skills/design-marketing-communications/references/state-and-meaning.md

# Customer State and Meaning

## Contents

1. State-transition model
2. Barrier diagnosis
3. Meaning design
4. Buying-condition branches
5. Expectation and experience

## 1. State-transition model

```text
Latent need
→ recognition or category entry
→ awareness and memory
→ recall in context
→ understanding and meaning
→ trust, preference, or consideration
→ comparison and choice
→ intended action
→ expectation and experience
→ re-recall, re-selection, or advocacy
```

Communication directly owns contact, reconstruction of meaning, attitude change, and the path to action. Business outcomes also depend on demand, product, price, distribution, sales, and experience.

## 2. Barrier diagnosis

| Symptom | Likely communication question | Do not substitute |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Is relevant contact occurring? | Broad reach without target context |
| Known but not recalled | Are memory cues tied to a buying situation? | Recognition volume alone |
| Recalled but unclear | Is one useful meaning reconstructable? | More information |
| Understood but not trusted | What proof or third-party credibility is missing? | Repetition alone |
| Trusted but not preferred | What choice reason or comparison frame matters? | Awareness growth |
| Preferred but no action | Is access, friction, timing, or risk the constraint? | More persuasion |
| Action then disappointment | Did communication inflate or mis-specify expectation? | Retention reminders |

## 3. Meaning design

Use:

```text
Product → meaning → customer context → choice
```

A strong meaning is:

- Reconstructable in the customer's language
- Relevant to a need or use situation
- Distinct enough to support selection
- Credible through proof or experience
- Small enough to remember and transmit

The communication result is not “we said it,” but “the recipient reconstructed it.”

## 4. Buying-condition branches

- Convenience / low involvement: shelf, price, habit, availability, visual cue, recall.
- Specialty / high involvement: search, comparison, evidence, review, trust, risk.
- Impulse: emotion, visual salience, immediacy, experience, access.
- Planned: proof, comparison, ROI, failure avoidance, implementation.
- B2B: multiple roles, approval, risk, portable internal explanation.

Do not assume one condition for an entire product category. Use the customer's situation.

## 5. Expectation and experience

Customer experience is judged partly against pre-purchase expectation. Overpromising can create disappointment even when absolute quality is acceptable; a clear promise and exceeded expectation can support recommendation.

Audit the full chain:

```text
Advertising / PR / peers
→ site / sales / store
→ purchase and onboarding
→ product or service experience
→ support and continuation
```

Assign a downstream owner for every promise.