Evaluative Criteria and Consumer Decision Rules

Once a consumer collects information on different brands, how do they decide which one to buy?

Do they select the phone with the highest camera megapixels, the one with the lowest price, or do they mentally balance battery life against brand prestige?

This evaluation is guided by Evaluative Criteria and executed through Consumer Decision Rules.

1. What are Evaluative Criteria?

Evaluative Criteria are the specific dimensions, attributes, features, or benefits that a consumer looks for when comparing competing products or brands.

Common Evaluative Criteria:

• Economic Attributes: Retail price, payment terms, fuel efficiency, warranty length, resale value.
• Functional / Technical Attributes: Battery life, processing speed, durability, safety ratings.
• Psychological & Social Attributes: Brand prestige, design styling, peer group admiration, luxury appeal.

2. Consumer Decision Rules

Consumer Decision Rules (often called Information Processing Strategies) are mental procedures, heuristics, or rules of thumb used by consumers to evaluate competing brand alternatives.

Decision rules are broadly classified into Compensatory Rules and Non-Compensatory Rules:

                           CONSUMER DECISION RULES
                                      │
            ┌─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┐
            ▼                                                   ▼
  [ COMPENSATORY RULES ]                              [ NON-COMPENSATORY RULES ]
  A high score on one attribute can                   A poor score on one key attribute
  compensate for a low score on another.              instantly disqualifies the brand!
  • Simple Additive Rule                              • Conjunctive Rule (Cutoff floors)
  • Weighted Additive Rule                            • Disjunctive Rule (Outstanding high)
                                                      • Lexicographic Rule (Rank order)
                                                      • Elimination-by-Aspects (EBA)

3. Compensatory Decision Rules

Under compensatory rules, a consumer evaluates each brand on all relevant attributes. A weakness on one attribute can be compensated for by strength on another.

• Example: An apartment is farther from the city center (weakness), but its low price and beautiful green park view (strengths) compensate for the distance.

1. Simple Additive Rule: The consumer counts the total number of positive attributes across each brand; the brand with the largest tally of positives wins.
2. Weighted Additive Rule: The consumer assigns importance weights to each attribute (e.g., Price = 40%, Camera = 30%, Battery = 30%), calculates a weighted average score for each brand, and chooses the highest-scoring option.

4. Non-Compensatory Decision Rules

Under non-compensatory rules, positive attributes do NOT balance out negative ones. If a brand fails to meet a specific cutoff standard on an important attribute, it is eliminated immediately.

1. The Conjunctive Rule

• The consumer establishes minimum acceptable cutoffs for every single attribute.
• If a brand falls below the cutoff on even one attribute, it is eliminated immediately (“Must have at least 8GB RAM, battery at least 5000 mAh, and price under Rs. 20,000”).
• The brand that meets or exceeds all minimum standards is chosen.

2. The Disjunctive Rule

• The consumer establishes a very high acceptable cutoff standard for only one or two select attributes.
• Any brand that hits this exceptional standard on any single key attribute is accepted (“I don’t care about anything else as long as it has a 200MP camera”).

3. The Lexicographic Rule

• The consumer ranks all evaluative attributes in order of personal importance (e.g., 1st: Price, 2nd: Battery, 3rd: Camera).
• The consumer compares all brands on the single most important attribute (Price). The brand scoring highest on that top attribute is selected.
• If two brands tie on the top attribute, the consumer moves to the second most important attribute to break the tie.

4. Elimination-by-Aspects (EBA) Rule

• The consumer ranks attributes in order of importance AND establishes minimum acceptable cutoff points for each.
• The consumer evaluates all brands on the most important attribute. Any brand failing the cutoff is eliminated.
• If multiple brands survive, they are evaluated on the second most important attribute against its cutoff, continuing step-by-step until only one brand remains.

5. Comparative Summary Matrix of Decision Rules

6. Review & Exam Preparation Questions

1. What are Evaluative Criteria? Give examples of criteria used when buying a two-wheeler in India. (5 Marks)
2. Differentiate between Compensatory and Non-Compensatory consumer decision rules. (10 Marks)
3. Explain the Conjunctive, Lexicographic, and Elimination-by-Aspects decision rules with a clear comparative example. (10 Marks)