Pre-Purchase Dissonance

Contributed By NIKHIL KAPOOR

Post Purchase Dissonance has for decades been a very important tool for marketers to influence consumer behaviour. Here the customer after purchasing a product thinks that if he had purchased some other item it would have been better than the one he bought. This has led to cognitive dissonance theories as a solution where the job of marketers is to convince the consumer that the purchase made by him is the best one and it will satisfy all of his needs. The customer is reassured that he or she has made the right decision.

But now things are different. In recent times the change in technology is so rapid that even before a product is launched its successor is already visualised and half way through its development. This ushers in the concept of Pre purchase dissonance.

Pre purchase dissonance occurs when even before purchasing a product you are dissatisfied with it as you realise that a better version is under works and still you purchase the product. It is a new trend that can be viewed as emerging especially in technology driven products, Like Mobile phones and Cameras.

Let’s take a real life example. In February Samsung announced a dual core 1.2GHz Phone called the Galaxy S2. This phone is simply the most powerful commercially available phone till date. The phone was to be Available in May 2011 in markets. In March Samsung announces that a 2GHz Dual core processor had been developed and would see the market in January next year. That is almost 50% more powerful than the yet to be launched ‘most powerful phone The Galaxy S2’. In the same month NVIDIA announces its quad core processors. These are 200% times more powerful than the Galaxy S2 and would also be available in January 2012.

Now let’s look at what a buyer goes through. He is excited about the Galaxy S2, very powerful. Then he realises that it is obsolete even before it is launched. It is easy to assume that he would wait 7 months for the new line of phones. But this is not the case always.

The buyer is already saving up and waiting for the Galaxy S2 for 4 months and then if you ask him to wait for an additional 7 months, he would totally get un-settled. Most consumers won’t wait the extra months. They will go ahead and buy the Obsolete yet to be launched phone in May, knowing that they are not that satisfied with their purchase. Thus Pre-Purchase dissonance.

This has a chance of creating a dissatisfied feeling in the consumer regarding the product for apparently no reason. The phone is still the best at the time. But an unwanted negative feeling towards it has been created.

Marketers need to understand that this trend is there to stay. They cannot simply stop announcing technology as and when they are developed. Because if they don’t their competition will. And then they would just be reacting to the competition. Being pro-active is a very important part of technology driven industries. Marketers now have to accept Pre-Purchase dissonance as a trend to stay and try to leverage it in a positive way through further study.