There are three components ,which establish consumer attitude.
These components are:
() Belief (the cognitive component)
() Brand evaluation(the effective component)
() The tendency to act(the behavioural or conative component)
Each component will be discussed in more detail.
(1) Belief: What consumers believe about a brand(which represents the cognitive dimension of attitude) become the characteristics as ascribe to the brand. There are two types of believes;Informational beliefs and Evaluating beliefs.
Informational beliefs are associated with product attributes (number of calories,vitamins content). Evaluative belief ,on the other hand are associated with product benefits (eg economy,good taste). Benefits are basis for defining opportunity. For instance the marketer would like to know if there is a segment emphasizing nutrition. What is it's size?. Knowing benefits also help in positioning a new product(can a new beverage be introduced to appeal to this segment).
In addition benefit help in developing advertising strategy (what symbols,ideas,and messages will communicate nutrition for the family?). By carrying out research,marketers are able to develop vocabulary of product attributes and benefits. These vocabularies are based on the result of a series of depth interviews with consumers. Once a vocabulary of products contributes and benefits,is established,it is included in a questionnaire and a consumer survey can be conducted in which respondents are asked to rate brand utilizing the vocabulary. Thus a study of soft drinks may involve asking consumers to rate various brands on the criteria.
(2) Brand Evaluation: The second attitude component,the affective dimension,represents the consumer's overall evaluation of the brand. It is the belief that a consumer has about a particular product that will determine how he finally evaluates it. A consumer's overall evaluation of a brans can be measured by rating it from poor to excellent or from prefer least to prefer most. Originally when attitudes are referred to without further elaboration,it is the effective component that is been referred to.
(3) Tendency to Act: The third attitude component,cognitive dimension is the consumer's tendency to act towards an object,is generally measuring terms of intention to buy. Measuring buying buying intent is particularly important in developing marketing strategy, marketing manager frequently test the elements of marketing mix alternative product names to determine what most effectively influence purchase behaviour.
