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POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOR
Post-Purchase Consumer Behavior
 Post-purchase Dissonance
• Doubt or anxiety experienced after taking a difficult
purchase decision.
• Factors Affecting Post-Purchase Dissonance:
• No. of alternatives being considered
• Difficulty in choosing one of the alternatives
• Substitutability – near equal alternatives to choose from
• Attractiveness of foregone alternatives
• Degree of familiarity with the product
• Information available at the time of purchase
• Time and comfort with which the purchase was made
• Expected negative reactions from others
 Post-purchase Dissonance (Contd..)
• Consumers may regret the purchase made due to:
• Product/brand purchased fails to live up to expectations
• Positive post-purchase information about foregone
alternatives (upward comparison)
• Negative post-purchase information about alternative
chosen – consumers may actively look for information
• “Consumption guilt” – for using products that may be
potentially unhealthy or harmful in some way
• Product usage/non-usage influences post-purchase
dissonance
• May use product incorrectly or in a new way
• May buy a product without much thought and may not use
it or discontinue using it after a short period – a product
purchased is not necessarily a product consumed
 Post-purchase Dissonance

• Approaches to reduce dissonance:

• Increase desirability of the brand purchased
• Decrease desirability of rejected brand
• Decrease importance of the purchase
• Reverse purchase decision (return before use)
Disposal Alternatives
 Expectations, Performance & Satisfaction
Perceived Performance Relative Consumer Reaction
to Expectation
Better Satisfaction
Same Non-satisfaction (neutral)
Worse Dissatisfaction
• Satisfaction is a function of expectation – hence manage
expectations; do not make false promises
• Satisfaction is not to be confused with repurchase intention &
customer loyalty. Satisfied customers too switch brands in
search of better alternatives
• Dissatisfied customers may make repeat purchases due to lack
of better alternatives or resistance to /cost of switching
• Therefore focus on total customer satisfaction and not on
immediate repurchase intention
 Service Quality - Expectation & Satisfaction
• Zone of tolerance or zone of accommodation is the
difference between ‘desired’ and ‘acceptable’ service
levels
• If service falls below ‘acceptable’ level, consumers are
likely to switch
• Common reasons for switching to other brands in
service industries:
• Failure of main service, including service delay
• Service counter failure – impolite behavior
• Deceptive pricing or unfair price increase
• Inappropriate employee response to service failure
• Better service/pricing by competitors
• Ethical issues – unsafe & unhealthy services, etc.
Dissatisfaction Response – Customer Complaint Behavior

Passives

Voicers Irates Activists

 Effective Handling of Complaints
“To err is human– to recover, divine”

• Listen to the squeaky wheel

• Look for complaints -- make complaining easy
• Anticipate needs for recovery
• Accept responsibility (do not refuse to recognize the problem)
• Quick action, e.g.,
• Replacement
• Repair
• Refund
• Exchange
• Opportunity to improve customer experience – customer
delight
• Empower and train employees
 Brand Loyalty – Proportion-of-Purchases
Method
• The proportion-of-purchases method measures brand
loyalty in terms of some arbitrary proportion of
purchases (by a consumer) going to a particular
brand. For example, if more than 75 per cent of a
consumer’s purchases are of a particular brand
during a given time period, that consumer could be
considered as loyal to the brand.
• The basic premise is that brand loyalty is not an all-or-
nothing phenomenon. Instead, it is viewed as a
continuum from complete loyalty to complete brand
indifference.
 Brand Loyalty – Proportion-of-Purchases
Method (Contd..)
The different buying patterns, in which A, B, C and D
are competing brands, can be portrayed as follows:

Undivided loyalty: AAAAAAAA

Occasional switch: AAABAAAB

Switch loyalty: AAAABBBB

Divided loyalty: AABABBAB

Brand indifference: ABDCBACD