Buyer Behavior: Needs vs. Wants

The Buyer

The buyer wants and the buyer needs. It all depends on how the organization markets and advertises their service or product. In my line of work, the university is trying to satisfy a need, as well as create a want in a way. 

 

The prectice of higher education has been going on for centuries. Going to college isn't something new. The reason I call a higher education a want is because you don't necessarily need to get a higher education at a college or university in order to be successful and intelligent in life. There are plenty of cases of successful individuals who never got an education. Also, there are positions that do not require a degree that an individual can make a living off of. However, a college education does present a service that one usually cannot get on their own: an education. This is where the need aspect comes in.

The majority of society doesn't have the capability or resources to gain an education beyond high school on their own. One needs someone to teach them experiences, lessons, ideas, and theories at a higher level. An individual wouldn't have this on their own. Also, in order to perform certain jobs or get highered into certain situations, he or she needs a degree from a higher education institution. He or she needs the higher education. More and more people are getting degrees now; it is becoming the normal thing for those to do after graduating high school.

When all is said and done, a higher education does create a want for the reason it is not essential but unique and attractive to the consumer, but for the most part it satisfies a need now that a higher education has become a norm in society. Western New England provides a solution to the consumer's problem. It provides a quality education with vast resources to ensure that consumers, in this case students, are able to gain knowledge, experience, and expertise in their desired fields of study.

Buyer Behavior Process

There are multiple levels of decision making when it comes to buyer behavior. There's Nominal Decision Making, Limited Decision Making, and Extended Decision Making. When it comes to Western New England's market, the consumer is the student. In my opinion, they follow the Extended Decision Making. This decision is at the high end of the purchase involvement scale and requires the most extensive level of evaluation. After graduating high school, a student does a lot of research on different schools. There is an internal search for alternatives and a lot of external research including reading reviews of schools, seeking opinions from alumni or current students, going to college fairs, reading pamphlets, going on websites, etc. Deciding on a school ivolves a large amount of time evaluating all of the different schools a student is interested in. Even after he or she applies, there is still more evaluation and research to do. Even after you make the decision on what school you choose, there is always the post evaluation that occurs too. Was this school the right choice? Are you fitting in well? Does the school really offer what you are looking for?

In this decision making, marketers at the university need to make sure thier advertising is prevelant enough to make sure the school is even considered in the decision making process. It's also important that they provide information through countless other sources such as on websites, in mailings, through the mail, on campus visits, and through commercials. These will aid during the external research phase of the student. Finally, they need to follow up with the students after the "purchase" is made, or in this case once the student accepts his or her enrollment in the school. This is done well at Western New England University through the countless strategies and programs we give to students through countless resources like Residence Life, the First Year Office, Admissions, the individual colleges, the Alumni Office, the Career Center, and many many more. For example, in Residence  Life we present students with programs to involve them more and build a community. This strategy not only is a marketable strategy for retention and growth, but it helps us measure how involved students become. We also offer surveys to see how they are enjoying student life as well as what the University has to offer them. This follow up keeps them involved with the university and gives them a say, as well as ensures them that they made the best decision. These follow ups that each department offers reassures the students' decisions and helps retain themin staying for all four years of an education, and possible more depending if they choose graduate or doctoral studies as well.

What Does This Mean?

Understanding buyer behavior allows an organization to understand the decisions that its consumers make. Understanding their needs allows a marketer to direct its marketing and advertising to those areas. If an organization can understand the wants and needs of the consumer, they can better understand who will want the product or service and how they can go about reaching them and structuring their efforts into knowing what decisions the consmer will make. In doing so, an organization will find success in helping to make those consumer decisions easier for them, in a beneficial way to the organization. If an organization does well with this process, they will create loyal consumers who will purchase the product or service!