Part 1-
Explore how consumers make decisions and how marketing can affect those decisions.
Read article (The consumer decision journey by David Court, Dave Elzinga, Susan Mulder, and Ole Jørgen Vetvik) about consumer decision-making process. This paper is somewhat old (published in 2009,) but it gives a solid introduction to the interplay between consumer decision-making and marketing.
In this first part, you should read the first 7 pages, before the section: "Aligning marketing with the consumer decision journey".
Then answer the following questions in your own words.
1. What are the authors' arguments in explaining the difference between the traditional funnel and the consumer decision journey?
2. Using an auto or auto insurance purchase as an example, explain in detail Exhibit #4. Make sure you cite the numbers and emphasize the trend.
3. Describe a situation in which you are a passive loyal customer to a brand or a company and the other in which you are an active loyal customer. For each of the situation, list all the "touch points" that you have had with the company or the brand.
4. What should the company or brand do in order to turn you into an active loyal customer in Question 3?
Part 2-
In this part of the assignment, let's finish reading the article (The consumer decision journey) about consumer decision-making process. And we will focus on the section: "Aligning marketing with the consumer decision journey", in which the authors described five areas where marketing needs to adapt to the consumer decision journey.
1. For each area, use a concrete example to explain what the current marketing is doing wrong, or not doing enough, and what it should do more.
2. Relate the "Tailor Messaging" section to our previous reading of this article: (MARKETING MALPRACTICE- The Cause and the Cure by Clayton M. Christensen, Scoot Cook, and Taddy Hall) The Purpose Brand, and tell me where you think the commonality lies. (Remember that article has a section about advertising?)
3. By now you are familiar with the consumer decision-making process and the idea of "touch points". And you understand marketers use those touch points to influence consumer decisions. To sum up, describe a product purchase journey you have experienced and how your decision has been influenced by marketing messages along the whole journey.