Debra WahlConsumer Lens Assignment

3310 Consumer BehaviorDr. Chavez

Table of Contents

Evaluation and Critical Analysis………………………………………………..Page 3

Perception……………………………………………………………………….Page 4

Attention……………………………………………………………………...…Pages 4-5

Situational Factors……………………………………………………………....Page 5

My Personal Touches…………………………………………………………...Page 6

Summary……………………………………………………………………..…Pages 6-7

References/Resources………………………………………………………...…Page 8

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Evaluation and Critical Analysis:

Why Southwest Airlines? Why not?

Whenever I consider booking travel my first instinct and the first website that comes to mind is always Southwestairlines.com. There are a few reasons to support my decision; the first is that Southwest is notorious for having some of the lowest rates in the airline and travel industry and the second reason is that Southwest is not represented on major travel websites such as Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz just to name a few. A very clever decision on Southwest’s part because it only gives one option and that is the prospective consumer must visit their one and only website for obtaining any and all of their desired information.

My initial evaluation of their website is calming, most of the color tones are a calming and soothing gray towards then top and the further down you scroll the more you start to notice their trademark colors gently being added into a fading effect. The website is extremely user friendly spotlighting the most used search links on the top center of the page such as booking flights, hotel and car accommodations. In much larger letters below is their featured flights advertising it is their best offer airfare. This feature is usually one way, but the advertised price is impossible to not spark interest and it is as impossible as trying to not touch a wet paint sign to not click and see if your desired destination is on their limited list. As you near the lower portion of the webpage you start to see other featured destinations at what Southwest considers to be a deal and a reasonable price that they are offering to you only through their website. Even if your desired destination is not one of their featured places it does plant a seed for future travel due to their pricing elements. The two features that caught my eye the most were located below it all it simplistic bright colored boxes featuring 50% off hotel accommodations if booked with their flight and the chance to earn 50,000 reward points by using their rewards card. The thought of earning an astonishing number of additional points while purchasing the lowest airfare is very tempting and will act as travel bait for users to frequent their website for future travel needs.

My critical analysis of the website is that they wanted to use simplicity and their

individualism to benefit the consumer by elimination of the middle man companies and making the collection of desired information as easy as possible. Southwest Airlines also took extra steps to stay in the race with their competition such as bundling travel with hotel and car at a discounted rate, a rewards program and frequently changing special destination sale packages. Southwest airlines is still offering the same variations that their competitors website is, but they have cleverly singled themselves out of the mass search and highlighted themselves without hiding under the name of another website.

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Perception:

Southwest Airlines does an extraordinary job of selective exposure through commercials that are shown during prime time hours on TV, colorful advertisements in travel magazines, colorful billboards and online advertisements that appear on the side of various websites. To compliment the current travel mood and atmosphere Southwest relies heavily on their product placement inside airports. I am a frequent traveler and on occasions that I am not a passenger of Southwest Airlines it is still impossible for me to avoid seeing at least a handful of various advertisements for their airline throughout the airport which triggers curiosity for their rates and services on my next adventure. Even if I attempt to turn on my consumer tunnel vision or find my sightlines bouncing around the bright tri colored heart that is their universal symbol can be detected from your peripheral vision forcing you to look. Ad avoidance is as easily banished in person as it can be with something more tangible such as a magazine or TV.

I feel that Voluntary Exposure can be just as important as selective exposure and in the example of Southwest Airlines I feel that it is the more common exposure. Southwest Airlines, among all airlines has several word of mouth reputations attached to their brand. Speaking from my past and current situations when I decide to fly somewhere my first website that I visit is Southwest Airlines or the app on my phone which is downloaded. Their website is very clean and gentle on the eyes, luring them directly to where they need to go. I continue to return to their website due to the smooth navigation leading to quick and positive purchases that satisfy every want and need I identified as a consumer.

Attention:

For myself, the most powerful stimulus factor regarding Southwest Airlines is their iconic bold tri-colored heart that is the control center for all of their visual advertising. It stands apart from all other visual representations used by competing airlines and is a memorable visual that my short and long-term memory always retrieves themselves to. I was very curious and allured by the choice in the heart, it seems so simple yet there was a slight mysterious aspect to their choice as well that it prompted me to investigate it’s origin and meaning. I once again voluntarily exposed myself and did an Internet search on their main website to educate myself on its symbolic meaning. It took 100 people 15 months to conclude that the heart represented everything from the company’s beliefs, their humble and thoughtful employees and their overall passion for what the way they want to be remembered as a company. Every plane is even pained with the giant symbolic heart on the bell of it to gracefully stimulate our senses regarding to noticing and remembering their brand and what they stand for. I view this as a more obvious and direct form of positive subliminal advertising as well. There have been several changed in visual representation over the years, described as adaptation level theory in order to keep the consumers curiosity on their toes but the one foundation that remains strong is the heart, an anchor of hope to assure the consumers that their core for existing will always remain the same.

My individual factors that motivates myself is my instinctive ability to voluntarily direct myself to Southwest Airline’s website first is how user friendly and accurate it is. At first

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glance it could be perceived as a very vanilla page with no immediate attention grabber, however I was appreciative of the thoughtfulness of their direct solutions to my travel needs. Traveling is one of my more passionate hobbies, but with that also comes the price to pay with it as well. Traveling of any kind is always stressful in various ways, a direct and flawless system to eliminate any problems and added stress is the best way I can describe their site. The homepage was not flashy or overwhelming with a clutter of various and non-related travel ads all over-shadowing each other for attention breaking my initial focus of my original search. As a dedicated consumer I was previously internally motivated with a specific need to purchase a product I needed to take me to a destination that I wanted. Being externally stimulated did not apply to me in my situation because something that is visually appealing to me has absolutely no effect on what my purchase and what my end result is going to be.

Finally in regards to my individual factors is my previous knowledge and experience with Southwest’s brand familiarity. When I think to travel on Southwest Airlines or hear of others choosing to fly with them certain keywords I associate with their brand immediately come to mind such as; budget friendly, flexible dates and times, realistic and genuine employees, cleanliness, organized and effective procedure and stress free traveling just to acknowledge a few. Their brand familiarity holds positive experiences with me mainly regarding the way that every employee representing the company interacts pleasantly and positive towards me and the overall representation and higher standard they hold themselves to. I have flown with Southwest Airlines several times in the past with reliable and hassle free experiences so I always reflect into my long and short-term memory to reassure myself that they are the best possible choice for me. I consider myself to be extremely brand loyal to Southwest Airlines and they respectfully and professionally have been able to keep a positive relationship of positive customer retention between their brand and myself.

Situational Factors

While constructing this assignment I am most passionate towards the situational factors inspiring me to choose Southwest Airlines complete with my reasoning for this choice. I consume and retain information best with the least amount of clutter possible to distract me, confuse me, make me doubt my initial choice and tempt with other options that aren’t what I fully wanted to obtain initially. I am the most satisfied consumer when my choices are placed directly in front of me in black and white. Once I eliminate the anticipation and firmly take control of my decision making process I will then be more receptive to other features that are tastefully awaiting my curiosity on the website. I will then being to start the decision making process over again with other products and services that can compliment and accessories my core purchase such as booking a hotel room and rental car through their website as well often proving themselves to remain budget friendly on multiple products. In my particular situation since I am different, as all consumers are I took a backwards approach to seeking program involvement in Southwest Airlines.

Instead of seeking something that accented and glorified Southwest Airlines directly I looked at the hidden pictures and found out the programs that flew under the wing of Southwest in hopes for recognition. I was touched and pleasantly inspired to read about their charitable

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programs such as their Adopt a Pilot Program to educate youth on possible aviation careers, their continued support of prior and current military members and their Medical Transportation Grant Program which allows non profit caregiving facilities round-trip tickets to be used at their desires. Briefly educating myself on these voluntary practices that Southwest took pride into made me feel that my continued business to supporting their brand was actually making a difference and I was very honored to be supporting a brand that always filled my wants and needs but was also setting an example and including their cliental in their everyday actions towards making a difference in society. I found it very noble that they took the initiative to set the standards and the industry bar higher to communicate through actions that their brand is genuine and reliable on different levels.

My Personal Touches

I was certain immediately that Southwest Airlines was a company that I wanted to study and educate myself on due to my passion for travel and appreciation for their wholesome and honest company standards which I feel is slowly making a departure in the business world. I am very traditional and appreciate upfront options, obtainability, reliability and uniformed honesty within the entire brand. As often as I travel Southwest has always been the best possible choice for me in regards to any situational factors that are influencing my decision such as destination, time, price and the amount of baggage I will be traveling with. I consider myself to be an extremely easy customer to please and to keep happy due to my low maintenance demeanor, however I do recognize that other individuals will that their unique set of individual factors that can easily segment them into different categories. I cannot recall a single time where I had anything less than a perfect and successful experience with Southwest Airlines. They always continue to prove themselves as a company worth being brand loyal to through their overall representation and pure motivates that they take pride in.

Summary

The simplistic, yet symbolic heart that is their trademark portrays to me a complex and dense sense of their ambition to always strive to be the best possible choice to consumers in more ways that are known to the common consumer. Their complexity to provide a product that ultimately is the backbone and the core to provide individuals, groups and organizations with assistance that is improving their lives and community is a trait that earns Southwest Airlines a lot of my respect. As a single, 30-year-old female consumer I can confidently admit that I can be easily persuaded and motivated off of feelings and emotions and I am willing to pay higher price for a product or service that will ultimately leaving me feeling good. Southwest Airlines exceeds that expectation of mine.

I would describe them as the base of the totem pole being the imperative and necessary foundation that keeps the beautiful aspect of the rest of the pole on display for all to enjoy. This Consumer Lens Assignment changed my view from Southwest provide travel service to them additionally providing positive emotions and infinite memories that keep circulation throughout their brand representation. As a loyal consumer of theirs I feel proud and appreciative that due to

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my choice to pick them above all other options they display their appreciation by circulating positivity and inspiring hope within the community to establish a successful future.

I would also piece together a new definition that would be called Circulation Brand

Involvement (CBI). CBI would best describe a company that is generous with their profits by creating opportunities and investing in situations where it is needed the most while also acknowledging and appreciating their employees that are the ultimate and best overall representation of the company and the brand. The employees of Southwest Airlines are essentially the blood cells that keep the Southwest heart beating and alive allowing life and memories among all who chose them.

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References

Hawkins, D., & Mothersbaugh, D. (2007). Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy (10th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Southwest Airlines – Airline Tickets, Flights, and Airfares. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from https://www.southwest.com/?clk=GNAVHOMELOGO

Medical Transportation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from https://www.southwest.com/html/southwest-difference/community-involvement/charities/medical_transportation.html

Fly Southwest Airlines - Air Travel with HEART. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from http://www.southwest-heart.com/

Fly Southwest Airlines - Air Travel with HEART. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from http://www.southwest-heart.com/

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