106 Reading: Low-Involvement vs. High-Involvement Decisions
106 Reading: Low-Involvement vs. High-Involvement Decisions
How Involved Are You?
You’re at the grocery store, looking at the dog food selection.
Change of scene.
You’re on a car sales lot, looking at the selection of vehicles for sale. How long does it take you to choose a product, buy it, and drive off the lot?
For most people these scenarios are worlds apart in terms of the time, effort, emotional, and psychological work it takes to make a purchasing decision.
When a purchasing decision involves a low-cost item that is frequently bought—such as bread or toothpaste—the buying process is typically quick and routinized. Buying a new car is quite different. The extent to which a decision is considered complex or simple depends on the following:
- Whether the decision is novel or routine
- The extent of the customers’ involvement with the decision
High-involvement decisions are those that are important to the buyer. These decisions are closely tied to the consumer’s ego and self-image. They also involve some risks to the consumer. This may include financial risk (highly-priced items), social risk (products that are important to the peer group), or psychological risk (the wrong decision may cause the consumer some concern and anxiety). In making these decisions, consumers generally feel it is worth the time and energy needed to do research and consider solution alternatives carefully. The full, six-stage, complex process of consumer decision-making is more likely to happen with high-involvement product purchases. In these cases, a buyer gathers extensive information from multiple sources, evaluates many alternatives, and invests substantial effort in making the best decision.
Low-involvement decisions are more straightforward, require little risk, are repetitive, and often lead to a habit. In effect, these purchases are not very important to the consumer. Financial, social, and psychological risks are not nearly as great. In these cases, it may not be worth the consumer’s time and effort to search for exhaustive information about different brands or to consider a wide range of alternatives. A low-involvement purchase usually involves an abridged decision-making process. In these situations, the buyer typically does little if any information gathering, and any evaluation of alternatives is relatively simple and straightforward. Consumers are diligent enough to get a product they want, but they generally spend no more time or effort than is needed.
There are general patterns about what constitutes a high-involvement decision (buying cars, homes, engagement rings, pets, computers, etc.) versus a low-involvement decision (buying bread, chewing gum, toothpaste, dishwasher detergent, trash bags, etc.). However, the real determinant is the individual consumer and how involved they choose to be in solving the problem or need they have identified.
Marketing Considerations About Consumer Involvement
Let’s imagine another couple of scenarios.
Situation 1: You