What steps do consumers follow when making purchase decisions?

"An organization that wants to be successful must consider buyer behavior when developing the marketing mix. Buyer behavior is the actions people take with regard to buying and using products. Marketers must understand buyer behavior, such as how raising or lowering a price will affect the buyer’s perception of the product and therefore create a fluctuation in sales, or how a specific review on social media can create an entirely new direction for the marketing mix based on the comments (buyer behavior/input) of the target market. To understand buyer behavior, marketers must understand how customers make buying decisions. Consumers and businesses have processes for making decisions about purchases. These decision-making processes are affected by cultural, social, individual, and psychological factors. The consumer decision-making process has several steps. The process starts with need recognition. Need recognition could be as simple as running out of coffee. Need recognition could also take place over several months, such as when repeated car repairs influence a consumer to make a decision to buy a new car. Next, the buyer gathers information. If the consumer is making a decision to purchase a house, he or she might research information about financing, available homes, styles, locations, and so forth. Once the consumer has gathered the information, he or she must evaluate alternatives. For example, a consumer might eliminate all homes that cost over $150,000 or are more than a 30-minute drive to work. After evaluating the alternatives, the consumer will make a decision based on those alternatives. Then the consumer makes the purchase decision, the decision to buy or not to buy. Finally, the consumer assesses the decision itself and his or her satisfaction with the purchase, which would include not only the home, but the buying experience as well."