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Information processes

Information processing refers to the process by which a stimulus is received, interpreted, stored in memory and later retrieved (Engel et al. 1994 p 472).
McGuire (1976) developed a model for information processes that occurs when a person is exposed to stimuli:
Exposure occurs after a stimuli that which activates at least one of the 5 senses. The fol-lowing text is an elaboration of Engel et al (1994) who describes McGuire‟s model for in-formation processes:
A stimuli must occur before actual exposure is evident to actually start processing the in-formation once the receiver‟s attention is caught. The receiver is a person who is exposed to the actual stimuli. Then the receiver will start relating meaning to the stimuli in the com-prehension stage. Acceptance is an important stage when investigating persuasive commu-nication. Although the consumer might actually receive and understand the stimuli, they may or may not actually believe it to be true or not. The last stage of retention is transfer and storage of information in the long-term memory. Memory is also important in previous stages of the process as a consumer interested in a certain sport will be more attentive for information relating to that sport, or upcoming holiday will make consumers look for gifts related to that holiday. Interpretation is effected by the receiver‟s previous experiences and education.
An important note is that the stimulus must actually be processed through each stage to reach the memory. Therefore marketers need to purvey their message in a way that the consumers see, understand, believe and remember.

Attention

Even though people are stimulated by their surroundings constantly not all stimuli moves past a prescreening of information into the second stage of the model, attention. To actual-ly get the consumer to pay attention to advertisements or messages that companies send out is difficult. In the context of the internet, a webpage needs to grasp a consumer‟s atten-tion to visit and spend enough time on the site to actually continue the information pro-cess. There are personal determinants of information, that is the different influences that promote the receiver to pay attention. Needs/motivations, attitudes and adaptation level and their span of attention are some of these influences. Needs and motivation are part of physiological and psychological factors that humans need to survive. Someone that is thirsty searches for a way to quench that thirst. If a marketer can expose a consumer to stimuli in the decision making moment, they can influence the consumers‟ action. This time span is very short and difficult to pinpoint, but it is advantageous to advertise with stimuli that captures the consumer‟s attention.
Attitude is part of cognitive consistency theory, which states that people try to uphold a set of consistent beliefs and attitudes. To have inconsistent beliefs induce psychological ten-sion. People are believed to accept information that promotes or is aligned with their cur-rent beliefs and avoid that which is adverse to it. Attitudes can both be barriers and facilita-tors to consumer perception of a product depending upon its alignment with their current set of beliefs.
Adaptation level regards the action scanning of information people receive from a certain stimulus. Consider a person from the country side moving into a busy metropolitan city, the commotion and noise would first bother him/her but then he/she would get used to it. The same is applicable for marketing communications. Since the youth has grown up with many media mediums influencing them, advertisement is no novelty and to catch their attention is a difficult task.
People and humans have a short span of attention. The constant stimulus and messages aimed at them and others influence humans to pick and choose between what they should actually select to pay attention to.

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Stimulus Determinants of Attention

Another set of attention influencing factors, called stimulus determinants, are actually the stimulus itself. People react differently to different stimulus and companies study the “con-trollable” factors that can be changed and affected to catch potential consumers‟ attention. Size is an important part of stimulus. Generally the larger, the better as the likelihood of a person seeing and acknowledging an advertisement is determined on self space and the size of the advertisement. Some colors are more attention getting than others. They appeal to the eye and set themselves out from the rest of the environment. Intensity is also influen-tial. Sounds and bright colors attract attention. People have the tendency to pay more at-tention to things that contrast from their surroundings. The location position is also im-portant. Depending upon where an item or advertisement is placed, it attracts attention. The eye tends to follow signs and stimulus with directionality. Stimulus that has move-ment attracts greater attention than that which is stationary. At the same time presenting only a select few stimuli attract attention, also known as isolation. Novelty is also a key factor, people react more to what is not expected. (Engel et al, 1994, p477-478)

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem
1.3 Purpose .
1.4 Delimitations
2 Frame of reference .
2.1 Online and offline marketing
2.2 Branding .
2.2.1 Identity
2.2.2 Position
2.3 Customer relationship management (CRM
2.3.1 Fostering dialogue with users
2.4 Consumer behavior
2.4.1 Information processes
2.4.2 Attention .
2.4.3 Stimulus Determinants of Attention
2.4.4 Comprehension
2.4.5 Stimulus Categorizatio
2.4.6 Stimulus elaboration
2.4.7 Stimulus organization .
2.4.8 Personal Determinants of Comprehension
2.4.9 Acceptance
2.5 The net generation
2.5.1 Choice and individualism
2.5.2 Large social networks
2.5.3 Hopes and expectations
3 Method
3.1 Approach .
3.2 Purpose of research .
3.3 Qualitative or quantitative research
3.4 Data collection
4 Findings and data analysis
4.1 What websites are visited on a regular basis? .
4.2 How they are found?
4.3 Why are they used?
4.4 Reoccurring visits .
4.5 Misc findings
5 Results and Analysi
6 Conclusions
7 Discussion
7.1 Reliability
7.2 Further studies
8 References