option. • •Can you think of any real-world examples where this may be applied?

Product disposition

•Products are often disposed of—particularly when they no longer meet our needs. •Perhaps the product no longer works (instrumental) or is no longer the latest trend (symbolic). •For the latter point, there are criticisms to be made of the fast fashion industry, which leverages current trends to sell cheaply manufactured clothing meant to be quickly replaced. • •When you think of fast fashion companies, are there any notable perpetrators that come readily to mind? There are quite a few...

Rational choice theory

•Rational choice theory—a longstanding model of human decision-making that offers a number of fundamental assumptions underlying our socio-economic behavior. (or individuals make rational decisions based on evaluating the cost and benefit of an option.) •Completeness: People have a set of complete and consistent preferences - "I know exactly what I want!" - "I like McDonald's more, but sometimes I just really crave BK's fries." •Transitivity: People's rank-order preferences are totally and completely stable - The introduction of Wendy's to the alternative set should not change your preference for McD's over BK - "I like McDonald's more than BK and BK more than Wendy's. So, I must like McDonald's more than Wendy's." •Perfect Info: People weigh options on the basis of all available information

Operationalization

•Remember—this is the quantification of abstract constructs. •How you do this gets tricky and often requires a bit of creativity—so we're going to play a game to think more about operationalization in action. •Let's consider the HAPPIEST STATES IN THE COUNTRY. Indeed, there are many lists online! • •Get in your groups and discuss some metrics you might use to assess states by their overall happiness level—an abstract construct by any stretch of the imagination. •In other words, how would you measure and assess how happy a state is? •Keep in mind: you'll want to make comparisons across states.

J-shaped distribution

•Research suggests that people tend to leave reviews for things they either really loved or really hated—without much representation of middle-of-the-road. •There is a time-effort expenditure involved in writing a review. •Most people are only willing to invest those resources when it comes to gushing about something absolutely wonderful or bashing something absolutely reprehensible. • •Overall takeaway: Aggregate reviews like those seen for Amazon products may not be totally representative of the actual views all users have had. •As we have discussed a bit already, there is likely self-selection at play. •Who are the people even leaving reviews in the first place? Are they alike in some way?

Projective techniques

•Respondents are asked to interpret the behavior of others rather than describe their own behaviors—though it is reasoned that respondents will project their own.

Experiential consumption

•Spending money with the primary intention of acquiring a life experience—an event or series of events that you personally encounter or live through. •Experiential goods: restaurant meals, concert tickets, theme park passes, and vacations. •Meanwhile, material goods are tangible objects that you obtain and keep in your possession. • •Importantly, a product can be both material and experiential at the same time. Can anyone think of an example of this?

The pandemic and buyer behavior

•The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally influenced and changed the way we make purchases—especially at its start in 2020. • •The consulting firm McKinsey & Co. outlined some of these many shocks. •Flight to digital—a lack of in-person resources accelerated reliance on digital technologies. •Homebody economy—much more spending on at-home activities. •Shock to loyalty—consumers look to maximize value in response to cost-cutting.

Sephora's strategy

•The French multinational beauty retailer has a lot of CX tricks up its sleeve. •"Beauty advisors"—highly knowledgeable associates help "demystify" core offerings. •Beauty studio—walk-in makeovers available by trained employees. •Fragrance Finder—quiz designed to help personalize perfume options. •Virtual Artist—try on makeup from multiple categories in-store or using the app. •"I think the role of any brick-and-mortar location is not just to offer the product—but make it so that there's a reason to walk in beyond just the product." —Senior VP for Color & Fragrance (Alison Hahn)

Data storytelling

•The ability to communicate data-related insights with narratives and visualizations. •Seriously, think of data as the informational building blocks required to tell a really good story. •In this particular case, the story will be about a specific problem or area of interest. an example: •I am super interested in masculinity as a concept. What does it mean to be a man? •I have research, for example, on stereotypes about men that post a lot on social media. •It is with this in mind that I delved into an August YouGov poll pertaining to how men and women feel about different actions and behaviors. • •Note: YouGov is an international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. • •In today's lecture, we'll go through some of the building blocks that add to your story. •In research, stories are "good" insofar as they are "compelling" and "interesting." •In other words, do you "buy" that these insights are true? Also, do they feel new to you—like something you might bring up in conversation with a buddy?

Evaluative criteria

•The core characteristics used as a basis for decision-making in a given context. •What are some of the main considerations you might have for a meal box subscription? • •These criteria help you further reduce the number of options to fit your priorities. •Want something inexpensive? Maybe check the option ranked "Best Value." •Looking for a fun way to bond with a romantic partner? "Best for Couples" could be your jam. •Perhaps you don't necessarily want to cook at all? Try "Best Heat-and-Eat."

Self-brand connection

•The extent to which the brand becomes part of a consumer's self-identity. •Think of the community of so-called "Disney adults." Have we heard of those? •Or fans who dress up for Comic-Con like their favorite Marvel superheroes. •Even the people like me who keep up daily on Nintendo news. • •What is the psychology that informs this process? •We often mentally represent brands we love with members of associative in-groups. •The brand is distilled down to its core attributes and encoded as a stand-in for the collective membership we crave (e.g., Nintendo = imaginative, genuine; Marvel = adventurous, daring).

What is a need?

•The motivations that ultimately drive someone to take a given action. •That's the easy part. The challenge, then, is appealing to different kinds of needs. • •Researchers and practitioners have long attempted to identify what these needs are. •Discuss in groups what fundamental needs you believe most people have in life. •Try to go beyond biological needs like "food," "water," and "shelter." •Rather, what are the deeper-held psychological needs these material goods offer?

Operationalization

•The process of turning abstract concepts into something observable and measurable. •Example: When we say, "You're in my personal space," that term—personal space—seems to mean "close to me beyond what I feel is comfortable." •But this level of abstraction is too vague for researchers, who have operationalized the personal space boundary as "within a 1.5-foot radius of the person." • •As a possibly relatable example, let's think for a moment about the word "vibes." •If I said, "The vibe was off today," what exactly does that mean? •Think of "vibes" as an abstract overarching concept (i.e., a distinctive feeling of quality capable of being sensed) that suggests the presence of multiple possible characteristics.

Chain-reaction donation

•The researchers begin by saying that people often hesitate to share when they've donated to different charities—because it may seem braggy or inauthentic. •At the same time, sharing that you've donated can really bolster word-of-mouth impact. •For example, by blasting to your online social networks that you've given to One Day, One Dayton, you amplify the 1D1D message and increase the odds that others in your network give as well. • •So, how do you get around this sticky situation? •The researchers tried a post-donation appeal that emphasized how sharing your donation sets in motion a "chain reaction" that poses immediate benefit to the supported cause.

YouTube thumbnails and clickability

•The video titles alone offer a lot of teachable lessons about captivation. •Tasteful insinuation? "What is the TRUTH about HelloFresh? Is there something I don't know?" •Promising clickbait? "BRUTALLY HONEST review? Are other people pulling punches?" •A provocative premise? "To see if it was a SCAM? That's exactly what I'm afraid of!" • •Even the thumbnails raise intrigue and clickability. •Faces are made prominent in each image, with an expression that suggests concern or ambiguity. •"NOT SPONSORED"? What's up with the inclusion of that in particular? •A goal-related question is raised in all three videos—but without an obvious answer at first sight.

Diagnosing causes vs. symptoms

•There are some really important distinctions between the two. •Symptoms—merely indicate that a given problem exists. •Causes—the underlying reason(s) that this problem exists. • •Discuss in groups: Is a persistent cough a cause or a symptom of the flu? •Taking things one step further: Why is it important to know the difference? •Might you go about the situation differently depending on how you interpret the cough?

Calculated risk

•There is always risk involved in creating a new product or service. • •Marketers must somehow mitigate these risks—how is this accomplished? •Promotion: Influencing consumer needs through targeted appeals. •Research: Predicting consumer needs by identifying trends in the market.

Transformational relationship events

•Think about it—our relationships with brands are similar to those with other people. •When you first get to know someone, there is uncertainty. Who is this person? Are they nice? •Critically, this means you don't know what to expect from the other person. • •However, as time goes on—and the relationship builds—you may develop a firmer and more positive sense of the person. Trust enters the equation. •This also means your baseline expectations go up. Your ride-or-die wouldn't steer you wrong. •When trust is assumed, there is little room to impress and much more room to disappoint. •So-called "transformational relationship events" (TREs) work in much the same way.

Problems with self-reports

•Three core issues to discuss for right now: •The fallibility of language—it is often difficult to verbalize our preferences. •Social desirability—the truth may signal something unfavorable about ourselves. •Personal information—our preferences may hint at sensitive topics that are hard to discuss. • •We'll talk later about these indirect techniques that could be of use.

Active, and inactive needs

•Thus far, we have largely talked about needs we know we have. •For example, a consumer may know they want to eat healthy and mitigate their carbon footprint. •These represent active needs—or those that are a) already top-of-mind for consumers and b) involve market-based solutions the consumer is explicitly aware of. •Eating healthy is often on my mind, and I know there are products that can satisfy this need. • •But what about the flipside? Needs we "don't know" we have. •These represent inactive needs—or those that are a) not necessarily top-of-mind for consumers and b) involve market-based solutions the consumer likely isn't aware of.

Video production and authenticity

•Today's consumer landscape is dominated by user-generated content (UGC)—brand-specific imagery, video, text, etc. that is shared by users on various platforms. •Critically, much of UGC is done on a shoestring budget. But can be a feature as opposed to a bug. • •We seem to have a lay-theory that ↓ production quality = ↑ authenticity. •Quick review from last class: Does this suggest a positive or negative relationship? •This may come from a belief that low quality means UGC is voluntary and not coerced. •Like, "This wasn't something HelloFresh told me to do—I just made this because I felt like it."

User testimonials

•Traditional advertising has long used the endorsements of "real" users. •Meal kits are no stranger to this approach, either—let's see how Marley Spoon has done it. •Thoughts after seeing this ad? Was it effective? Good messaging? • •At the same time, social media has changed the testimonial game a fair amount. •The highly produced style of conventional appeals suddenly feels a bit manufactured. •We may, therefore, seek insights more from voices seemingly unaffiliated with the brand. •Think about it: The on-demand video content we have now was unavailable to prior generations—receiving a slew of HelloFresh testimonials via YouTube is somewhat modern.

Intentional vs. incidental learning

•When it comes to information search, our efforts can be divided in two categories. •Intentional learning—the deliberate perusal of information; planned and goal-related. •Incidental learning—the circumstantial retrieval of information; unplanned and arises due to exposure to stimuli in the environment. • •In this last meal kit exercise, your search likely involved more of which category? •Critically, intentional learning often complements active needs. •On the other hand, incidental learning tends to reveal and evoke inactive needs. intentional learning sources: ask a friend, user testimonials, online reviews, Trade or independent outlets incidental learning sources: Traditional adverts, Algorithmic intervention, Influencers

Law of retail gravitation

•William J. Reilly's law of retail gravitation—distance and size become greater determinants of retail choice at lower levels of purchase involvement. •Stated differently, we're willing to travel for important, high-risk products. •Meanwhile, ease of access is much more important for the small stuff. • •Proximity and convenience are important—when all other factors are approximately equal, the consumer generally will select the closest store. •Also, larger (vs. smaller) outlets present a greater assortment of options and tend to be preferred. •Can you think of any cases in which the opposite would be true? - local food market products

Constructs & Indicators

•construct is a complex idea formed from a synthesis of simpler ideas (indicators). •Constructs are inherently abstract and unobservable, so they require defining what tangible characteristics indicate its presence, existence, etc. •Imagine a construct as the label we give to someone or something—and the indicators as the observable reasons we know the label to be true. Let's illustrate with an example! • •Who is a celebrity we might consider to be "cool"? Cool is the construct popular, unique, and authentic are indicators of "cool" Health is a construct BMI, # of steps a day, Mental wellbeing are indicators of health