Consumers' psychological response to sequential marketing communications: perceptions, information processing, and behaviors

Marketers often attempt to persuade consumers to purchase their brands by frequently reaching out to consumers through promotional and communication efforts. As these practices have increased, so has the importance of consumers ability to make inferences and evaluate the appropriateness of persuasion attempts, as this is directly related to the probability of making an optimal decision. My dissertation aims to extend extant knowledge about the cognitive processes involving sequential marketing communications by investigating how the structure of repeated persuasive attempts systematically influences consumers perceptions, processing of information, attitudes and behavior. With this goal in mind, my dissertation identifies three factors that influence the cognitive processes that precede consumer judgment and decision making: (1) the amount of alterations within a sequence of recurring marketing communications, (2) the order in which marketing information is presented, and (3) the amount of perceived risk in the context of consumer choice. Overall, my dissertation contributes to the literature in consumer information processing by shedding light onto novel factors that may affect consumers psychological responses to sequential marketing communications and product information, and provide marketers with the knowledge needed to ensure that consumers reaction to marketing communications are in line with the marketers intentions.