#Post 6 - Tool for consumer research - consumer decision tree
Consumer decision tree helps to understand hierarchy of decision making parameters of consumers. Planning step -1
At the beginning of the year, I have bought a personal laptop. Let me take you to my mind-map i.e. how I made my purchase decision.
Need and wants : setting up the expectation
I thought of my needs - What I want from my laptop. my daily items are MS office, Internet, and few applications. I want good speed, battery performance. I am not a gamer so I don’t need high-tech stuff. I had a price range in my mind.
Brand and service (Attributes / product features important to me)
In the past, I had a bad experience with brand A so I ruled out brand A. For years, I have used brand B and I had great experience. No complaints. I don’t want to take any risk with new brand.
Now comes the Influencer of my decision-making, my friends. One of my friends made a strong point that even if price is high, I should be buying 8th generation for speed. He convinced me to drop Brand B and buy from Brand C even if I have to stretch my budget a bit.
I went to the physical stores to get the feel of the product. I compared the price point of physical vs. marketplace. And I ordered finally from online marketplace.
I also compared credit card program to maximize discount on the product.
For me , the consumer decision tree (CDT) could look like this :
Price —> Brand == Service —> Product attributes
I knew that in this price range, I can buy Brand A or B only. I was good with the service provided by those brands.
So you see what I mean! consumer decision tree is basically looking at your category through shopper’s eyes.But there are so many consumers out there following different processes. Mapping multiple consumer journey could be overwhelming and confusing at its best. Consumer behavior is dynamic but as a category manager, I have to take decisions fast.
Tools like consumer survey, conjoint analysis that you can use to understand what customers are looking for.
And by the ways, One of the best way to do it (and it’s free) is that you go talk to your customers. What they want? what they think of your products?
These are some of the readings that you can refer to understand CDT better:
