Postpurchase Behaviour

The marketer's job does not end when the product is bought. After purchasing the product, the consumer will be satisfied or dissatisfied and will engage in postpurehase behaviour of interest to the marketer. What determines whether the buyer is satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase? The answer lies in the relationship between the consumer's expectations and the product's perceived performance. If the product falls short of expectations, the consumer is disappointed; if it meets expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds expectations, the consumer is delighted.

Consumers base their expectations on messages they receive from sellers, friends and other information sources. If the seller exaggerates the product's performance, consumer expectations will not be met - a situation that leads to dissatisfaction. The larger the gap between expectations and performance, the greater the consumer's dissatisfaction. This fact suggests that the seller should make product claims that represent faithfully the product's performance so that buyers are satisfied.

Motoring organizations regularly give pessimistic quotes about how long they will take to reach a customer whose car breaks down. If they say they will be 30 minutes and get there in 20, the customer is impressed. If, however, they get there in 20 minutes after promising 10, the customer is not so happy.

Almost all large purchases result in cognitive dissonance or discomfort cognitive dissonance caused by postpurchase conflict. Consumers are satisfied with the benefits of the Buyer discomfort caused chosen brand and glad to avoid the drawbacks of the brands not purchased. On by postpurchase conflict. the other baud, every purchase involves compromise. Consumers feel uneasy about acquiring the drawbacks of the chosen brand and about losing the benefits of the brands not purchased. Thus consumers feel at least some postpurchase dissonance for every purchase.-1'1

Why is it so important to satisfy the customer? Such satisfaction is important because a company's sales come from two basic groups - new customers and repeat customers. Tt usually costs more to attract new customers than to retain current ones. Keeping current customers is therefore often more critical than attracting new ones, and the best way to do this is to make current customers happy. A satisfied customer buys a product again, talks favourably to others about the product, pays less attention to competing brands and advertising, and buys other products from the company. Many marketers go beyond merely meeting the expectations of customers - they aim to delight the customer. A delighted customer is even more likely to purchase again and to talk favourably about the product and company.

A dissatisfied consumer responds differently. Whereas, on average, a satisfied customer tells three people about a good product experience, a dissatisfied customer gripes to 11 people. In fact, one study showed that 13 per cent of the people who had a problem with an organization complained about that company to more than 20 people. ^7 Clearly, bad word of mouth travels farther and faster than good word of mouth and can quickly damage consumer attitudes about a company and its products.

Therefore, a company would be wise to measure customer satisfaction regularly. It cannot simply rely on dissatisfied customers to volunteer their complaints when they are dissatisfied. In fact, 96 per cent of unhappy customers never tell the company about their problem. Companies should set up suggestion systems to encourage customers to complain. In this way, the company can learn how well it is doing and how it can improve. The 3M Company claims that over two-thirds of its new-product ideas come from listening to customer complaints. But listening is not enough - the company must also respond constructively to the complaints it receives.

Thus, in general, dissatisfied consumers may try to reduce their dissonance by taking any of several actions. In the case of Anna - a Pen tax purchaser - she may return the camera, or look at Pen tax ads that tell of the camera's benefits, or talk with friends who will tell her how much they like her new camera. She may even avoid reading about cameras in case she finds a better deal than she got.

Beyond seeking out and responding to complaints, marketers can take additional steps to reduce consumer postpurchase dissatisfaction and to help customers feel good about their purchases. For example, Toyota writes or phones new car owners with congratulations on having selected a fine car. It places ads showing satisfied owners talking about their new cars ('I love what you do for me, Toyota!'). Toyota also obtains customer suggestions for improvements and lists the locations of available services.

Understanding the consumer's needs and buying process is the foundation of successful marketing. By understanding how buyers go through need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, the purchase decision and post-purchase behaviour, the marketer can pick up many clues as to how to meet the buyer's needs. By understanding the various participants in the buying process and the strongest influences on their buying behaviour, the marketer can develop an effective programme to support an attractive offer to the target market.

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