Consumer involvement refers the amount of information processing and the degree of importance a consumer attaches to a product. Low involvement purchases require very limited information processing whereas high involvement purchases require complex decision making. Both have a significant effect on consumer behavior.
From Exhibit 6, Table 1, with respect to each of the habits and practices, a set of inferences can be derived about the involvement levels of consumer in the oral care category. Firstly, 36% of the respondents brushed twice daily, which indicates either low involvement in the category or that the respondents are not aware about the importance of brushing twice a day.
74% of the respondents never visit a dentist whereas 25% of the respondents are frequent to average goers to dentists. Out of these 25%, 72% claimed that their dentist did not recommend toothpaste brands. But out of the 7 respondents who were recommended toothpastes by their dentists, 6 respondents changed their toothpaste. This indicates a high level of involvement.
84% of the respondents claimed to not have any oral health problems. But out of the 15% who did have oral health problems, 33.33% of them changed their toothpaste to solve the problem. This again indicates a high level of involvement. Also, in the problem solving segment 68% respondents brush twice a day in contrast to 36% in the overall category. Thus, apart from few specific areas of high involvement, the respondents displayed a low level of involvement towards the oral care category.
Involvement Levels and cognitive and affective associations:
The number of respondents exhibiting high involvement with regard to the oral care category is 32 per cent.
The number of respondents exhibiting low/medium involvement with regard to the oral care category are 78 per cent.
The number of respondents expressing high cognitive and affective association with regard to each of the brands is