Operationalizing the Criteria for Attitude Metrics
Our conceptual framework, displayed in Figure 1, contrasts marketing effects that occur through changes in attitudinal metrics with those that occur without such changes. We denote the former as the ‘mindset route’ and the latter as the ‘transaction route’ in Figure 1. We do not propose that purchases can occur without the customers’ minds or hearts being involved (e.g., one needs to be aware of a brand at least right before buying it), but instead that customers may simply react to a marketing stimulus without changing their mind or heart (e.g. the brand was in the consideration set before, and remains in the consideration set after a stimulus-induced purchase). Our framework therefore accounts for both generally accepted channels of marketing influence: through building the consumer attitudes that constitute the brand’s health and/or through leveraging the brand’s existing health.