How consumers use information is vital to understand for the communicator and the advertiser. There are three aspects about consumer’s use of information. First, consumers do not use raw information but process it before using it. This processed information is significantly different from information provided by the communicator with respect to magnitude and descriptive as well as evaluating meaning of the information. Second, consumers are processed information in conjunction with other experiences in order to make judgements with respect to product or brand name in terms of attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. The mechanisms of judgements are not fully known, but they include the compensatory, conjunctive, disjunctive and lexicographic models of judgement. Third, consumers use information in five different ways: 1) to evaluate alternatives in making a choice; 2) to reinforce past choices as a rationalization process; 3) to resolve conflict between buying and postponing; 4) to remind when to buy and consume frequently purchased products; and 5) to acquire knowledge for epistemic purposes.
