THEORY OF COGNITIVE

DISSONANCE & ITS STRATEGIES

Postpurchase Behavior

Can minimize through:Effective Communication

Follow-upGuaranteesWarranties

Underpromise & overdeliver

Cognitive DissonanceCognitive Dissonance

??Did I make a good decision?Did I make a good decision?

Did I buy the right product?Did I buy the right product?

Did I get a good value?Did I get a good value?

Sour Grapes– a story of cognitive dissonance

…after being unable to reach the grapes the fox said, “these grapes are probably sour, and if I had them I would not eat them.” --Aesop

If a customer wants to buy a product , there are many options in terms of brands available, each claiming itself to be the best .

So the buyer evaluates each option and compares the available alternatives in terms of quality , price, etc. and then takes the decision .

But then also , after purchasing the product , there are some doubts in customers mind regarding the choice of product. These doubts or restlessness after purchasing the product in buyer’s mind is called “ cognitive dissonance ” .

MEANING OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE can be defined as “

a feeling of psychological tension or post purchase doubts that a consumer experience after making a difficult purchase decision”. It is one of the most possible outcome of purchase.

Dissonance is more likely to occur in important decisions where the consumer must choose among close alternatives , especially if the unchosen alternatives have unique or desirable features that the selected alternatives does not have.

ACC to the, theory of cognitive dissonance , we tend to compensate or justify the small or large discrepancies between what we actually received and what we perceived we would receive.

Therefore , cognitive dissonance is a feeling of dissatisfaction caused after the purchase of a given product.

There are many strategies that customers can use to overcome / reduce cognitive dissonance . These are…:-

STRATEGIES TO REDUCE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

SEEK ASSURANCE LOWER OPINION DEFENSIVE PERCEPTION LOOK FOR SUPPORTIVE INFORMATION

a) GOOD QUALITY

b) DON’T OVERSELL

c) POST PURCHASE RELATION BUILDING

d) INWARD COMMUNICATION

e) GUARANTEES AND WARANTEES

SEEK ASSURANCE : They may seek reassurance and opinions from others to confirm the wisdom of their purchase decision. Because if people around them assure them about the wisdom of their decision, cognitive is reduced to a very great extent.

LOWER OPINION : They may lower their attitudes or opinions of the unchosen alternatives just to satisfy their doubts regarding the quality of the chosen products.

DEFENSIVE PERCEPTION : They can also reduce cognitive dissonance by denying or distorting any information that does not support the choice they made.

LOOK FOR SUPPORTIVE INFORMATION : They can also look for information that does support their choice . Advertising is one of the important source of supportive information.

consumers may give more attention to advertisements for the brands that they have chosen. This will reinforce their purchase decision positively .

The marketer should work very hard towards avoiding cognitive dissonance if they want to survive in today’s competitive era.

to avoid cognitive dissonance marketers should :

i. GOOD QUALITY : provide good quality products ( ideas/good/services) that meet customer’s expectations after the purchase has been made.

ii. DONT OVERSELL: Do not design advertisements that create unreasonable expectations that their products can not meet. Because if it cannot meet the expectations created by its advertisements then there will be cognitive dissonance in consumer’s mind.

iii. POST PURCHASE RELATION BUILDING

marketers may also send follow up letters and brochures to reassure buyers and reinforce the wisdom of their purchase decision.

this will give the customers a sense of security that from whom they have purchased the product, is still there with them . And if they have any problem regarding the product they know whom to contact.

iv. INWARD COMMUNICATION :

also set up toll free numbers for consumers to call if they need any information or have a

Complaint regarding the product.

This ensures that the customers instead of approaching some other customers and highlight the weakness of the product will approach the marketer itself and avoid negative word – of – mouth publicity.

v. GURANTEES & WARANTEES: the marketers can also provide guarantees and warrantees to cover the risk of post purchase damage and fault in the product.

All this helps the marketers in maintaining healthy relationships with the customers. Marketers should keep in mind that dissatisfied customers who experience dissonance are likely to repurchase the product & also spread

Negative word of mouth . Company keep on losing customers just because of cognitive dissonance then in that case the survival of that company will be doubtful.

CONCLUSION

A marketer must remember that it is easy to retain an existing customer , rather than creating a new customer . Therefore the cognitive dissonance factor should be reduced to minimum by a marketer to get a repeat purchase & recommendation by a customer.