FREE online courses on Consumer Behaviour and Motivation - Meaning of
Motivation Research
For a producer, the study
of consumer behavior is very important so that he may sell his product in the
market successfully. Information regarding consumers may be of two types: (i) quantitative, and (ii) qualitative. Both types of information
are required for marketing decisions.
Quantitative facts may be collected
very easily through secondary data but qualitative information cannot be
collected without much difficulty. The information like why people respond to a
particular product or brand or when, where and how they purchase the product,
are not easy to collect. Thus motivation research is to get the qualitative
aspect of consumer behavior through psychological methods. The marketer comes to
know the inherent and unknown qualities, habits, attitudes of consumers through
motivational research. Motivation research is to predict how people react in a
given marketing situation or how they receive a new product design?
Motivation research
consists of the use of indirect methods, the “beneath the skin” approach. An
unconscious mental state means a state which, though actually unconscious was
conscious before and hence may become conscious again. The renowned psychiatrist
Dr. Sigmund Freud was pioneer in this field. He specialized in the treatment of
illness based on long buried trauma. He formed the belief that the impression,
sights and desires that were suppressed into the unconscious mind had a direct
and important influence on our behavior. He was of the view that all such
impression buried in the sub‑conscious mind had to be dredged out in order that
persons could understand what it was that made him so. It was the ‘depth
interview'.
The marketing persons are interested in buyers behavior for
two aspects
(a)
Why people behave in such a way?
(b)
How to make them as marketing person desires?
Many strategies in marketing such as advertising them or a
campaign launched after careful consideration have failed because the attitude
expected of the customers proved to be wrong. Motivation research can help
reduce this error.
A group of consumers purchases only one brand and do not like
to have another brand. This is because of the reputation of the manufacturer or
may be it is prestige brand. They buy high priced articles with the evidence of
high quality. High price, while questioned, they do not answer and make only
vague statements like superior quality. This group is probably quality conscious
and assume that the products of a well known manufacturer offered at a higher
price must be of higher quality
Another group that purchases the same brand may do so without
even being convinced of the superiority of that brand over the other brands.
This is because of the ignorance of habits or mere habit. Another batch goes
from shop to shop and distinguishes one from the other brand. They are
discriminating in their choice. When they come across some new introduction of a
brand, they try it. Other groups will go from brand to brand without being
sensitive to differences existing between brands.
In this way different groups of people have different'
attitudes towards the products they purchase and how they make their buying
decision. What complicates matters sometimes is the fact that an individual
consumer's behavior as well as attitude with regard to one class of product is
no indication of his behavior and attitude with regard to another class of
products.
The marketing man must, therefore, decide how his marketing
money is to be spent in searching different types of groups. If the majority of
the consumers for his product class are looking for bargain, he has to maintain
his price at a competitive level. As against this the marketing man may restrict
his appeal to amorality of consumers who are quality conscious by charging a
higher price.
Psychographics:
It enables the marketers to view the consumer as a total person or to perceive
his life style and how' products and services fit into such a life style.
Psychographics tell why a drinker belongs to middle income groups. It may give a
new approach to advertising with a life style campaign.
