Perceptions
When marketing
a company you need to bear in mind people's perceptions. What
is inside the consumers mind. Perhaps a brand of milk, according
to the consumer association is of a lower than average quality, however
if the consumer believes that it is better then they will pay more
for it and we should take this stance.
Client
satisfaction does not necessarily come from the technical characteristics
of the product. Part of what the consumer thinks can comes from the
product's intrinsic characteristics. However, the brand image that
is in the consumer's mind conforms with subjective perceptions, some
of which have their grounds on the physical and real characteristics
of the products. Whereas many of the ideas that the consumer has about
a product aren't based on real properties. Very few consumers when
blindfolded can differentiate one wine from another. What is important
is the clients perceptions. Consumers, once given a small amount of
information form an image of the result of a service. It is necessary
to manage the different elements that are going to influence the clients
perceptions.
We should
identify the most significant attributes that configure the consumer's
perception. For
example, some owners of restaurant franchises told us that clients
really appreciate fresh food, they don't like to eat frozen food.
They also mentioned that clients identified certain aspects of a product
with frozen food. Therefore, to save money they used frozen food but
they tried not to show any signs that the consumers could identify.
Perceptions
don't only depend on the fundamental physical attributes but also
the physcological and sociological attributes.
A great part of purchasing behaviour of certain products or services
are related to social aspects. For example, we use a certain car because
it gives us status.
Time is
an essential aspect in the perception.
Especially in certain services, perception determines a good measure
depending on the waiting time to obtain the service.
Another
fundamental aspect is the risk perceived.
We should try to reduce the perceived risk. A typical way to behave
after buying a car is to look up as much information about the car
or house that we have bought, to assure ourselves that we have made
the right decision. We are scared of making a mistake and we are continuously
looking for indicators that indicate that we have made the right choice
with our choice of suppliers. The post purchase information that we
provide the client and the security that we communicate is essential
to decrease the perceived risk.
