Consumer Psychology Assignment

This assignment covers topics like involving consumers in service program planning, communication methods, monitoring changing needs of consumers, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement. It also discusses strategies to enhance engagement with clients with little understanding of English and methods to collect feedback.

Running head: CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Consumer psychology assignment
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Table of Contents
Question 1:.......................................................................................................................................2
Question 2:.......................................................................................................................................3
Question 3:.......................................................................................................................................4
Question 4:.......................................................................................................................................5
Question 6:.......................................................................................................................................7
Question 7:.......................................................................................................................................8
Question 8:.......................................................................................................................................9
Question 9:.....................................................................................................................................10
Question 10:...................................................................................................................................10
Question 11:...................................................................................................................................11

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Question 1:
a. Two benefits of involving the consumers in the planning stage of service program is:
 More consumer engagement will facilitate ownership in the consumers
with the service program; hence it will inevitably generate more
engagement of the consumers with the service program.
 More consumer engagement with the service program designing will also
increase the probability of the service program addressing each and every
need of the consumer as well.
b. The two methods for communication to engage consumer groups are: face to face
meeting and creating social media platforms.
c. Four skills required for effectively facilitate discussion with consumer groups are:
 Open questioning: The open questioning style will help in getting more
than one answers which will help in festering engagement from the
consumers.
 Active listening: in order to effectively engage with the patents it is
extremely crucial to employ active listening skills which will help in
festering the comfort and trust with the consumers.
 Eye contact: eye contact helps in getting attention of the listeners; hence I
would employ eye contact skills to ensure that the consumers are
connected with service program.
 Comfort and approachability: I would also employ comfortable and
approachable body language so that the listeners are not intimidated by
me.

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Question 2:
a. Three indicators that might suggest a consumer is lacking motivation or is disengaged
are: lack of response, lack of attendance, troubled speaking or responding, and sudden or
gradual withdrawal.
b. There are various reasons that can contribute to the lack of engagement of the consumers
to the service program. Cultural restrictions can be one of the most influential reasons
behind the disengagement of the consumers. It has to be understood that in case of
traditional or ethnic communities, the cultural hesitation can potentially hinder
engagement and participation. Along with that disagreement in the consumers with the
ideology or conception of the service provider can also result in gradual withdrawal or
disengagement to the programs as well and facilitate disengagement in the consumer
groups. Communicational challenges and linguistic barrier is another prime reason
behind the disengagement in the consumers and lastly, geographical isolation or
commuting challenges can also propel disengagement and withdrawal and can potentially
lead to a stage where the consumer participants may abandon the program altogether.
c. There are 5 strategies that can be used to enhance engagement and communication with
client groups with little understanding of English:
 Simplified English speaking
 Linguistic expert or translators
 Non-verbal communication
 Signage
 Paraphrasing and repetition.

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Question 3:
a. Two reasons why monitoring the changing needs of the consumers is extremely
important is because:
 The needs of the consumers change regularly, and hence in order to retain
the consumer loyalty monitoring the change in their needs
 In case of the contextual changes in the consumer needs also needs to be
monitored regularly so that consumers can be optimally satisfied.
b. The needs of a consumer can change depending on the change in the perception of the
consumers and the situation that the consumer is in. Another example can be the fact that
in case of any contextual change, such as the government mediated change of policy]ies
can change the needs of the consumers.
c. Alternative methods for consultation with the stakeholders include:
 Maintaining the social media platform to engage with the stakeholders: it
has to be understood that the connection of the social media platform is
extremely important in the present age and each and every individual are
connected with the world by the virtue of the social media platform and
hence, all the different stakeholders can be easily contacted through the
social media channels.
 The use of technology like telephone, skype and teleconferencing is
another very important technique that can be utilized to engage the
stakeholders in the consultation procedure. Along with that, the aid of
technological devices, the consultation program will not require the
individual stakeholders to abandone their personal commitments and can

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participate from the comfort of their home or workplace, hence I would
employ this technique over others.
 Online surveys based on questionnaires is the last most suitable alternative
technique that I will employ because of its time saving nature and
opportunity of statistical analysis if the response generated.
d. The five different services that I will attempt to contact are:
 Community correction and parole officers
 Housing services
 Centrelink
 Allied Health services
 Alcohol and other drugs services
Question 4:
It must not be neglected that the consumer needs of a particular individual can rarely be
co-aligned to a specific category of need that can be easily satisfied by a single service program.
In the current age, the needs of specific consumer are generally multifaceted, which can only be
satisfied when the different services are integrated together. Taking the example of a disability
issue, focusing on only one area of expertise will not suffice with respect to the multifaceted
needs represented by the situation. Similarly, if the consumer groups comprise of disabled
population, it has to be understood that the recreational services might require input from
physiotherapists and executives from home and community care; hence the care service program
will also need to incorporate elements of different services based on the particular needs of the
different type of personnel. Hence, the multifaceted needs of the consumers can not be satisfied
by a single service at all.

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Question 5:
a. The four stakeholders are:
 Consumers and community representatives
 Related service providers
 ‘Experts’ in fields related to the program or service
 Family and personal network of clients
b. It has to be understood that developing a service program is a time consuming
developmental practice and hence it is crucially important for the multidimensional
approach to be taken while developing a service program for the particular consumer or
consumer group. The first aspect that the above mentioned stakeholders can participate in
is determining the particular desired outcomes of the service program, the second aspect
can be the primary goals and objectives, and lastly the third aspect can be the timeframe
within which the different objectives set out for the service program can be achieved.
c. The benefits are :
 There are many benefits of a face to face meeting, it will help in
understanding the different point of view that the different stakeholders
have on the service program and its possible success.
 Provide relevant information and instruction that will guide the path and
pattern that the service program will take on.
 Will provide an excellent opportunity for all the external and internal
stakeholders to generate a good team working relationship and mutual
understanding.

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 Will develop a comfortable relationship between the different stakeholders
associated with this scenario to share concerns and develop
multidimensional strategies.
d. Other than face to face meetings, developing committees and media driven networks can
also be an alternative technique to provide a continuous mode of contact to the different
stakeholders. This will help to retain the interest and sense of engagement among the
different stakeholders and help in evolving the service program further.
Question 6:
a. It has to be understood, in this context that there are different kinds of resources that are
utilized for the purpose of service program development, however it has to be understood
that the importance of all the different kinds of resources are paramount in case of
developing a successful program. First and foremost, the most common resource is the
financial resource which also holds the most of importance as well. The financial
resources are the funds that are required and based on which the budget procurement is
decided on for the project. The second sets of resources are the physical factors which are
the tangible items that are extremely important for the successful completion of the
program. A few examples of these kinds of resources are the rooms, books, stationary
items and similar accessories that are necessary for the completion of the program.
Lastly, the human factor resources are the manpower required to plan and execute the
program.
b. The human service programs are generally fall under the category of not-for-profit
frameworks which does not draw any profit or revenues from the service or program

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being implemented and along with that the funds that are allocated for these programs are
utilized for that program only, and are not garnered as profits by any means.
c. The service program organizations can take the help of segment reporting for the not-for-
profit organizations to keep track of the government allocated funding that they receive.
Along with that they can make use of budget documentation templates as well.
Question 7:
a. Three essential elements or principles associated with the good governance are:
 Good governance structure
 Good policies, processes and procedures
 The right mix of people on management boards or committee.
b. A clear procedure enables a service program to follow a very systematic step by step
pattern, which allows the organizers of the service program to plan ahead for the entire
procedure and tackle any crisis beforehand along with ensuring that all the pre-decided
activities are being carried out without missing out on any activity.
c. The concept of sustainability allows the service program, governance to be accountable
to the ecological needs and requirements of the community as well. in order to ensure
sustainability of the service programs a few activities that are needed to maintain
sustainable practice are viable resource usage, performance monitoring, and
implementation of performance improvement strategies.
d. Ten things are needed to be documented in a service program are: Brief summary
statement outlining program offered, Mission or Vision of overall department or
organization, Alignment with department or organisation strategic goals, Total number of
consumers served, including a breakdown of participation across key groups or cohorts,

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Objectives achieved and major accomplishments of past year, Number of program sites,
Locations, Number of full-time staff, Number of part-time staff, Partnerships with
Community organizations.
e. Six factors are: Introduction, consumer engagement, partnering services, resource
allocation and management, management and governance processes, and monitoring
frameworks.
f. It is extremely important to keep records of each and every action and strategic steps
taken while completing a service program as it will help keep track of the budget
allocation and implementation of the strategies.
Question 8:
a. Continuous improvement is a procedure that enables the any professional or a service
program to adapt to the changes in the consumer needs and requirement to provide
optimal support and gain optimal customer satisfaction.
b. 4 methods that can be used to collect feedback are:
 Feedback forms
 Open door policy
 Simplified and easy complaint lodging services
 Regular meetings and encouragement programs.
c. Six generic questions are:
 What service program are you accessing?
 How long have you been assessing the service program?
 What issues have you been facing with the service program?
 How long or how frequently have you faced the issues?

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 Have the consumer needs changes on context?
 How you want the challenges or issues be overcome in the service
program?
d. Consumer feedback is considered to be one of the most important factors associated with
the success of a particular service program. It has to be mentioned that the consumer
feedback process is a very effective performance improvement program that will allow
all the grievances and preferences of the different group of consumers to be addressed so
that the most of the consumer loyalty can be attained.
Question 9:
The four methods are:
 Prosocial facilitation training program
 Skill development training program
 Executive training program
 Health and safety program
Question 10:
a. In case the user interaction and engagement was not monitored, the impacts can be:
 Consumer dissatisfaction
 Consumer disengagement
 Abrupt withdrawal and discontinuation
b. Three things are:
 Regular feedback monitoring program
 Open door policy

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 Periodical consumer satisfaction meetings
c. Budget allocation and its subsequent active dis-embursement are crucial to the
development of any successful service program. In case the budget allocation is not
monitored by a strategic program the financial stability and success of the program can be
affected. The organizations can take the aid of budget segment reporting and
documentation templates.
Question 11:
a. The SMART goal of a project plan has to be specific, measurable, accessible,
realistic, and timely.
b. There are several of reasons why a SMART goal can fail to be achieved; financial
constraint, human factors, physical factors and contextual change in the consumer
needs are a few examples.
c. The feedback received from the stakeholders differs completely from the feedback
from the service users. The major difference between the two kinds of feedback can
be the fact that the practical issues faced by the consumers can only be shared by
them, the understanding of stakeholders will differ completely in this situation.
d. Two examples are:
 Consumer program dissatisfaction in the group.
 Sudden drop in participation rates.

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