Understanding Customers: Macro and Micro Factors

This report discusses the macro and micro factors of understanding customers using relevant theory. It covers customer journey mapping, attitude theory, social media, reference groups, word of mouth publicity, and cultural theory.

understanding Customers

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
First section..................................................................................................................................1
second section..............................................................................................................................2
Third section................................................................................................................................2
Fourth section..............................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Understanding customers is the complex process and also the most important thing. If
company will fail in understanding their customers then they can lose their customer base.
Customers are the buyer for the company and they are very important for the company. In order
to attract customers company uses various marketing strategies which are word mouth
promotion, social media, television etc. one of the most used method of marketing nowadays is
social media platforms. This report will discuss about the macro and micro factors of
understanding customers by using relevant theory.
MAIN BODY
First section
Understanding customers is not the easy process and it has various micro factors. In order to
sell products to the customers, companies should have understand their behaviour that why they
are buying the products. Buying decision of the customers is dependent on their decision
making. Module has also discussed about the customer journey mapping which explains the
journey of customers when they see the product till when they make a purchase (Schweitzer and
Tidd, 2018). If company wanted to attract more customers then should should have use
innovative methods of advertisement which can be using celebrities in the advertisement, using
storytelling add etc. when company uses celebrity in their adds then their sales increases many
times it is because there are many people which idealize these celebs and that increases sales of
the company. Company can also invite customer to participate. This can be done by the
company using various social media platforms.
There are two types of shopping motives which are personal and social. Personal motives
includes physical activity, self gratification, sensory stimulation, diversion etc. social motives
involves social experiences, peer group attraction, status and authority etc. customers purchasing
decision also depends on their perception. In order to understand the perception of the customers
involves perception mapping, perceived risk etc. perception mapping refers to the chart which is
used by the companies so that they can understand how the target audience is feeling about the
product of the company. This map will help company in doing product improvement and
development (Kaba, 2021). Perceived risk will going to increase when company will provide
completely new product or the product do not carry much information etc. risk is always
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involved when company will introduce new products but it will also bring profits when product
is made as per the demand of the customers.
second section
attitude theory consists of micro aspects. Attitude refers to the responding in negative or
positive manner in relation to specific product or services. Attitude is affected by behaviour,
person and object. Sometimes our attitude forced us to purchase any particular thing from
online. As attitude is based on feelings, thoughts and interaction. Example tourism sector gives
various attractive advertisement in order to change the attitude of the people towards the
particular destination (Kim and Krishna, 2021). Further attitude is also dependent on self,
motivation and personality. Personality comes within and it is different of every individual and it
is same throughout the life. It further involves trait theory. As per trait based theory, personality
of the individual is formed by consists their set of qualities and it can be used by the company to
make prediction about the consumption behaviours of the consumers. Innovative products attract
customers the most.
Social media is also helping tourism destination is attracting more customers. Example
Instagram when is giving opportunity to the tourism industry to make tremendous growth.
Motivation also affects the purchasing decisions of the customers. Example when any new I
phone is launched in the market then consumers gets motivated to make purchase (Belanche,
Casaló and Flavián, 2019). Needs, wants and desires are the three types of making buying
decisions. Some products are bought by the customer because they actually need them and their
survival is not possible without them like food. While some of the products are purchased by
them because they want them but it is not needed for survival like normal phone. People desire
to purchase products and it not necessity like iphone.
Third section
this section includes macro views of understanding customers. Reference group had also
discussed in week 3 which means that is the group of people which gives guidance and compare
when developing the behaviours, attitudes and beliefs. Another way of marketing is the word of
mouth, it is most common and effective method of marketing the products and services of the
company. It is the informal communication, when existing customer tells positive or negative
about the products of the company then it is called word of mouth publicity. Positive reviews
will be helpful for increasing the sales of the company and negative review can also decreases
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company's sales and profits. There are various electronic media which is used for the purpose of
marketing nowadays (Kang and et.al., 2018). Internet and mobile device is having by majority of
the customers so that will give opportunity to the company to carry online marketing.
Companies are using social media channels because increases social power and bring sense of
connectedness (Choi and et.al., 2020).
Marketing the products of the company using social media channels are on boom. With the help
of social media company can able to target wide range of customers regardless of their
demographics. Social media is also cost effective and is less time consuming. Customers
nowadays are spending their time more on social media so that is giving opportunity to the
company in order to target them very easily. Now process of marketing has evolved it has
shifted from traditional method of marketing to modern marketing method.
Fourth section
with the help of cultural theory, macro aspect of customers can discuss. Culture refers to the
total of the values, customs, knowledge, learning ideas, beliefs etc. which controls the behaviour
of the society (Krishna and Kim, 2020). Culture system is made with three components which
are ideology, ecology, structure and social. Company should have launch different products in
the market because innovation is the reason for attracting more and more customers towards the
product. Company should have ensure that they should have provide different products in the
market. Market research can be done by the company so that can understand that which other
brand and the products are doing good in the market. Example cereal market refers to the
duplication of purchase where there are many customers to buy this product.
It is also important to create brand loyalty in the market and it will be created if company will
not disappoint their customers. They should have make sure that they are providing good quality
of products to the customers in terms of how much they are charging from them. Money should
justify the quality and satisfaction of the product. Culture also plays important role in the
marketing of the product. If the particular product which is launched by the company is accepted
in the particular culture then it sales can be increases but if it gets reject in specific market then
their sales can be decreased (Masiero, Yang and Qiu, 2019). so that is why company should
have develop product as per the cultural belief. Purchase decision also ranges from individual
behaviour and group behaviour. So that is why while choosing for marketing company should
have analyse the culture first.
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CONCLUSION
Through this report it can be concluded that understanding customers is very important so that
company can decide their marketing practices. Report has discussed about customer journey
mapping which influence the purchasing decision of the consumers. In order to increase the
involvement of the customer company can use celebrity for the purpose of promotion and can
also use story telling option. Attitude theory is discussed in their report so that to explain that
how the attitude of the individual affects the purchasing decisions. Social media platforms are
influencing customers to purchase. Especially tourism sector is taking advanced of social media
for influencing the choice of the consumers. Reference group has used in the report to
understand that macro aspect of customers. Word of mouth publicity is considered as the
promotion option and also helps in increasing sales. Culture theory is also applied in order to
explain that culture also affects customers decision making.
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REFERENCE
Books and Journals
Belanche, D., Casaló, L.V. and Flavián, C., 2019. Artificial Intelligence in FinTech:
understanding robo-advisors adoption among customers. Industrial Management & Data
Systems.
Choi, H. and et.al., 2020. Understanding food truck customers: Selection attributes and customer
segmentation. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, p.102647.
Kaba, B., 2021. Understanding Customers' Continuance Intention: Assessing the Socioeconomic
Status Effect Towards an Integrative Model. ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE
for Advances in Information Systems. 52(2), pp.68-93.
Kang, S. and et.al., 2018, October. Understanding Customers' Interests in the Wild.
In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Joint Conference and 2018 International
Symposium on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Wearable Computers (pp. 90-
93).
Kim, S. and Krishna, A., 2021. ‘I’ll stand by you:’understanding customers’ moral decoupling
processes and supportive behavioral intentions in cases of corporate
misconduct. Journal of Marketing Communications, pp.1-23.
Krishna, A. and Kim, S., 2020. Understanding Customers’ Reactions to Allegations of
Corporate Environmental Irresponsibility. Journalism & Mass Communication
Quarterly, p.1077699020958756.
Masiero, L., Yang, Y. and Qiu, R.T., 2019. Understanding hotel location preference of
customers: Comparing random utility and random regret decision rules. Tourism
Management, 73, pp.83-93.
Schweitzer, F. and Tidd, J., 2018. Innovation heroes: Understanding customers as a valuable
innovation resource (Vol. 31). World Scientific.
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