Week 3: Evaluating & Selecting Alternatives

Sensory discrimination

The ability of an individual to distinguish between similar stimuli using one of the senses e.g. taste of food, sound of stereo etc.

Confidence value

The consumer's ability to distinguish between brands based on the surrogate indicator.

Heuristic

A mental 'rule of thumb' used by consumers to assist in the decision-making process.

Perceptual mapping

A method whereby consumers judge the similarity of alternative brands without specifying evaluative criteria; these judgements are processed by a computer to derive the consumers evaluative criteria.

Projective techniques

A technique designed to measure feelings, attitudes and motivations that consumers may be unable or unwilling to reveal.

Just-noticeable difference (JND)

The minimum amount of change in a stimulus that needs to occur for consumers to notice the difference e.g. within one brand to maintain brand / product engagement.

Evaluation and selection

The process by which consumers compare and contrast different solutions to the same marketplace problem.

Affective choice

A decision based primarily on feelings.

Lexicographic

Brands ranked on evaluative criteria importance. Brand with highest on most important criteria is selected.

Surrogate indicator

An attribute, such as price, used to estimate the level of a different attribute, such as quality e.g. price or brand

What are the three direct methods used by marketers to determine evaluative criteria?

Asking consumers Focus groups Observation

Compensatory

Brand with highest score over all the relevant evaluative criteria is selected.

Which decision rule(s) require high involvement?

Compensatory

What are the five decision rules used by consumers?

Conjunctive Disjunctive Elimination by aspects Lexicographic Compensatory

Which decision rule(s) require low involvement?

Conjunctive,disjunctive, elimination by aspects and lexicographic.

Predictive value

Consumer's perception that one attribute is an accurate predictor of another.

What are the two indirect methods used by marketers to determine evaluative criteria?

Projective techniques Perceptual mapping

Elimination by aspects

Rank brands on evaluative criteria and eliminate products below minimum standard in order of criteria importance. Continue through the criteria until only one brand is left.

Conjunctive

Select all (or any or the first) brands that surpass a minimum level on each relevant evaluative criterion.

Disjunctive

Select all (or any or the first) brands that surpass a satisfactory level on any relevant evaluative criterion.