Pavlov’s customers may wake up in the future?
Yan Zhang April 2016
Pavlov’s Dog is a famous experiment in psychological field. Gradually marketers use this model to ‘train’ the customers. Marketers combine the unconditional stimulus and conditional stimulus to build Pavlov’s customers. Some people perhaps not aware of themselves becoming a Pavlov’s customer at all. However, looking at these examples you may realize the real situation. Black Friday is the fourth Thursday of the November, it is a common day for people originally. The government and marketers give the sales promotion for customers. It seems as an unconditional stimulus and people give the positive response easily. And bell said ‘Black Friday is best day for shopping because of the lower price.’ And these processes repeat year after year. Finally, people have a habit to go shopping on Black Friday. This day has different meaning for people, it is successful to create a conditioned response for marketing.
Pavlov’s Dog is a famous experiment in psychological field. Gradually marketers use this model to ‘train’ the customers. Marketers combine the unconditional stimulus and conditional stimulus to build Pavlov’s customers. Some people perhaps not aware of themselves becoming a Pavlov’s customer at all. However, looking at these examples you may realize the real situation. Black Friday is the fourth Thursday of the November, it is a common day for people originally. The government and marketers give the sales promotion for customers. It seems as an unconditional stimulus and people give the positive response easily. And bell said ‘Black Friday is best day for shopping because of the lower price.’ And these processes repeat year after year. Finally, people have a habit to go shopping on Black Friday. This day has different meaning for people, it is successful to create a conditioned response for marketing.
At the same time, companies use
Pavlov’s concept to catch the customers’ attention. Almost people would say I never
influenced by advertisements when I consumed something. In fact, it is
impossible to refuse all the advertisements in life. A champagne advertisement
from Youtube, use the words ‘celebrate’ and ‘luxury’ to link the products. Therefore,
when the people want to celebrate birthday might be reminded of the champagne.
The Pavlov’s
concept is used frequently in the marketing. It means that might lose the
function after overused. People are different from the dog in Pavlov’s
experiment. They will to think and analyse the issues. The customers will wake
up and not influenced by classical conditioning without control. Particularly, in
the luxury goods market. For instance, people want to buy a car and the price
is the significant factor influenced decision. So the BMW advertisements make
no sense for these customers who cannot afford the luxury car. Although the BMW
advertisement use the Pavlov’s concept. Because the luxury goods have limited
target marketing.
In the modern society, more and more customers immune to
advertisements. (McGovern, 2011) They have lots of choices to select products
so the customers may consider about many parts such as price, quantity. The abundant
products will make customers become more rational in purchasing.
The Pavlov’s
effect will still exist but the impact on customers could be weak in the
future.
Reference:
McGovern,G. (2011) Customer experience: Pavlov's Dog are waking up. Retrieved from: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/customer-experience-pavlovs-dogs-are-waking-up-013290.php
