STRATEGY | 5 minute read
The key sources shaping customer expectations
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Expectations are a key driver of consumer behavior, influencing how individuals think, feel, and act in the market. Consider a recent purchase you made. How did you approach the decision? Did you research the product? Which sources did you use to gather information? Marketing, recommendations from friends, or reviews? Did you compare the product’s quality and price to similar options?
All these sources shape your expectations about the product or service you were considering, and they likely influenced both your decision-making process and your evaluation of the product after the purchase.
Explicit promises
Think about the recent advertising materials you’ve viewed. What promises about the product or service were made in those materials? Marketing, advertisements, and other media associated with a product or service provide explicit promises to consumers about what the brand’s offering will deliver. This is an example of explicit promises, where customers learn about a brand through information that the company has directly communicated to them.
While these may not always be exact representations of what the product or service will do, they create “hypotheses to be tested” by consumers based on the details provided.
These promises are often one of the first sources of expectation formation for potential customers. Of the four main sources of expectation formation, explicit promises are the ones that brands and companies have the most control and influence over, as they can make strategic decisions about the promises they choose to present.
However, brands do not fully control these expectations, as consumers may interpret the explicit promises differently. These varying interpretations often arise from implicit promises.
Implicit promises
Implicit promises, which are suggested or implied rather than directly stated, represent another source of expectation formation. These promises are embedded in marketing materials, advertisements, and other media related to a product or service.
However, they are shaped by consumers’ interpretations and assumptions based on the explicit promises made. Research on consumer expectations of travel packages found that one of the most significant implicit promises affecting expectations is the price cue.
Consider a travel agent’s marketing materials. The explicit promises made are that the travel agent offers personalized service and 24-hour support. In addition to these explicit promises, the price point is significantly higher than other travel agencies offering similar services. As a result, the potential consumer is likely to assume that the combination of the explicit promises and the higher price indicates that the service will be of superior quality.
Price has traditionally been an influential implicit promise across various contexts, with higher prices often leading to expectations of higher product or service quality.
Past experiences
Another way expectations are formed is through an individual’s previous experiences and evaluations, particularly from past consumption or purchasing encounters. The past experiences that typically influence expectations of a product or service are those related to similar products, services, or brands.
For example, if you had a positive experience with a particular brand of smartphone, your expectations for the quality of a new smartphone, despite being from a different brand, will be shaped by your previous experience, and you’ll likely expect the new phone to perform at the same level. This is an example of indirect expectation spillover.
Past experiences play a central role in expectation spillover, where expectations formed in one context influence an individual’s expectations in an entirely different one.
Word of mouth
Word of mouth and online reviews can have a significant impact on an individual’s expectations of a product or service. This is another form of indirect expectation spillover, where others’ past experiences influence your own expectations for a product or service.
This is especially relevant in the realm of digital marketing, as today’s highly connected, consumer-driven landscape means many buyers turn to reviews and ratings before making purchasing decisions.
Social influence, including reviews and word-of-mouth, plays a powerful role, often seen as more trustworthy and less biased than other sources of information, such as advertisements. Whether through online forums, newspaper reviews, or feedback from a consumer’s social network, these second-hand experiences shape and influence individual expectations.
2. Price to align with product value
Conclusion
Consumer expectations are any set of behaviors or actions that individuals anticipate when they interact with a company or brand. The modern consumer has easier access to more information than ever before and therefore more choice when it comes to products and services. Despite the increasing complexity of expectations, a fundamental truism of consumer behaviour that has not changed is that customer satisfaction comes from exceeding expectations, and loyalty comes from repeated satisfaction.
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