Post Purchase Consonance-Disonance Factors for Times of India
POST PURCHASE CONSONANCE-DISONANCE FACTORS FOR TIMES OF INDIA ABSTRACT: Times of India,the largest selling English newspaper in India,launched its Coimbatore edition on february 14th 2011. Though the initial launch was planned on 2010 , the launch was delayed for some reasons. The delay has led the people to expect more from the paper. This survey was done to find out whether the Product has made its expectations post purchase. OBJECTIVE: •To understand the product & distribution issues pertaining to Times of India. To know about the market position of TOI in Coimbatore. METHODOLOGY: Variables: Dependent variable – Customer Satisfaction Independent variable – Distribution factors, content & ambience. SAMPLING DESIGN Target population- 150 Method of data collection-questionnaire HYPOTHESIS 1. Continuous Delay in delivery increase the level of customer dissatisfaction among the readers. 2. Lack of proper content and ambience affect the sales of the TOI . LITERATURE REVIEW Mllliman . E. Ronald & J. Decker . J. Philip
There is some limited research which has shown that post-purchase communication is one method which can be employed to help reduce cognitive dissonance, alleviating the probability of negative customer reactions after the sale. The first studies that appear on the subject were conducted by Hunt (1970) and Stevens (1971). These early studies investigated the effectiveness of post-purchase communication on dissonance reduction. They both deal with traditional retail business situations, rather than direct mail or mail-order methods of marketing.
However, they are included here to illustrate the type of research that has been conducted which deals with using post-purchase communication (specifically, in the modality of a written letter mailed to the customer / subject) to reduce cognitive dissonance. They are relevant to the extent they demonstrate that post-purchase communication, in certain modalities, can be useful in reducing dissonance. Hunt (1970) randomly divided purchasers of new refrigerators into two experimental groups and one control group.
One of the experimental groups received a personal letter from the retailer expressing appreciation for the purchase and reassurance that the customer had made the right decision. The other experimental group received a telephone call with a message which was very similar to that sent by letter to the first experimental group. The control group received no post-purchase communication, which was the normal procedure for the retailer cooperating in the study. Hunt hypothesized that subjects who received post transaction reassurances would have lower perceived dissonance scores han the control group. This hypothesis was, however, only partially supported as the group which received the letter had a lower dissonance score than the control group; but contrary to expectations, the group which received the telephone call had the highest dissonance scores of the three groups. Hunt’s second hypothesis was that the subjects who received the post-transaction reassurances would have more favourable attitudes toward the store than the subjects in the control group. Again, the results only partially confirmed the hypothesis.
That is, the attitudes ofthe group receiving the letter were more favorable then those ofthe control group. However, the attitudes expressed by the telephone group were the least favorable of the three groups. Hunt conjectured the equivocal results could be attributed to one or a combination of several possible explanations such as, the telephone call may have aroused suspicions of some ulterior motive as its purpose, the phone call may have interrupted some ofthe subjects at inopportune times, or perhaps it was the telephone caller (the researcher posing as a stere employee) who somehow caused the results, rather than the elephone message. Time table To be formed based upon the area selected. Occupany Chart: Siva – Literature survey Mahi – Field Work Rashid – Field Work Charles – Report Suresh – Report. Progress chart: Took an informal survey of product comparison of products with a sample size of 5. Spoke with Peelamedu TOI agent and got some info abt the distribution. Learning’s meeting: Yet to have a proper discussion with Umesh sir.
