Consumer Behavior: How People Make Buying Decisions Learning Outcomes

Principles of Marketing Week 3 Writing Assignment

Consumer Behavior: How People Make Buying Decisions
Learning Outcomes

Model of Consumer Behavior: Environmental factors. Student can use the model of consumer behavior to identify those environmental factors most likely to affect the consumer decision making for a specific product or service.

Model of Consumer Behavior: Consumer factors. Student can reference the model of consumer behavior to identify the consumer factors most likely to affect the decision making for a specific product or service.

Role of Involvement in purchase decisions. Student can identify the role of consumer involvement applicable to a specific product or service offering and how that level of involvement affects the type of decision making.

Consumer decision-making process. Student can identify how marketing strategy can influence each of the eight steps in the consumer decision-making process.

Directions

Refer to the product or service you selected at the beginning of the semester. This week you want to take a closer look at what consumer factors may be relevant for customers considering buying your product or service offering. This will require some critical thinking on your part based on your own behavior if you are a customer yourself, or you may want to talk to others who have purchased the product. Sometimes you can find clues when looking at the product or service’s marketing messages that may be addressing some of these factors.
You will be relying less on what you read in the literature and more on your critical thinking skills and your ability to apply the marketing concepts to your product or service. You won’t be able to find ‘right’ answers to the questions anywhere, so don’t waste time looking. You need to reason your responses based on what you now know about your product or service, its customers and the marketing concepts discussed in the course to date.
Prepare your assignment beginning with a title page with your name and the product or service. Then answer the following four questions in order and number the beginning of your response to each question.
Consumer Behavior Model:Environmental factors. Refer to the week’s readings and the model of consumer behavior, identify two of the most important environmental factors you think are relevant to the customers of your product or service offering. Explain your choices.
Consumer Behavior Model: Consumer factors. Refer to this week’s readings and the model of consumer behavior, identify the three most important consumer factors you think are relevant to the customers of your product or service offering. Explain your choices.
Role of involvement in consumer decision-making. Identify the level of involvement a customer of your product or service might use to make a purchase/no purchase decision. Then, discuss which type of buying behavior is most consistent with that level of involvement.
Consumer decision-making process. Go through the six steps of the purchase process outlined in the readings and identify where marketing can influence each of the six steps. For example, if a consumer just identified a need for your product in step one, then the company can advertise how your product fills that need. Or, if a consumer purchased your product, the consumer can be called and asked about their satisfaction with the product and if there is any dissatisfaction steps can be taken to ensure the customer satisfaction. Be sure to be more specific with respect to your product or service than this example.
Be sure to follow all of the submission requirements outlined in the syllabus and provided below again for your easy reference:

• Prepare as a word processed document (such as Microsoft Word).

• Your assignment should be the equivalent of two pages of double-spaced text, approximately 1/2 page for each of the four questions.

• Be sure your name, writing assignment number, and the name of your product or service are on the first page of your writing assignment.

• Use a simple 12-point font such as Times New Roman. Use black ink for majority of your work and only use colors if it enhances your ability to communicate your thoughts.

• If the writing assignment requires external research, be sure to use footnotes and include a bibliography. You may use MLA or APA style, or any other college-level style guide. More information about using a style guide can be found in the UMUC’s virtual library accessible from your LEO classroom or at umuc.edu/library.

• Upload your word processed document in your LEO assignments by the due date in the LEO calendar.

Refer to the grading rubric associated with the assignments. Be sure to note that 20% of your grade on this assignment will be based on your grammar, composition, adherence to the submission requirements, and use of an appropriate college-level style guide for writing and referencing.

Any questions? Please post in the general discussion forum for Week 3.

Hide Rubrics

Rubric Name: Weekly Writing Assignments Rubric

Criteria Level 4
4 points Level 3
3 points Level 2
2 points Level 1
1 point Level 0
0 points
Marketing Concept #1 Student exhibits a high level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can precisely apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits a good level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can generally apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits an average level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment, but may not have been able to apply the concept to a real product effectively. Student exhibits a poor understanding of the concept and cannot demonstrate the concept’s applicability to a real product. Student did not attempt or effort was off track.
Marketing Concept #2 Student exhibits a high level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can precisely apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits a good level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can generally apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits an average level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment, but may not have been able to apply the concept to a real product effectively. Student exhibits a poor understanding of the concept and cannot demonstrate the concept’s applicability to a real product. Student did not attempt or effort was off track.
Marketing Concept #3 Student exhibits a high level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can precisely apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits a good level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can generally apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits an average level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment, but may not have been able to apply the concept to a real product effectively. Student exhibits a poor understanding of the concept and cannot demonstrate the concept’s applicability to a real product. Student did not attempt or effort was off track.
Marketing concept #4 Student exhibits a high level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can precisely apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits a good level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment and can generally apply the concept to a real product. Student exhibits an average level of understanding of the first marketing concept in this writing assignment, but may not have been able to apply the concept to a real product effectively. Student exhibits a poor understanding of the concept and cannot demonstrate the concept’s applicability to a real product. Student did not attempt or effort was off track.
Grammar, composition, adherence to submission requirements, effective use of references Student submitted a professional document with no typos or grammatical errors. Assignment adheres all all submission requirements outlined in the syllabus. Student demonstrated superior research and referencing skills and uses a college-level style guide. Student submitted a good document, may have a few typos or grammatical errors. Assignment adheres to all submission requirements outlined in the syllabus. Student demonstrated adequate research and referencing skills, but may have some issues with attribution of statements of facts or others’ opinions, uses a college-level style guide. Student submitted an acceptable document, may have an unacceptable number of distracting typos or grammatical errors. Assignment does not adhere to all submission requirements outlined in the syllabus. Student demonstrated poor research and referencing skills leaving most statements of facts and others’ opinions unattributed, and attributions may not be in the form of a college-level style guide. Student submitted a poor document, typos and grammatical errors very distracting to the reader. Assignment does not comply with most submission requirements as outlined in the syllabus. Students does not demonstrate any research and referencing skills. Writing style needs significant help. Suggest student seek the services of UMUC’s Effective Writing Program before submitting further assignments. Student does not submit a writing assignment on time or in an acceptable format.
Overall Score Level 5
14 or more Level 4
11 or more Level 3
8 or more Level 2
5 or more Level 1
0 or more