The buying decision process is a frame of reference that captures the considerations of a consumers’ buying behaviors. It encompasses five stages, of which their sequences may be altered or stage(s) may be skipped, depending on the consumer and the product/service purchased. I will briefly explain these five stages and elaborate their marketing importance with an example of buying airline tickets.
| Stage 1: problem recognition
In response to a stimuli (either internal, e.g., desire to escape, or external, e.g., receiving a wedding invitation), the buyer recognizes a problem that needs to be addressed. |
Airliners have to find the effective stimulus to be communicated to their prospects, whose motivations will increase in response to the stimulus, such as pictures of exotic destinations. |
| Stage 2: information search
Depending on times and places, consumers have two different states of search: milder search and active information search. Their sources include personal, commercial, public, and experiential. Consumers narrow down their considerations from total set, subset, awareness set, consideration set, and eventually to the choice set where they made the final decision according to a hierarchy of attributes. |
A prospect may quickly compare prices for airline tickets during commuting, discuss with colleagues during breaks about their flying experience, and then thoroughly check for passenger reviews when he gets off from work. To see how consumers compare its offering with those of its competitors, the airliner has to implement market partitioning to identify attributes dominating the consideration phase, such as price, time, aircraft type, and meal, etc. By doing so, the airliner can better segment its consumers and make offerings accordingly, in order to increase its chance of entering the choice set. |
| Stage 3: evaluation of alternatives
In the final value judgement process, literature posits that consumers are conscious and rational. In the expectancy-value model, consumers multiply their brand beliefs by the relative importance of the attributes. |
Understanding the consumers’ preferences, the airliner can adopt strategies to increase its chance of being selected, such as real repositioning (e.g., redesign the cabin service), psychological repositioning (e.g., alter its image to vacation-oriented), competitive repositioning (e.g., alter the image of its competitors by showcasing its own safety records), and persuade attention (e.g., highlight its strength in the selection of beverages served on board which was ignored by consumers in early evaluation). |
| Stage 4: purchase decision
It consists of five sub-decisions: what (brand), where (dealer), how much (quantity), when (timing), and how (payment method). Yet, such decisions are not always rational. According to non-compensatory models of consumer choice, several heuristics may alter the decision. The heuristics are affected by many factors, such as attitudes of others and unanticipated situational factors. |
Consumers may decide the best airline according to its timetable that maximizes their vacation time (e.g., fly out Friday night, fly back Monday dawn), regardless of other attributes. However, the buying process may be paused if the consumers perceive risks of having to work overtime during the weekend. Airliners may address this factor by offering free change/cancellation to reduce the risks in consumers’ minds. |
| Stage 5: post-purchase behavior
Companies are to ensure consumers’ satisfaction after the purchase. They shall carefully examine the perceived performance of the consumers against their expectations, as well as prepare for actions such as consumer inquiry, return/refund, and complaint. Meanwhile, consumption rate matters for prompt replacement. Either the company monitors the rate or allows consumers to assess such information. The environmental impact of disposing tangible products is critical, while it also brings opportunities for recycling businesses. |
Airliners send itinerary confirmation emails right after the sales, containing helpful information (e.g., hotel, rent-a-car offering, and on-board duty-free shopping) as well as contact of their local agents, to reassure consumers about their choice. Upon the completion of the flight, airliners send invitations of their frequency programs trying to keep consumers loyal. Once joined, consumers watch their mileage accounts and plan for future trips that may entitle them to a free ticket. |