Introduction to Cognitive Dissonance

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Both these theories does provide various perspectives and cannot be generalized. They have their specific intentions and cannot hold good for all consumers and organizations. It is necessary to categorize the marketing segments and specific set of consumers and see which marketing strategy holds well. It also depends on the history of successful products the company has given.

For Example, the Samsung galaxy S3 was a huge success with lots of advanced features, stability, less weight etc. Naturally the consumer expectations of the galaxy series rises. When S4 was released, the enthusiastic consumers who had bought it, repented saying that there were no additional features in it when compared to S3. There were many online reviews supporting the same in addition to (Anon n.d.)

As (Baines & Fill 2014) points out that there may be numerous other reasons that can cause dissonance like climatic factors, travel distance etc. , (Cummings & Venkatesan 1976) points out that these factors can be overcome if the consumer has a strong motive to purchase the product.

One interesting question is that if post-purchase dissonance factors effect only high value products? How about the everyday products which the consumers may not really think twice about like casual clothing?

Pothys is one of the largest boutique brands in Tamil Nadu, India. It has a wide range of clothing, cosmetics and jewelry at reasonable rates. There are many competitors as well in the region. They have a number of branches spread across. One of the strategies they adopt to attract customers is that, free shuttle services are offered from one shop to another within Chennai. This helps them to get the customers into their store, and since the products are of everyday use at reasonable rates, most of the consumers end up buying something. They also take initiatives in distributing juices and soft drinks to customers on sunny days. Firstly, climate in Tamil Nadu is very hot and they take advantage of that and this will reduce the travel expense too.

(Telci et al. 2011) also adds that the consumer dissonance varies depending on the age factor. The young consumers have a higher level of involvement and expectations leading to a higher dissonance.

Effect of cognitive dissonance on services:

(Kim 2011) analyses pre-purchase dissonance in the services industry. The WOM (Word Of Mouth) is said to have a high degree of influence in attracting new customers. Generally, consumers who are new to the service may depend of reviews from past customers. In that case, any negative WOM which might be inconsistent with their existing belief can cause dissonance before consuming the service.

The value of a service is mainly how the perception of consumer which is good if[pic 2]

Value=Expectations

(Kim 2011) claims that there was no research relating the importance of cognitive dissonance in the services industry. However, (O’Neill & Palmer 2004) have investigated how dissonance effect the consumer perceptions after the service is consumed and fades with time. The consumers, when not satisfied with the service, may rate it bad initially, but as time passes, they tend to forget the mal experience. The reason may be due to the incapability of humans to remember everything. The quality of service is important and companies should make sure that their services match with customer’s expectations. The results of (O’Neill & Palmer 2004) suggest that it may not be favorable to take a feedback survey immediately after the service is launched, but to wait for some time or when it’s absolutely critical during the next product cycle or the like. This time may fade some of the bad experiences customers had faced. This can be a boon to getting more customers, but may prove lethal in the long run as the actual feedback is not retrieved and the company may never learn its mistakes.

The consumer’s expectations keep changing from time to time. Further (O’Neill & Palmer 2004) points out the results of Bayesian framework as in (Rust et al. 1999, cited in O’Neill & Palmer 2004) which suggested that the consumers update their expectations and not very sensitive about one particular service encounter.

(Kim 2011) relates the theory of (Korgaonkar & Moschis 1982) in terms of effect of WOM on consumers. Low involvement products (Soda) may not be influenced much on WOM but high involvement products (Car), upscale restaurants experience a high level of cognitive dissonance when confronted with a negative WOM message. He also relates the relationship variables with the repurchase intentions of service industry. As cognitive dissonances (caused from negative WOM) increase, repurchase intentions decrease whereas trust and perceived value will have a positive impact on the repurchase intentions even if the consumer faces negative WOM.

Even if the consumer is satisfied post-purchase, they may confronted with WOM. In today’s world, where the technology is advancing day by day, the WOM may not only be from friends/neighbors but it may be from random people who post their reviews online. For example: In case of tourism industry, customers choose their destinations and deals widely based on reviews and feedback from experienced customers through online portals like TripAdvisor.

Hence it is essential for every company to keep a good social influence, keep track of the online reviews and manage their online content.

Conclusion:

Right from the development of Cognitive Dissonance theory by (Festinger 1957), many alternative theories (Bem 1972; Telci et al. 2011) have been developed that focus on specific markets and consumers. Attempts to measure the levels of dissonance (Cummings & Venkatesan 1976; Telci et al. 2011) according to the category of products (Baines & Fill 2014; Korgaonkar & Moschis 1982) and consumers provide tangible results. A look into the service industry by (O’Neill & Palmer 2004) and (Kim 2011), throws some light on how marketing strategy and dissonance effects differ from that of goods.

A good marketing strategy should not only be aimed at a transactional level, wherein the product is just advertised to its customers but it should also consider the possible dissonance factors (that vary widely based on what type of product) that may cause the consumer to be dissatisfied. Though it is apparent that not all factors can be taken into consideration, the organization should try to resolve as much as possible like sending newsletters about the purchased product, shuttle