Consumer
BehaviorCornell

Certificate Program

In the last few decades, scientists have unearthed new insights about how the human mind works. Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman popularized the dual-process model of human decision-making, which suggests that our everyday decisions are guided by two systems: a fast and frugal System 1 and a slow and accurate System 2.

Yet marketing managers and market researchers have not fully incorporated these powerful insights into their practice. Many of them still rely on traditional research methods, such as focus groups and surveys.

In this course, you will explore how marketing managers and market researchers can benefit from adopting the dual-process model of human decision-making. You will examine when traditional research is appropriate and when other strategies, such as reviewing behavioral data and conducting experiments, are better suited to your needs. You will delve into the psychology of how and why consumers make decisions, particularly when it comes to purchasing behaviors.

To be a customer-centric leader, you should be able to predict how your customers will respond to changes in product, price, or promotions. Yet even seasoned managers struggle with this because human behavior is truly complex.

In this course, you will be introduced to a novel framework to predict customer behavior: the AEC framework. Customer behavior is largely driven by three factors: attention (what are your customers focusing on while making the decision?), emotion (what is the emotional response to the information?), and coherence (is the information coherent or incoherent?). You will also examine three counterproductive managerial styles which can derail attempts to make the best use of insights gained from consumer behavior.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Introduction to Behavioral Science

An online store is a necessity for almost every business. You also want a physical store that attracts customers. Yet even if you offer the same thing online that you sell in a brick-and-mortar store, you need a different approach for your online store.

In this course, you will explore two frameworks to help you make the most of your online store. The first framework offers recommendations for bringing more people to your website then turning those visitors into customers. The second framework explores how to use the three key drivers of human behavior — attention, emotion, and coherence — to improve your online store. By the end of this course, you will have an improved understanding of the behaviors driving the metrics that your teams track to better engage customers online.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Introduction to Behavioral Science
• Drivers of Consumer Behavior: Attention, Emotion, Coherence

As your products move through different product life cycles, you need to tailor your marketing messaging and your strategy. Why does it matter whether your product is the first of its kind in the category or if it's reached the stage of being a "cash cow”?

In this course, you will assess whether it is always better to be the first one to introduce a new product or idea to the market. Using examples of popular consumer products, you will examine how products diffuse into a market to help you plan your strategy for introducing new products. You will apply insights about consumer behavior – tied to the three key drivers – to support your predictions of how consumers might adopt your new product.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Introduction to Behavioral Science
• Drivers of Consumer Behavior: Attention, Emotion, Coherence

You've likely wondered whether your brand connects effectively with your customers. You may also be aware of the power that a brand has to shape what people think about a product or a company.

In this course, you will explore strategies for how to use the three key drivers of human behavior — attention, coherence, and emotion — to shape your brand strategy. You'll then examine how several organizations used these key drivers to shape their brand messaging. You'll also discover how people evaluate brands the same way they evaluate people. Finally, you'll access a toolkit to help you develop a brand strategy.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Introduction to Behavioral Science
• Drivers of Consumer Behavior: Attention, Emotion, Coherence

How do you set a price that will earn you a handsome profit but won't turn customers away?

In this course, you will examine how an understanding of consumer behavior can help you set the optimal price for a product. You'll explore four behavioral pricing strategies and have a chance to apply them to your products. You'll also consider several real-world examples of how organizations have successfully employed behavioral pricing strategies.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Introduction to Behavioral Science
• Drivers of Consumer Behavior: Attention, Emotion, Coherence