Heuristics, Memory and Nostalgia

Tricking people out of their buying habits!

Heuristics:

As we have looked at previously Kotler's buying decision process has 5 stages. But do we really take into consideration all of these stages with every product we buy? My answer is no we dont, we couldnt possibly, otherwise we would spend most of our time standing in shops unable to make up our minds. To make decisions simpler for consumers we often employ decision rules that allow us to use certain things as substitutes for others. Assumptions can be subtitutes, like assuming that you will get exactly what you need at a particular shop so you wont even take into consideration any of the competitiors. This then serves as a short cut, an easier route to come to a conclusion. Consumers often fall back on Heuristics. Heuristics are defined by solomon as "mental rules of thumb that lead to a speedy decision" for instance buying the most expensive product would suggestto you that it will be the producty of best quality, or buy the same brand as you bought last time bacause you know you liked it and therefore is a safe option, or buying the same products or brands that you grew up with in your own household. This is something i notice myself doing alot of the time. I will buy tetleys teabags because its what i have always drank at home! Kotlers buying decision process assumes optimisation rather than satisfaction, but when buying heuristically it is the other way around, it is satisfaction that is focused on rather than optimisation, as previously mentioned when shopping in a supermarket it is not optimisation we are looking for but rather those goods that have satisfied us in the past. We will often use fast and frugal heuristics-"making quick decisions when there is a lot of choice" (Williams 2001). The ways in which these fast and frugal heuristic decision are made are by the following:

• Recognition-(you are more likely to buy the one you know than a new model)- Branding
• Minimalist-(recognition plus one random criteria- works for low involvement e.g. recognition plus nice label)- Advertising
• Take the last-(use the last criteria applied to a similar situation)- Habit
• Take the best-(assesses the options in order of perceived importance of criteria-still only uses one reason)- Branding/USP.

Memory:

"Learning is the acuisition of knowledge, and memory is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge" (Blakemore 1988)

Basic learning principles are at the heart of many consumer purchase decisions. this is important to marketers as consumers are seen to be complex problem solvers who learn rules and concepts by watching others. We learn when we are not even trying to- incidental learning. We recognise brand names and remember jingles even though we do not use those specific products ourselves. Learning is an ongoing process, much like perception, because we are constantly exposed to new stimuli therefore changing our behaviour accordingly.

"Every time an advert or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer learn something...and remember what he learned" (Britt 1955). This is crucial for businesses because an advert which is not remembered means they then have a product which is not remembered therefore not bought, and so the brand will be at a loss.


Memory involves a process of gaining information and storing it over time until it is needed. Studies assume that memory has am information process approach, much like a computer does. Whereby information is input, processed and output for later use. Memory is thought to take place in 3 stages:

• Encoding- information is entered into the memory
• Storage- information is retained in memory
• Retrieval- Information stored in memory is found as needed.
  

All of our memories are locked in our heads and are kept in our heads until we are prompted to recall these memories. It is this information that we have locked in our heads that marketers rely on. We keep our thought on what we have learned about a product or service and this is what we use in situations where a purchase decision must be made. During the buyer decision process this internal memory is combined with external memory to allow different brands to be indentified and evaluated. We will use our memory to look back on our previos thoughts and experiences so, when it comes to Kotler's buying process, if we have previously been satisfied by a product then the information search won't have to take place again whereas if past experience tells us that we were not satisfied with the product then an alternative brand may then be chosen.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is described as "a bitter- sweet emotion, where the past is viewed with both sadness and longing" (Soloman 2008). In relation to marketing, advertisers stir up memories from youth with the hope that those feelings they are cungering up will relate to what they are selling today. Sometimes a stimulus is able to bring about a more weakened response- spontaneous recovery which explains why we have strong feelings when we see or hear things that we havn't for so long. This links in with the 5 senses- Music, Images, Smells, Touch and Taste can all evoke memories of the past. Here are some adverts using nostalgia: