Perception might not always be accurate, but it creates an image in one’s mind. The same rule applies when a consumer perceives something about a brand. Information or current trends in the market can influence consumers’ perceptions. Consequently, consumer perception affects a brand’s value, regulating the growth or decline of its reputation.
Likewise, consumer behaviour is how a consumer reacts to a product or brand. It comprises everything from buying decisions to reactions or comments on social media pages.
Consumer perception reflects in consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour determines buying decisions of customers. In short, businesses cannot deny the significance of consumer perception influencing consumer behaviour.
While brands should handle consumer perception and behaviour sensibly, they must also try to use them in their favour.
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Advantages brands gain if they influence consumer perception in the right ways:
Consumer Loyalty
Companies and brands try to analyse or explain consumer behaviour, primarily based on assumptions about consumers’ current behaviour or thought pattern in the market. Perceptions can change with time, and savvy brands try to influence perception in the right direction. A positive perception can help brands win loyal customers.
Offering exceptional customer services, affordable price range, attractive deals, sophisticated packaging, etc., can create a positive brand image in customers’ minds. Brands can use this positive perception to convert customers into loyalty by providing personalised services.
Improving Conversions
To improve conversions, brands must focus on their customers’ buying decisions. First, they must understand the importance of perception in consumer behaviour.
For instance, a company that sells cars should focus on creating a positive impact on the customers’ minds whenever they get an opportunity. They can improve after-sales services or offer attractive deals and discounts during festivals and special occasions. Thoughtfulness creates a positive sentiment about their brand in the market. Consumers may gradually notice consistent, regular add-ons and benefits and progressively prefer them over their competitors.
Expanding Product Range
Consumer perception can be analysed to understand their expectations of a particular product or brand. Consumer expectations and demands change over time, and a perceptions analysis taps into their emotions and requirements. These analyses can provide deep consumer perception insights, ultimately helping brands develop new and innovative products.
For example, when smartphones entered the market, consumers eventually started to need more compact and handy devices to help them manage their daily tasks. Companies that understood these consumers’ perceptions were able to launch Fitbit and smartwatches in subsequent years. This example explains consumer perception and demonstrates the importance of consumer behaviour in the market.
Finalising Products
Consumer perception can also help companies finalise a product’s design or features. For instance, cosmetic companies try to include colours that are generally assumed to be associated with feminine preferences (like pink, violet, purple, and white) in their branding and packaging designs. As women and girls dominate their customer base, they naturally give more preference to choices that are generally associated with them. Similarly, if a company wants to launch personal care or personal grooming products for men, one notices colours like black, red, blue, etc., in their designs and logos. It can be noticed that the design or features of a product evolve with changing perceptions of gender and colours associated with particular genders.
How does Consumer Perception get affected?
Today is the era of digitalisation, and any adverse event or incident can spoil a company’s reputation. For instance, if a sales executive does not provide stellar service or has an ill-toward attitude toward a customer, and the incident is recorded, it can go viral unreasonably via the internet. Millions of people will see it damaging the company’s reputation within hours. It will also affect consumer perception and reflect in consumer behaviour. Eventually, this negative review can impact the brand’s conversion rate, resulting in heavy losses for the company.
Poor after-sales support, delay in resolutions or irresponsive customer support staff, poor packaging quality or design, and many other factors can also affect the consumers’ perception. A company must address these issues and ensure that quality is maintained at every stage of production and packaging. Providing top-notch customer services should be the priority of every brand. The sales and support executives must talk gently and politely with the customers. The website must give multiple platforms like live chat, email support, SMS support, etc., to resolve their issues.
Social media channels also prove to be a good platform for damage or disaster control for a company. Upon finding a negative review or comment on any of their social media posts or pages, they must act and respond immediately. Firstly, they should try to resolve the issue of the customers. Secondly, they can request them to respond in the review or comment section with a positive comment once the problem is fixed completely. Also, if there is any negative news or publicity around a brand, then the brand can use these platforms to clear its view or stand on the particular issue or incident. It can be fake news regarding a specific feature of their products or a technical issue that is affecting a majority of their consumers. As branding is essential in marketing, companies can use social analytical or social listening tools to improve their marketing strategies.
Importance of Consumer Perception in Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
Market analysis is the key to any business plan or strategy. A company needs to analyse customer behaviour before entering the market because, ultimately, customers decide their future. The analysis can include customer demographics, including age, occupation, income and other market aspects such as demand, size, availability, location, etc. While digital channels with social media platforms are the main pillars of marketing, word-of-mouth publicity also works well with millennials. A customer who perceives a brand as reputed will naturally speak well about its products in person and through social media channels.
Brands can also use these channels to provide insights and resolution to customers using or planning to use similar products. Valuable, knowledgeable, helpful advice without monetary alone profitable benefits can build a brand reputation. Customers will start perceiving it as a dominant force in the market.
Conclusion
This article shows the importance of consumer perception in consumer behaviour. Consumer perception is an integral aspect of consumer behaviour, and brands can use it to determine whether their image is positive or negative in the market. Also, they must be able to use consumer insights and feedback while designing and improving their products and services. Finally, social analytical tools should constantly monitor consumer behaviour to identify a pattern and determine their expectations or demands.