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Post-purchase Cogtitive Dissonance
After you have made
a purchase decision, did you every wonder if you truly made the correct decision,
or should you have purchased another brand or another model? You've spent
months shopping for a new car, comparing features and narrowing down the alternatives.
Finally, you make your decision and purchase the one that seems best for you.
So why are you now feeling anxious about the decision, second-guessing the
wisdom of your choice. Post-purchase Cognitive Dissonance is one of the applicable
area for CDT, and marketers and advertisiers have conducted various researches
in this later part of consumer puchasing behavior.
Almost all major purchases
result in cognitive dissonance, especially the high envolvement porducts.
Often consumers are faced with two or more highly attractive alternatives.
Choosing one may leave us wondering if we should have purchased the other.
As an advertiser,
finding ways to help customers deal with post-purchase discomfort is as important
as the activities that lead up to the sale. Post-purchase activities and services
reduce customer anxiety, build goodwill, and lay the groundwork for future
sale
Some ways
to minimize post-purchase anxiety are:
- Summarize the product's
benefits after the purchase.
- Repeat why the product
is better than the alternatives.
- Emphasize how satisfied
the customer will be.
- Provide toll free telephone
numbers to encourage communication.
- Offer liberalized return
and refund policies.
- Engage in staff training
to handle complaints.
- Implement a follow-up
program.
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Post-Online-Transaction
Anxiety
The other novel discovery of post-purchase
cognitive dissonance is in the new online shopping arena, the post-Online-Transaction
Anxiety. A report, just published
by Shelley Taylor & Associates concludes that the lack of personal contact with
a merchant means that consumers are very likely to start fretting about what
might go wrong with their purchase.
The report has catalogued
the symptom, shipping charges sticker shock and anxiety about whether items
ordered online would actually arrive. The success of online stores will depend
upon bridging the gap between the purchase and delivery of goods. Effectively
managing customer expectations through post-transaction communication is the
key factor. Managing customer expectations early in the checkout process will
do much to reduce customer frustration later.
In addition, the report
found that only
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36 percent of
sites indicate whether products are actually available before the customer
has submitted his or her credit card.
-
16 percent of
sites provide access to return policies on the checkout path.
-
57 percent of
sites provide live online order tracking.
Furthermore, the study
said that there are several points in the post-transaction process where companies
have an opportunity to communicate with the customer.
The bottom line to the report is
that e-commerce sites need to communicate a lot more to their customers, if
they want repeat business.
