Introduction
In the words of Lynch (1974), Consumer response is defined as a situation which encompasses either a positive or negative feedback to a business entity or company on a certain product. The feedback is not restricted to products only since in some instances, business ethics and services are covered. In some situations the response received on a certain product is initiated by the consumer, although the company may also solicit the mentioned response. A company may prepare a market questionnaire whereby customers get to respond through answering questions a bout a particular product. The response may also get the response through letters mainly attached to the products.
The importance of consumer response
In the opinion of Lynch (1974), there are numerous benefits attributed to response of consumers in the growth of a company or a business entity. Depending on the line of business that a company is operating, consumer response facilitates quality of either a product or service offered. In an instance whereby a company deals with products for instance manufacturing of cars, the response made by a customer on the effectiveness of the engine of a new car, the company may send the collected information to its engineers who may modify the engine. A consumer response also serves to the benefit of both the consumer and the company. It is to the benefit of the company to get the products response so as to correct any defects found in the product.
According to Kapoor (2003), today’s economic situations require a company to closely study and understand different messages send by the customer either through direct response or failure to purchase the new product. Failure of a new product in the market may be brought about by ignoring the signals send by customers. Essentially, it is stated that the most unbearable mistake by any company intending to market a new product is failure to listen and understand the customers concerns. Any product in the market either new or rebranded depends on the information offered by the consumers for its success. Unfortunately, many companies misconceive their role in understanding the needs of customers through the responses they make. The resulting impact of such mistakes is that the company’s product does not sell to its potential customers.
In addition, the task which lies before the company in understanding the needs of a consumer, is not an easy one hence any effort to underestimate it may lead to poor results. There is no short cut to understanding consumer’s needs. The process entails learning what the consumer desires by directly analyzing the different responses on the product as put across. Many companies have met hurdles in not understanding what to change in a new product since they lack enough information on the product from the consumers. Sometimes to understand responses from consumers requires one to listen to the consumers through or engaging them in a free interaction session whereby they will say what they think about the new product (Kapoor, 2003).
Any improvement or success on of a new product solely depends on the capacity of the company to understand the broad categories of customers so as to device the appropriate mechanism to market the product. The need to respond quickly to what the consumers propose is a great strength in improving a product to fit the market demands. Most companies in the process of soliciting the consumer response on a new product initiate a direct process by asking questions and receiving the feedback on spot. It is increasing becoming hard for companies to market products hypothetically without first letting consumers see and use it .It emerges that many companies are designing products which are relatively poor in quality but modify them with time to conform with the needs of the customer. The development of the product is the center stage whereby feedback is highly required. Possible questions on a new product like a cell phone may be to ascertain what the customer desires to be added or modified (Murley, 1996).
Notably, many companies believe that they are consumer focused. However, the attention of these companies to the market sometimes tends to overlook the opinion of consumers about a particular product. Poor management of marketing campaigns has also led to the perception that any product in the market will sell with time. This has been mainly contributed by the fact that many consumers do not know what they want and why they want it. On the other hand, consumers spend relatively short time in scrutinizing the product they want. In many instances, the modifications on a certain product to fit the consumer’s wants become impossible since the consumer does not recognize the want in the first place. The general limitation on the consumers thinking about what can be changed in a product has hindered the companies in ascertaining what to change (Cook, 2011).
Consumers are continuously in a habit of making generalizations or assumptions on certain products. In addition, consumers are fond of trying to compare products with the previous ones instead of articulating what they need. The forming of an opinion about a certain product by a consumer may be translated as impossible. It therefore follows that since the customer considers the change impossible, the response offered on the performance of the product may be underestimated or overstated hence the information can not be relied on. The information mostly withheld by the consumers is important in bringing out a novel product but companies do not get that chance since consumers disregard the information (Murley, 1996).
It has been stated that the quest for consumer’s response should always go beyond mere conversations. Reliable feedbacks can only be received if the company takes time to watch consumers in their day to day task and more specifically their taste and preference on different products. Substantial focus on the marketing strategies without engaging consumer’s response has resulted to having the same products only changing the brand name. Physical watching of consumers conduct may be costly and at the same time not essential. The mentioned techniques may be applied in interviews to cut the costs associated with it (Cook, 2011).
Whichever product is in the market it aims at making the customer like it and eventually buys it. That is the rationale of using the consumer’s opinion in developing a product. The entire process of coming up with a new product becomes an easy task. Needless to say, the needs of a consumer may require a certain step in the manufacturing of the product to be omitted. At whichever stage of marketing a product, the consumer has a very crucial role to play in making sure that the company is inline with the market demands (Vavra, 2002).
The best approach in dealing with the customer’s response is not only initiating feedbacks but making the consumer’s part of marketing the product. It is suggested that the company ought to view the customer as a partner. The company will essentially create a friendly climate with the consumer. The company and the consumer eventually benefit. The consumer will enjoy the desired products while the company will at the end of the day achieve the set goals. The end result of the partnership is that it leads to valuable solutions and easy management of competition in the company (Vavra, 2002).
` The understanding a consumer response on a new product is intertwined with the dynamics of a given marketing strategy. It is nearly impossible to consider consumer responses without having an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the two. The impact of marketing strategy is largely used to identify the model of response in a given situation. A case in point is a situation when mails samples during a launch of a product compared to when the manager of the company takes the product in market (Murley, 1996).
The relationship between marketing and consumer response.
When the choices made by the consumers on a certain product are based on the results of a product used in the past or connection with a famous brand it shows that the strategy of marketing has an increasing hindering role on the level of consumer response. The reliance of a certain response may be distorted by switching among different brands in the market. The intricacy of market diffusion has negatively affected the consumer’s response since the consumer may settle on a certain response depending on the influence by other consumer’s opinion (Cook, 2011).
The response of consumer on a new product in the market have been said to depend on two salient issues. The two issues include brand selection and purchase timing. There is a generalization of consumers among many companies. Marketing companies as well as manufacturing companies make assumptions that all consumers have the same probabilities. On the same note the market strategies are pegged on the notion that brand selection is independent of purchase timing. It has been recognized that diffusion of information affects consumer response. In marketing particularly, the diffusion of information models the marketing path hence dictating whether there will be a growth or decline in the purchase of the product (Kapoor, 2003).
Pride& Ferrell (2012) avers that the core thread that puts together the goals of a company to market a new product and the need to consider the response of consumer purely rests on the working of a certain company. The consideration of consumer’s response is in most circumstances geared towards reducing competition from competitors as well as maximizing the profits .The initial step in any entity that desires to develop a new product highly depends on both internal and external conditions. It rests in every organization that any new product created should be able to market itself even before market strategies are put in place.
There are specific consumer perceptions which hinder the process of getting the right feedback since sorting them from the rest of the information is not an easy task. It is note worth that not all perceptions hinder the growth and marketing of products but some positively support product development. In the underlying stages of product development, the consumer’s response is very important (Kapoor, 2003).
Though different firms have different ways of developing new products, it is agreeable that the stages involved call for consistence response between the company and the consumer. First, the idea generation requires a smooth flow between the company and consumers. Though some firms or companies get the desired information from other sources, such as the competitors or supply partners, consumer response has been termed as the most appropriate piece of information (Cook, 2011).
Secondly, during the process of screening and evaluation the consumer’s needs are analyzed with a special consideration of the company’s capacity. According to Malhotra (2005), the response offered by customers can not be ignored since they are the drive behind any technological, social and economic changes. In designing the mode of communications and how to receive their feed back is equally important. The mode of promoting a new product in the market has changed hence necessitating improved interaction with the customers (Pride& Ferrell, 2012).
Effect of ignoring customer’s response
To a company that is developing or modifying a product it matters a lot to convince the customers to stay since their stay has the effect of attracting others. The trickiest moment to every business enterprise is losing customers. However, it is not impossible to understand the responses of customers on a new product since they will either complain or the facial expressions will say it all. Malhotra (2005) states that with the new dynamic in place, the stakes have been raised and customers will always object to being treated like second class citizens. Customers have the ability to affect the profits earned. He opines that the real power of customers is no longer pegged on the fact that they share the experiences with their friends, but because they have the power to use the media. Million of customers can be influenced by a single customer through the use of the social media such as face book and twitter. Such reactions are disastrous and a prudent business entity will seek to avert such influences by getting feedbacks. The advent of the social networks is a development which calls for prudence and due diligence when dealing with customers.
It is clear that the most feared consequences of not listening to the response of customers are not as disastrous as the viral effect of a negative experience about a product in the Facebook. Companies have a challenge of learning how to handle the feedback given customers. The world has witnessed a change in the access of information by customers. Easier access to information by customers has led to instant connections though the social media. Companies with the intend of maintaining their customers and influencing potential customers have to shift their attention to the customers experiences. In the most realistic terms, a department to listen and respond to the concerns of customers is essential in maintaining efficiency (Cooper, 2011).
Pride& Ferrell (2012), argue that customers are irrational and understanding them is an easier task. To start with, the required interactions ought to be created so as to make the customers feel they are part of the company’s investment and a partner in developing the company. The traditional business hierarchy is not favorable in as long as the new trends of marketing and consumer needs are to be accommodated in the entire chain of consumer –company relationship management. To create a reliable consumer program, full devotion is required.
According to Lamb, Hair & McDaniel (2012), the understanding of consumer responses to products takes substantial information. The consumer decision making is divided into three main categories. This includes making extensive decision and response in a routine way. In addition, limited decision making is also considered as a type of decision making. In the above mentioned forms of decision making, there are factors which work hand in hand to level the consumer involvement. All the foregoing factors work hand in hand with to facilitate consumer decision making. This includes length of time a consumer takes in decision making and the number of alternatives considered.
In the classification of consumer response, the level of consumer involvement in the process of decision making is very significant. In the words of Aoki (2009), the reaction of a certain consumer has to be connected with one element of the product. Consumers may react to the price given of a new product. In most organizations the new product developed has a tendency of having a shadow price so as to test the market status (Murley, 1996).
Many companies make advertisements of the products in order to create its awareness. This may be through the company’s website or hiring services of another marketing company. Cesari, Lynch & Kelly (2011), state that the marketing and advertising of a new product has a direct relationship with the response of consumers in a given situation. Further, lack in creativity and ineffective advertising are the main causes of negative responses on products. Many people find it easy to reject such products since by their poor presentation the storage sensors feel that the said products are not designed to attract. It is advisable for a company to evaluate all the marketing strategies and identify the best one in a given case when introducing a new product.
The unique way of by which consumers have prejudice can only be cured by having an appealing marketing strategy for the new products. As argued by Cesari, Lynch & Kelly (2011) the prehistoric incidence of human beings is marred by making decisions based on instincts which are good. This means that a person will follow an appealing advertisement to obey the unavoidable instincts. However, the test on instincts is not universal hence there is a class of consumers who do not follow commercial puffs.
There are various ways in which a consumer reacts to a new product. Holding other factors constant the price and the quality of the product are very crucial in ascertaining whether to reject or accept a new product. There are several forms of responses to a product which include making a bad experience of the product public through social media. This mode of response is the most difficult to remedy since millions and millions of consumers are linked in the social network. It takes time and a lot of resources to deal with such a situation. Generally speaking, consumers tend to trust fellow consumers and in many instances they find it easy to trust any information no matter how exaggerated it is (Pride& Ferrell, 2012).
Direct response of customers to new products
Marketing companies have realized that consumers tend to trust fellow consumers hence they have devised methods of marketing which include having consumers on board to explain their experiences. Several ways in which consumers react can not go unnoticed. To start with, a consumer may choose to make a direct response. The main advantage of direct response is that it points out a problem or need that the product has satisfied. In direct response the test of the new product becomes clear. This type of response is very instrumental in ensuring that the available defect in a certain product is identified and fulfilled (Cesari, Lynch & Kelly, 2011).
The very first question that any average consumer seeks to understand when a new product is in the market is which company makes it. By identifying the manufacturer of a particular product, it becomes easy to associate it with a known product. Many consumers find it hard to accept a product from a company they have had bad experiences in the past (Murley, 1996).
Lamb, Hair & McDaniel (2012), argue that all consumer behavior s are predictable basing on the results achieved through learning, experience and practice. Some forms of consumer reactions can not be directly deciphered hence they are inferred or observed from the person’s actions. For instance, if a consumer sees an advertisement about a medicine to treat headache which is new and improve, he will be taken to have learned about the medicine if he goes in the stores the following day and buys it. The learning in this case is through observing the consumer’s reaction since the consumer has just acted.
As per Lamb, Hair & McDaniel (2012), there are two forms of learning which assist in learning the consumers behavior. The first form of learning is known as experimental while the second one is called conceptual learning. Experimental learning is derived from the term experiment hence it means that if a consumer buys a product that does not get satisfaction from using a particular new product, he will not buy it again since the consumer has learned through experimenting .
On the other hand conceptual learning is a type of learning which does not does not depend on experience. An example of conceptual learning is when a person informs a customer that a new tooth paste leaves the mouth with sweat taste. Having heard that, the consumer chooses another type of toothpaste. In this type of learning the consumer has not tried the product but he/she has decided not to buy the product basing on conceptual learning. In recent years, other types of consumer learning have emerged (Pride& Ferrell, 2012).
How consumer response is related with consumer learning
The reinforcement type of learning is one of the new types of learning that has emerged through years. In its usage reinforcement may be positive or negative. For instance, a consumer may see a seller of breads selling stale bread but upon buying it he/she discovers it’s good to eat. It is said that the behavior compelling the consumer to buy the bread has been through positive reinforcement. On the contrary, if a consumer buys bread thinking that it is good then he/she discovers it to be stale then the response of the consumer will be not to buy the bread again and in such a case the response /learning is said to through negative reinforcement. It is in imperative to note that without positive and negative reinforcement, a consumer can not be in any way motivated to repeat or avoid a certain pattern of responding. The positive and negative elements create an imbalance to make sure that reinforcement is achieved. It is said that reinforcement raises neutral feeling about a certain product it means that much promotion through advertisement is required to induce intake of the product (Vavra, 2002).
Learning theory is very essential in determining consumer response since it’s the yard stick whereby the step to be taken by a consumer about a certain product is measured. Repetition is also a key element in fostering new product promotion campaigns. Learning may also be facilitated through beliefs. A belief defined is a pattern of knowledge that a certain individual holds and believes to be true. The attitude of a certain consumer towards a new product is extensively influenced by the antecedent belief about the brand of products. This is more applicable in a situation whereby a product is in a family of products. An attitude on a new product may also tend to influence the consumers response since there is a learned tendency to respond to a particular nature of attitudes. The set standard on what is wrong or right which though not true sometimes, because it is based on hearsay is taken as part of knowledge to determine the response (Malhotra, 2005).
Further responses to new products include stimulus generalization which happens when one form of response is widened to cover another stimulus. It is misleading since a marketer may use an already existing brand name to market a family of highly rated products. Stimulus generalization has many assumptions and in some situations it can act against the company’s product if the previous company’s image has been bad. The response in stimulus generalization will very much depend on the image of the brand of products in the past. Its advantage is that it gives consumers broad familiarity of the new line of products in the same family (Vavra, 2002).
The stimulus discrimination is the contrary of stimulus generalization. It means that a consumer has the ability to draw a clear distinction between products of one undertaking from the rest. The said ability is very important and in some situations it acts as a guide against misleading nature of branding. In making such a differentiation consumers will consider particular products more stimulating than another. For instance, a consumer may prefer having Coca-Cola products rather than Pepsi (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2008).
There are factors which work hand in hand so as to explain why a consumer would respond in a certain way on new products. To start with, there are outstanding cultural values which dictate the response a consumer would give about a new product. It is important to note that cultures are made up of certain myths and values which hold them together. The said values of a culture are passed from one generation to the other. In the set stands of every culture it is agreeable that a specific mode of conduct is more preferable than another. This will essentially elaborate why certain products are very popular in certain cultures and extremely unheard o in others (Murley, 1996).
Dictated by the demographic characters a culture can be divided to subcultures. The subcultures mainly share the ethnic or political background. Intertwined with cultural influences is the social class. It is noteworthy that every customer or potential customer belongs to a class either knowingly or unknowingly. It is notable that many decisions made by consumers will have some form of exerted influence mainly from the peers. The only duty of any marketer is strive hard so as to win some members of a certain class since the rest will follow suit. Individuals in social classes find it compelling to accept using certain products to satisfy the sense of belonging (Szwarc, 2005).
Every consumer has a need to get satisfaction. However, it has proved hard to market a new product rather than an existing one. The general rule in consumer decisions and behaviors is that they find it hard to use the product without consulting fellow consumers. In many situations, the consumers have a negative response to information from marketers. For new products to get a positive response, it is an uphill task whereby the standard of convincing is higher than that of a product already in market. Consumers will always make consultations but the underlying principle is words from the marketers are considered one sided (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2012).
There are numerous factors which are the guiding principles to every marketing company in making sure that they handle the response of potential consumers in the most appropriate manner. The process of developing a new product is speculative and hectic hence the best way for a company is to be open- minded. The process of analyzing the responses and also coming up with a product to cover the modifications is tedious. In making changes on products to suit the responses it is imperative to note that some reactions by consumers are beyond the normal range and hence if they are considered they may lead to misleading conclusions. Age of a potential customer has been said to have an influencing role in the type of response to be expected (Cook, 2011).
The age of a potential consumer is mainly coupled with the family life cycle. Age stands independently and can have a great influence on the consumer’s reaction on a product. It goes without saying that the age of a certain consumer dictates the kind of response on new products. At a certain age in life some products appeal more than others. On the other hand, the criteria in which experiences are gathered through the family cycle, from one stage to another also affect the consumer’s response. That explains the reason as to why marketers will target a certain range of stages and not consumers in general (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2012).
The gender of a customer will also affect the response of a consumer regarding a new product offering in the market. The physiological differences common between male and female call for different approach since their responses are unique. Even with the changing roles of both male and female in recent years it still remains clear that the needs are distinct (Szwarc, 2005).
Conclusion
The understanding of the feedbacks to be anticipated when a product is offered in market for the first time is based on many factors. The reason why a consumer reacts in a certain manner is dictated by numerous factors. The literature above shows that consumers have indictors which mainly influence the decision making process. A response could be positive, negative or inferred from the surrounding circumstances. The mode of learning by a consumer also affects how a consumer behaves towards a product.
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