Consumer Behaviour and Buyer Psychology: Decision Journey, Influence and Ethical Nudges – London, 28 Jun – 2 Jul 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Consumer behaviour and buyer psychology for marketers is a 1-week course for marketing, brand, product and consumer insight staff, ending with a Consumer Insight Report and Behaviour-Based Marketing Plan for a case product. Organisations often launch campaigns and products on untested assumptions about why people buy, so budgets reward messages that attract attention but fail to change purchase, repeat buying or recommendation. Nominees already brief agencies, write propositions or commission research, and the course is taught through case study work on multi-sector consumer evidence. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this consumer behaviour course to international mixed cohorts.

Course Objectives:

• Map the buyer decision process and buying roles for a product category and locate the stages where a purchase is won or lost
• Diagnose the purchase motives, perception filters, memory cues and attitudes that drive or block the choice of a brand
• Analyse reference group, cultural, family and online review influences on a target consumer's decisions
• Apply choice architecture, defaults and framing to offers and journeys while screening each nudge for ethical risk
• Design surveys, interviews, observation studies and controlled experiments that produce reliable consumer evidence
• Convert consumer insight into positioning, campaign messages and loyalty actions within a behaviour-based marketing plan

Target Audience:

• Marketing managers who set campaign objectives and approve creative and media briefs
• Brand managers responsible for positioning, brand preference and long-term equity
• Product managers who decide features, packaging and launch messages from customer evidence
• Consumer insight and market research managers who commission and interpret studies
• Digital and e-commerce managers accountable for online conversion and repeat purchase
• Communications and agency relationship managers who brief and judge creative work

Course Outline:

Day 1: Consumer Behaviour Foundations, Decision Process and Motivation

• Five-Stage Buyer Decision Process from Need Recognition Onward
• Buying Roles Map of Initiator, Influencer, Decider and User
• Maslow Hierarchy Applied to Category Purchase Motives
• Rossiter-Percy Informational and Transformational Purchase Motivations
• Current Consumer Knowledge Audit of Evidence Gaps and Assumptions

Day 2: Perception, Learning, Memory, Attitude and Lifestyle Models

• Selective Exposure, Attention and Perception Filters in Advertising
• Classical and Operant Conditioning in Brand Learning
• Brand Memory Structures, Recall Cues and Distinctive Assets
• Multi-Attribute Attitude Model and Attitude Change Routes
• Personality and Lifestyle Profiling with Activities, Interests, Opinions

Day 3: Social, Cultural, Family and Online Influences on Choice

• Reference Group and Opinion Leader Influence Mapping
• Culture, Subculture and Social Class Symbolic Consumption Analysis
• Family and Household Joint Purchase Decision Negotiation
• Online Consumer Decision Journey Loop and Review Influence
• Sproles-Kendall Consumer Decision-Making Styles Inventory Profiling

Day 4: Behavioural Biases, Ethical Nudges, Post-Purchase and Loyalty

• Anchoring, Scarcity and Social Proof Bias Audit of Offers
• Choice Architecture Defaults and Framing in Journey Design
• Nudge Ethics Checklist for Autonomy and Vulnerable Consumers
• Post-Purchase Dissonance, Satisfaction and Complaint Behaviour Analysis
• True, Spurious and Latent Loyalty Classification Grid

Day 5: Case Study: Consumer Insight Report and Behaviour-Based Marketing Plan

• Case Product Survey and In-Depth Interview Guide Design
• Ethnographic Observation and Usage Diary Evidence Synthesis
• Controlled A/B Experiment Plan for an Ethical Nudge
• Insight Statement to Positioning and Campaign Message Brief
• Consumer Insight Report and Behaviour-Based Marketing Plan Completion

Skills You Will Gain:

• Purchase Motive Diagnosis
• Attention and Memory Cue Analysis
• Attitude Change Planning
• Social Influence Mapping
• Ethical Nudge Design
• Consumer Research Design
• Post-Purchase Loyalty Analysis
• Insight-Led Positioning

Why Attend This Course:

• Deliver a Consumer Insight Report and Behaviour-Based Marketing Plan that brand and product leadership can review before the next campaign brief
• Decide which decision stage, motive or social influence a campaign should target, and which message to drop
• Avoid spending on nudges or promotions that raise short-term clicks but damage trust, complaints or repeat purchase
• Share research guides, attitude models and a nudge ethics checklist with marketing and agency colleagues

Conclusion:

Once participants return, marketing, brand and product leaders can use the Consumer Insight Report to agree which decision stage, motive and influence each campaign must address, and the Behaviour-Based Marketing Plan to allocate messages, offers and loyalty actions accordingly. Agencies receive briefs grounded in consumer evidence rather than internal opinion, and insight teams gain a shared method for surveys, interviews, observation and experiments. After the first campaign built on the plan, the unit should compare observed purchase, repeat and complaint behaviour against the predictions in the report and update both documents.