episode 03 exercise 03

Part 2

Influencing the consumer buying process is easier said than done. We cannot always understand all the reasons why consumers make the choices they do. Before you turn to the next set of exercises, consider the array of factors that can influence consumer buying behavior:

Psychological influences. These include: perceptions, how one interprets information; motivations, what drives one to fulfill a need or want; and learning style, what will reinforce one's sense of satisfaction, and how one solves problems.
Personal influences. These include: personality and self-concept, how one sees oneself as a unique individual; age group, how do one's needs change as one ages?; and lifestyle, one's activities, interests, and opinions.
Situational influences. These include the impact of environment (e.g., the visual and audio impact of a Web site), influences and cues (e.g., will this offer lead a consumer to make an impulse purchase?), and time commitment (e.g., is the site convenient to use, and can it quickly lead the consumer through the purchase process?).
Social and cultural influences. These include culture, values, customs, and beliefs shared by a group. Equally important are social class (one's income, wealth, education, and occupation) and reference groups (e.g., opinion leaders one respects who exert peer pressure).

Click here to view again a potential page on the CanGo Web site. How does the page try to influence customers by appealing to internal, situational, and social factors? For each of the following statements, select the letter that best represents the underlying influence.

1.	CanGo promises quick page downloads, suggesting consumers will have plenty of time to do other things while waiting for competitors' pages to load. This factor would appeal to the:
	a. social influence of peer pressure.
	b. situational influence of time constraints.
	c. psychological influence of ego.

2.	CanGo compares its "artists you like" to the competitor's "dinosaur artists." This factor would appeal to the:
	a. personal influence, such as age group.
	b. social influence of culture.
	c. social influence of reference groups.
	d. Any of the above are possible.

3.	The reference to no advertising at CanGo while you know what goes on at other sites, takes advantage of consumer
	a. motivations through belongingness to other sites.
	b. learning through experience of what is at other sites.
	c. self-image through attractive images in the advertising.
	d. reference groups, wanting to belong to groups seen in the advertising.

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