From the Net to Customer Behavior, Seeking the Perfect Consumer

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS IN DETAIL TO MEET THEIR DESIRES AND GIVE THEM THE BEST POSSIBLE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE. FROM BIG DATA ANALYSIS TO NEUROMARKETING: SEVEN DIRECTIONS PURSUED BY MARKETING RESEARCHERS

by Stefania Borghini, Dept. of Marketing

Consumers change preferences and do it quickly. We have known for some time that consumer categories no longer count, and have been replaced by the individual consumer, with his/her tastes, needs, complaints. The customer is empowered: he/she is the protagonist; not just in the store, but on the network.
 
Companies know this, and are increasingly trying to analyze, catalog and record customer behavior. Academic research also knows this, and for this reason it is experiencing a moment full of new challenges and opportunities. In fact, technological innovation has not only invested the decision-making processes and consumption experiences of individuals, but has also created new market spaces and research tools.
 
An overview of the most relevant studies offers clear indications on how the use of new media and technological devices is orienting research questions and the development of new theories.
 
There are seven issues directly or indirectly related to this fact. The first concerns the diverse set of studies aimed at understanding how the web and digital technologies in general are changing decision-making processes and customer journeys. Marketing scholars are discussing whether the new ways of searching for information and purchasing goods have an impact on cognitive processes. There is the question of whether information overload makes consumers more prepared or less competent in formulating their choices, and improves the quality of their decision to purchase or, to the contrary, just complicates the whole process.
 
The literature on online word of mouth is sizable and offers very interesting insights. The virtual world, so socialized, requires in fact an in-depth knowledge on the dynamics of social influence, for example on the impact of the language with which opinions are expressed on social media, on the role of reviews and likes, and other kinds of reactions to posts. While companies have accepted a more active role on the part of customers and the general public, they need to be able to intercept and decipher the messages coming from them, to have a better grasp of the methods of dissemination and sharing.
 
The second emerging research issue focuses on the analysis of the use of new digital devices and is aimed at understanding how frequent usage of smartphones and tablets impacts on decision-making processes, on the speed or on the accuracy of the evaluations carried out. Early results provide evidence that the device used influences the user, and this pushes researchers to continue on this path of investigation.
 
At a different level, both experimental psychology and interpretative studies are trying to understand how these new tools and modalities of interaction modify the construction of one's own self, his/her identity projection, and ways of communicating it online.
 
The fourth group includes all those studies that test and propose research methodologies considered suitable for the study of these phenomena. Neuromarketing, which a short time ago was considered a fringe approach, together with methods of big data analysis, is now being widely employed in research on cognitive processes. It is applied both to the study of the reactions to visual stimuli in advertising and packaging, and to experiment quickly and effectively with different methods of displaying products.
 
Outside the virtual context, other studies are aimed at understanding how people interact with a product's features, such as its materials, aesthetics or functionality, and see if these are capable of shaping behavior, and having an impact on perception.
 
In the retail world, the multi-channel dimension and the determinants of store experience, physical and virtual, require a reassessment of past knowledge, new references, in order to segment customers in a new way and offer them shopping journeys designed for their needs. Companies need to update their knowledge of consumers, also from an emotional point of view. Not all customers behave in the same way, and identification of specific qualities among different types of visitors is important.
 
Finally, there are the strategic questions that attract the attention of many scholars who specialize in the area of brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. This is a classic subject that is now being revisited to verify its determinants. If once we used models that were rather solid and stable over time, today we wonder if it is necessary to review the process that leads to brand attachment and loyalty. We have come to realize that successive generations of consumers behave differently. Millennials, for example, follow different dynamics than either their baby-boomer parents or their immediate Generation X predecessors.
 
Millennials are loyal in a different way, if at all, and have different perceptions about market categories that have existed for a long time: the concept of luxury, the search for experience in consumption, or the importance attributed to sharing. In short, consumer research never stops: it questions existing knowledge and should always continue to do so. The first data on Generation Z, the youngest one, which includes teens and minors in general, are exhibiting rather specific attitudes and behaviors that are markedly different from those displayed by Millennials. Since the future of competition is predicated on the ability to establish solid relationships with Generation Z, it is time for companies to get to know them.

Read more about this topic:
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Ioannis Evangelidis. Different Products with Common Features: Sales Techniques and Consumer Decisions
Zachary Estes. We Buy What We Grasp: How Our Hands Lead Us to Choose Certain Products