MKT1002 Consumer Behaviour Assessment
You have three pieces of assessment in this course.
1. 20% Assignment 1 – focuses on “unpacking” value in the exchange.
Valuing a service experience
The two assignments centre on a service experience, in which you are the client. Because you are a client of the service – you are also the target market (audience) for the service. You are developing a piece of communication for the manager of the service (the manager is your audience). You are providing the manager with information about their target audience (you). Managers use information about their target audience to improve their service delivery (value in the exchange) and/or as an opportunity to expand or extend value co- creation. For a manager to develop strategy and ways to add/create/extend value for their target market (you), firstly, the manager must understand their target audience (you).
The assignment gives you an opportunity to build self-awareness skills by asking you to self-reflect and to learn more about yourself as a consumer.
A service experience
Please think carefully when selecting your service experience. Ideally, the service experience you choose should be one that is personally relevant to you, and therefore, easy to write about (e.g. gym, beauty spa, playing sport, going to the movies or a regular restaurant or uni). The service experience ideally would be something that you engage with (as a client/consumer) at least twice a month, and preferably, an experience you engage with on a more regular basis (e.g. once a week or more).
Some examples that are suitable to choose for your assignments are:
Choose 1 from this A to F topic
a) Gym membership and regular attendance
b) Playing member of a sporting club
c) Regular at a favourite cinema
d) Regular at a favourite restaurant
e) Regular at a favourite massage or beauty spa
f) University education (online or on-campus student experience)
Before selecting your service experience, you might like to read the assignment instructions.
Assignment 1 – Value in the exchange (20%)
Task
Develop a piece of communication using words, pictures, diagrams and/or charts. You might like to use PowerPoint, Word, Publisher or some other similar computer program. Design your piece of communication to communicate to the manager of the service. You are communicating a rich and deep understanding about “value in the exchange” in the context of a branded service. The specifics of this assignment are below.
1. Select a branded service that you engage with on a regular basis (at least twice a month). The service could be a favourite restaurant that you go to on a regular basis or a business that provides you with a regular massage and beauty treatments, or a favourite cinema where you watch movies, or regular sporting activity you play (e.g. futsal, golf or football) or a gym where you regularly exercise. The service should be branded – that is have a brand name that is easily recognisable (e.g. Snap Fitness or City Golf Club or Grill’d).
2. Identify the service (product) and brand. For example, Grill’d is the brand and the service (product) is a restaurant. Snap Fitness is the brand and the service (product) is gym membership. City Golf Club is the brand and the service (product) is golf. Once you have identified the service (product) and brand, please develop a title for your assignment. Please make sure that the name of the brand and the service are in the title of your assignment. Your assignment should have a title page. The title page should also have a date, your name and student number on it and act as a cover page for your assignment.
3. Select a method for presenting your assignment. You may choose to develop your assignment in Word or PowerPoint (or similar). If you are using PowerPoint, please place your written material in the “notes section” of
PowerPoint. If you are using Word, please insert your diagrams and pictures with the words – that is insert the illustrations as close to as possible to the words. This way the pictures and diagrams provide meaning to the words. Do not insert pictures and diagrams in an Appendix. Regarding your pictures and diagrams, please ensure you correctly label all of them and reference those you have not developed yourself (using Harvard AGPS).
4. When developing your assignment, please aim the assignment at the CEO or the management team of the branded service. As such, write your assignment in second or third person. Essentially, you are providing the management team (or CEO) with information about their target audience (you).
5. The assignment should be no longer than 1200 words or 10 slides (if using PowerPoint). Please write your assignment using the active voice (you may want to look up the difference between active and passive voice in written communication). The active voice is a clearer and a more persuasive form of written communication. Professional marketers communicate persuasively. We are judging you on your written communication. The active voice is preferred.
6. You are to develop an assignment that has a structure similar to below
a. Title page (no more than eight words in the title)
b. Introduction (100 Words)
c. Value equation (300Words)
d. Decision making perspectives (250Words)
e. Risk and involvement(200Words)
f. Atmospherics(200Words)
g. Conclusion(150 Words)
7. The title page should have a catching title limited to eight words or less. Ensure your student name and student number are on the title page.
8. In your introduction section, briefly introduce the service (product; product category) and brand (no more than one page or one slide). If you provide
any history or background to the service (and brand), write no more than a paragraph and please ensure you reference any material using Harvard AGPS (http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide
). If you are unsure what referencing is, or why we reference material, please visit the library or click on the following link to find out more http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing .
9. The value equation for the branded service should include all of the benefits (utilitarian, hedonic, social and other) as well as all of the costs associated with the service (refer to the valuation equation in the materials).
a. Clearly differentiate and categorise the costs and benefits. You may like to construct a diagram to show your customer value equation for the target audience (you). If you do draw a diagram, label the diagram and discuss the diagram.
b. The value equation should clearly identify the value associated with the brand/service. You are trying to demonstrate to or show management “customer value” for the target audience (you).
10. Of the various decision making perspectives, identify which one(s) are the most fitting for your service (e.g., which did you go through when making the initial and subsequent decisions).
a. Name and describe the different decision making perspectives you undertook.
b. Consider whether the decision-making type is rationale, experiential or behavioural. Refer the materials for information about the various decision-making types.
c. Think about your first visit (decision), consider whether you engaged in extended decision-making or a limited decision the first time; and whether your subsequent decisions to return are habitual or because of brand loyalty.
d. You might like to present a table or a diagram illustrating the relevant decision-making perspective(s) for your target audience (you). Refer to your table(s) or diagram(s) and write in detail the decision-making perspective(s) you went through to help the manager understand decision making from the perspective of the target audience (you).

11. Describe the concepts of risk and involvement (and ensure you reference your findings when you use them in your assignment). Refer to your materials or locate information from e-books or the Internet to help you understand and explain these concepts.
a. Identify which types of risk you experience and explain to what extent you experienced these risks.
b. Similarly explain the extent of your involvement with the consumption of the service when experiencing (consuming) the service (on a regular basis).
12. Explain the impact (influence or affect) of atmospherics on the consumption of the branded service.
a. For example, explain how the lighting, any smells, the colours, the floor layout, any spacing of equipment or the spacing of tables, the people (customers/staff), any crowding etc. influences your value perceptions (positively/negatively). In your materials, there is information on atmospherics, including the different groupings of atmospherics.
Atmospherics are an important component in a service experience. As such, it is important for managers to have a good understanding of the positive and negative impacts of atmospherics on the value perceptions of their target market (you).
13. Conclude your assignment (limit of one page or one slide) by briefly summing up and explaining the value in the exchange. In this section, you might like to assess and prioritise elements that influenced (positively/negatively) or changed/altered your value perceptions during consumption (value in the exchange) and decision-making (value in the exchange).
a. Consider that this section is useful to a manager as it provides him/her direction about the elements that are most valuable to the target audience. This is important to a manager when developing strategies to co-create value.
14. Save your assignment document as follows:
Student number_MKT1002A1
Please insert diagrams or picture of brand as require and also give referencing to used diagrams and picture if you don’t create by your self.
At least 10 references are required at the end of assignment and reference style is Harvard AGPS referencing style.