extensive problem solving

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Extensive Problem Solving

This article covers meaning, importance & example of Extensive Problem Solving from marketing perspective.

What is Extensive Problem Solving?

Extensive problem solving is the purchase decision marking in a situation in which the buyer has no information, experience about the products, services and suppliers. In extensive problem solving, lack of information also spreads to the brands for the product and also the criterion that they set for segregating the brands to be small or manageable subsets that help in the purchasing decision later. Consumers usually go for extensive problem solving when they discover that a need is completely new to them which requires significant effort to satisfy it.

The decision making process of a customer includes different levels of purchase decisions, i.e. extensive problem solving, limited problem solving and routinized choice behaviour.

Elements of Extensive Problem Solving

The various parameters which leads to extensive problem solving are:

1. Highly Priced Products: Like a car, house

2. Infrequent Purchases: Purchasing an automobile, HD TV

3. More Customer Participation: Purchasing a laptop with selection of RAM, ROM, display etc

4. Unfamiliar Product Category: Real-estate is a very unexplored category

5. Extensive Research & Time: Locality of buying house, proximity to hospital, station, market etc.

All these parameters or elements leads to extensive problem solving for the customer while taking a decision to make a purchase.

• Problem Recognition
• Problem Solution Approach

Importance of Extensive Problem Solving

It is very important for marketers to know the process that customers go through before purchasing. They cannot rely upon re-buys and word of mouth all the time for acquiring new customers. The customer in general goes through problem recognition, information search, evaluation, purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation. Closely related to a purchase decision is the problem solving phase. A new product with long term investment leads to extensive problem solving from a customer. This signifies that not all buying situations are same. A rebuy is very much different from a first choice purchase. The recognition that a brand enjoys in a customer’s mind helps the customer to make purchase decisions easily. If the brand has a dedicated marketing communication effort, whenever a consumer feels the need for a new product, they instantly go for it.

To help customers in extensive problem solving, companies must have clear transparent communication. It is thus very important for marketers to use a proper marketing mix so that they can have some cognition from their customers when they think of new products. With the advent of social media, the number of channels for promotion have hugely developed and they require a clear understanding on the segment of customer that each channel serves. The communication channels should lucidly differentiate themselves from other brands so that they are purchased quickly and easily.

Example of Extensive Problem Solving

Let us suppose, that Amber wants to buy a High Definition TV. The problem being, she has no idea regarding it. This is a case of extensive problem solving as the amount of information is low, the risk she is taking is high as she is going with the opinion that she gathers from her peers, the item is expensive and at the same time it also demands huge amount of involvement from the customer. Similarly, buying high price and long-term assets or products like car, motorcycle, house etc leads to extensive problem solving decision for the customers.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Extensive Problem Solving along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team which comprises of MBA students, management professionals, and industry experts. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team . The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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Consumer Decision Making Process: Meaning, Stages, Levels, Models

Meaning of consumer decision making process.

Consumer decision making process involves the consumers to identify their needs, gather information, evaluate alternatives and then make their buying decision.

Consumer Decision-Making Process is one through which a consumer goes through for satisfying their needs by making appropriate buying decisions. It is a complex process which ranges from the recognition of needs, searching and collecting information, evaluating alternatives, purchasing the best product out of alternatives and post-purchase activities.

It is simply a process which depicts the journey of the consumer from starting to end for making buying decisions. Marketers use this process as a source of information for acquiring all important data related to consumers.

Stages of Consumer Decision Making Process

There are several steps involves in decision making process of consumers. These steps are explained in detailed below: –

• Need Recognition- Process of consumer decision making starts with the identification of need or problem. It is a stage where consumer found out that they are missing something and look for means for filling such a gap. The consumer determines his wants that motivate him to search for opportunities for satisfaction of his needs. 
• Information Search- Once the problem is identified by a consumer, he searches for information regarding distinct products available in the market. Consumer gathers data regarding various products and services that can satisfy his want. He uses both personal as well as a commercial source for this purpose. Personal source involves family, friends, peers etc. and commercial sources involve newspapers, T.V., radio and the internet.
• Evaluation of Alternatives- After gathering information from all sources, consumers checks various product alternatives for selecting the most appropriate one. He evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of different available alternatives. The consumer will develop a set of choices with regard to attributes of product, brand etc. that meet his want, preferences, taste, personality and lifestyle. 
• Selection and Trial- Consumer here make his first purchase for the trial of products keeping his set of choices in mind. He purchases several products in small quantities or uses them for a short span of time for developing an opinion towards product. 
• Purchase decision- Once the consumer is fully satisfied with the quality of product after taking a trial, he finally buys the product for fulfilling his needs. Here consumer has acquired all of the required knowledge after evaluating all facts and arrive at final conclusion to buy a product. He finally makes a choice of product, brand, dealer, decide an amount and purchase time.
• Post-purchase behaviour- It refers to post-purchase behaviour of consumer where he evaluates whether the product has met his expectations or not. He will find out that a product is either useful or not. There may be three outcomes after making a purchase: – Product actual performance is equal to the expected performance that will lead to repeat purchase decisions by consumers, product actual performance is greater than the expected performance which will lead to build consumer loyalty and third case is where product actual performance is less than expected performance where consumer will reject the product.

Levels of Consumer Decision Making

• Extensive Problem Solving- This is the early stage in decision making of consumer where he has not developed an evaluation criterion.  Buyer has a very little information about products and brands, therefore is highly involved with products for their critical evaluation. Large no. of brands is evaluated and there is enough time available for finalizing product. These type of decisions are taken for buying high cost products such as car, bikes etc.
• Limited Problem Solving- Limited problem solving is an advanced stage of consumer’s decision making. Consumer has moderate involvement with products for choosing the suitable one. He conducts a general search for products and only few alternative brands are evaluated. Choice criteria is well defined buyer takes less time to complete purchase process. It takes place in purchasing products like clothes, shoes and cosmetics.
• Routine Response Behaviour- Here, consumers have a very low involvement with products and do a little evaluation of alternatives. He has a strong predisposition towards one brand and takes all purchase decisions frequently. Cost of product purchased is low and any product that fulfil needs is chosen quickly. It applies in case of products like soap, toothpaste, shampoo etc.

Models of Consumer Decision Making  

• Economic Model- Economic Model is a model that assumes a consumer to be rational person and all decision are taken by him on rational basis. He has an ability of doing a comparison of variety of products, performing analysis of their advantages and disadvantages which provides them efficient information for taking appropriate purchase decision. He is well-known about all existing alternative brands and give them a ranking considering their features, quality, uses and drawbacks. Economic model is considered to be unrealistic as people do not always behave rationally while purchasing a product and lacks skills, existing values and perceptions. 
• Passive Model- Passive model believes that promotional campaigns of marketers influences the decision making process of consumers. They respond directly to advertisement appeal made by brands in market. This model is opposite of economic model, as it believes that evaluation of products will be done by consumer as per their market position and how they are being promoted in the market. Passive model is also an unrealistic model as it ignores the fact that individual have a capability of themselves acquiring information from market for evaluating alternatives before making buying decision.
• Cognitive Model- This one of the best model out of all 4 consumer decision process model. Cognitive model assumes that all purchase decisions are taken by consumer according to their interest and market understandability. This model fully ignores the role of promotional campaigns of marketers and consumer’s rational needs in their decision making process. All marketers must assist consumers in creating short-cut decision rules that would result in fast purchase decisions.
• Emotional Model- Emotional model of consumer decision making assumes that emotions of individual plays a major role in influencing their buying decisions. Consumers are believed to be emotional who acts as per their emotions. They associate themselves with goods and services which results in impulsive decisions by them. Time taken to decide the product is less, and a positive and negative emotion is developed regarding the product. Hence, only those products are purchase that brings positive emotions and all those that brings negative emotions are avoided. 

Consumer Decision Rules

• Compensatory Decision Rule- It is a decision rule in which relevant attributes of product are taken into consideration while evaluating them for making a purchase decision. He carefully balances the pros and cons of every attribute of product before finalizing it for purchase.
• Non-compensatory Decision Rule- According to this rule, any positive attribute of product cannot make buyer to overlook its negative attribute. It believes that product positive evaluation will not compensate for negative evaluation of product. 
• Conjunctive Decision Rule- Under this rule, a minimum cut-off point is established by consumer for each attribute of product. A brand is avoided if any of its attributes fall below the cut-off point.
• Disjunctive Decision Rule- Here, cut-off point only for relevant attributes of product is established by consumer. Product exceling in at least one attribute is chosen by consumer. 
• Lexicographic Rule- It is the one where attributes of product are ranked in terms of their importance and then a comparison of important attributes is done. Product exceling in attributes important to consumer is chosen.

Related posts:

• Howard Sheth Model of Consumer Behaviour – Definition, Levels, Variables
• 10 Consumer Behaviour Models – Short Notes
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Decision Making
• What are the 7 steps of Decision Making
• Importance of Decision Making in Management
• Objectives and Characteristics of Decision Making

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Home » Marketing Management » Howard Sheth Model of Consumer Behavior

Howard Sheth Model of Consumer Behavior

John Howard and Jagadish Sheth put forward the Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior in 1969, in their publication entitled, ‘ The Theory of buyer Behaviour ’.

The Howard Sheth Model is a sophisticated integration of the various social, psychological, and marketing influences on consumer choice into a coherent sequence of information processing. It aims not only to explain consumer behavior in terms of cognitive functioning but to provide an empirically testable depiction of such behavior and its outcomes (Howard 1977).

The Howard Sheth Model proposes that a consumer’s purchase decision is influenced by multiple individuals, such as family members. It recognizes that family members take on different roles in the purchasing process, such as gathering information or deciding budgets. The model also acknowledges that retailers deal with a collection of individuals rather than a homogeneous unit. It identifies three levels of decision making – extensive problem solving, limited problem solving, and routinized response behavior – which consumers progress through as they gain experience. The model aims to depict rational brand choice over time as learning occurs.

The logic of the Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior summarizes like this. There are inputs in the form of Stimuli. There are outputs beginning with attention to a given stimulus and ending with purchase. In between the inputs and the outputs, there are variables affecting perception and learning. These variables are termed ‘hypothetical’ since they cannot be directly measured at the time of occurrence.

The Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior  suggests three levels of decision making:

• The first level describes extensive problem-solving . At this level, the consumer does not have any basic information or knowledge about the brand and he does not have any preferences for any product. In this situation, the consumer will seek information about all the different brands in the market before purchasing.
• The second level is limited problem-solving . This situation exists for consumers who have little knowledge about the market, or partial knowledge about what they want to purchase. In order to arrive at a brand preference, some comparative brand information is sought.
• The third level is habitual response behavior . At this level, the consumer knows very well about the different brands and he can differentiate between the different characteristics of each product, and he already decides to purchase a particular product.

According to the Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior, there are four major sets of variables; namely:

• Inputs: These input variables consist of three distinct types of stimuli (information sources) in the consumer’s environment. The marketer in the form of product or brand information furnishes physical brand characteristics (significative stimuli) and verbal or visual product characteristics (symbolic stimuli). There are impersonal sources like mass media communication and advertising, over which the firm has no control. However, the information sources also include sales and service personnel who can add and help the marketing efforts of the firm. The third type is provided by the consumer’s social environment (family, reference group, and social class). This social source is personal and the company/marketer has no control over this source. All three types of stimuli provide inputs concerning the product class or specific brands to the specific consumer.
• Perceptual and Learning Constructs: The central part of the model deals with the psychological variables involved when the consumer is contemplating a decision. Some of the variables are perceptual in nature and are concerned with how the consumer receives and understands the information from the input stimuli and other parts of the model. For example, stimulus ambiguity happened when the consumer does not understand the message from the environment. Perceptual bias occurs if the consumer distorts the information received so that it fits his or her established needs or experience. Learning constructs category, consumers’ goals, information about brands, criteria for evaluation alternatives, preferences, and buying intentions are all included. The proposed interaction In between the different variables in the perceptual and learning constructs and other sets give the model its distinctive advantage.
• Outputs: The outputs are the results of the perceptual and learning variables and how the consumers will respond to these variables (attention, brand comprehension, attitudes, and intention).
• Exogenous(External) variables: Exogenous variables are not directly part of the decision-making process. However, some relevant exogenous variables include the importance of the purchase, consumer personality traits, religion, and time pressure.

The decision-making process , which Howard-Sheth Model tries to explain, takes place at three Inputs stages: Significance, Symbolic and Social stimuli. In both significative and symbolic stimuli, the model emphasizes material aspects such as price and quality. These stimuli are not applicable in every society. While in social stimuli the model does not mention the basis of decision-making in this stimulus, such as what influences the family decision? This may differ from one society to another.

Most scholars agree that the study of consumer behavior was advanced and given an impetus by Howard Sheth Model. The major advantage and strength of the model lied in the precision with which a large number of variables have been linked in the working relationships to cover most aspects of the purchase decision and the effective utilization of contribution from the behavioral sciences.

Finally, no direct relation was drawn to the role of religion in influencing the consumer’s decision-making processes . Religion was considered as an external factor with no real influence on consumers, which gives the model obvious weakness in anticipation of the consumer decision.

Related posts:

• Nicosia Model of Consumer Behavior
• The Engel Kollat Blackwell (EKB) Model of Consumer Behavior
• Solomon Model of Comparison Process – Model of Consumer Behavior
• Level of Involvement in Consumer Behavior
• Bettman Information Processing Model of Consumer Choice
• Types of Consumer Buying Behavior
• Concept of Attitude in Consumer Behavior
• Group Influence on Consumer Behavior

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Consumer Behavior - Decision Making

An understanding of consumer behavior is necessary for the long-term success and survival of a firm. Consumer decision making is viewed as the edifice of the marketing concept, an important orientation in marketing management.

The marketer should be able to determine needs and wants of the target segment and provide product and service offerings more effectively and efficiently than competitors.

Types of Consumer Decision Making

The following are the types of decision making methods which can be used to analyze consumer behavior −

Extensive Problem Solving

In extensive decision making, the consumers have no established or set criteria for evaluating a product in a particular category. Here the consumers have not narrowed the number of brands from which they would like to consider and so their decision making efforts can be classified as extensive problem solving. In this particular set of problem solving phase, the consumer needs a lot of information to set a criteria on the basis of specific brands could be judged.

Limited Problem Solving

In limited problem solving, the consumers have already set the basic criteria or standard for evaluating the products. However, they have not fully set the established preferences and they search for additional information to discriminate among other products or brands.

Routinized Response Behavior

Here, in routinized response behavior, consumers have experience with the product and they have set the criteria for which they tend to evaluate the brands they are considering. In some situations, they may want to collect a small amount of additional information, while in others they may simply review what they are aware about. In extensive problem solving, consumer seeks for more information to make a choice, in limited problem solving consumers have the basic idea or the criteria set for evaluation, whereas in routinized response behavior consumers need only little additional information.

Views of Consumer Decision Making

An economic view.

Consumers have generally been assumed to make rational decisions. The economic view of consumer decision making is being criticized by researchers because a consumer is assumed to posses the following traits to behave rationally −

Firstly, they need to be aware of all the alternatives present in the market

Secondly, they must be able to efficiently rank the products as per their benefits.

Lastly, they must also know the best alternative that suits them as per their requirements.

In the world of perfect competition, consumers rarely have all the information to make the so called ‘perfect decision.’

A Passive View

Passive view is totally opposite to the economic view. Here, it is assumed that consumers are impulsive and irrational while making a purchase. The main limitation of this view is that consumers also seek information about the alternatives available and make rational or wise decisions and purchase the products or services that provides the greatest satisfaction.

A Cognitive View

The cognitive model helps individuals to focus on the processes through which they can get information about selected brands. In the framework of cognitive view, the consumer very actively searches for such products or services that can fulfill all their requirements.

An Emotional View

Consumers are associated with deep feelings or emotions such as, fear, love, hope etc. These emotions are likely to be highly involving.

Extensive Problem Solving

In the choice process, extensive problem solving includes those consumer decisions requiring considerable cognitive activity, thought, and behavioral effort as compared to routinized choice behavior and habitual decision making . [1]

This type of decision making is usually associated with high-involvement purchases and when the customer has limited experience with the product category. [2]

• ^ American Marketing Association. AMA Dictionary.
• ^ Govoni, N.A. Dictionary of Marketing Communications, Sage Publications, (2004)

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Understanding  Extensive Problem Solving

Are you struggling to solve complex problems in your personal or professional life? Do you want to become an expert problem solver? Then, it's time to unleash the power of extensive problem solving .

What is Extensive Problem Solving?

Extensive problem-solving is a process of finding solutions to intricate and complicated issues by utilizing critical thinking , problem analysis , root cause analysis , decision making, and brainstorming techniques. It is a structured approach that helps individuals and organizations solve complex problems systematically and effectively.

Why is Extensive Problem Solving Important?

It provides a structured problem-solving approach that allows individuals and organizations to identify the root cause of the problem and implement effective solutions. It helps in making informed decisions by considering all possible options and alternatives. Moreover, it enhances critical thinking skills that are essential for personal and professional growth .

How does Extensive Problem Solving work?

The extensive problem-solving process involves several steps that include defining the problem, gathering data , identifying the root cause of the issue, brainstorming potential solutions, evaluating options, selecting the best solution, implementing it, and monitoring the results. Each step follows a structured approach that helps in achieving desired outcomes.

What are the Benefits of Extensive Problem Solving?

The benefits of extensive problem-solving are numerous. It assists in reducing costs by identifying and eliminating inefficient processes. It contributes to organizational growth by enhancing employees' critical thinking skills. Additionally, it helps in making informed decisions that lead to improved productivity and efficiency .

When Should You Use Extensive Problem Solving?

Extensive problem-solving should be used when facing complex problems that require a structured approach. It is useful for solving issues related to quality management , production processes, customer satisfaction , and employee performance.

Where can you Learn Extensive Problem Solving?

Several books and ebooks are available that provide a comprehensive guide to extensive problem-solving techniques. Some of the notable references include:

• Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe
• Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills by Michael Kallet
• The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed by Michael L. George
• The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
• How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by George Polya

In conclusion, extensive problem-solving skills are crucial for personal and professional success. Utilizing critical thinking, problem analysis, root cause analysis, decision making, and brainstorming techniques can help individuals and organizations solve complex issues effectively and efficiently. With the right resources and guidance, anyone can become an expert problem solver.