Present and discuss the stages of the consumer decision-making model.

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The Stages of Decision Making Process in Healthcare
The growing importance of marketing has received little attention in the healthcare industry. Instead, the healthcare organizations rely on the healthcare providers to influence clients regarding health care decisions (Fortenberry & McGoldrick 28). Today, the dynamic business landscape requires the healthcare industries to develop a holistic approach towards supporting consumers or patients in making decisions. The support offered in the decision process helps to create the optimal customer experience.
The five stages of the consumer decision-making process which may apply to the healthcare organizations include; need recognition, information search, active evaluation, closure and post-purchase (Stankevich 10). The first stage is problem recognition which involves the consumer perceiving a need for a particular product or service. The second stage of the decision-making process is the information search. At this stage, the client is set to make the right decision or purchasing option upon performing adequate information search (Stankevich 10). Healthcare organizations with informative contents will attract patients’ attention towards making the purchasing decision. The third stage, active evaluation, involves researching the purchase alternatives. For example, the consumers may compare the different healthcare brands or products through evaluating product attributes and benefits. Fourth stage; the closure or purchase decision, occurs at the point of service.

Such purchase decision requires the influence of the organization with a view on quality and costs of products or services. In the final stage – post-purchase, the consumer sets an expectation based on the experience of the service (Stankevich 10). The post-purchase experience is likely to influence the next decision making of the buyer regarding the product or service. Customer retention in the healthcare industry can be achieved through focusing on the patients’ interests or preferences.
Works Cited
Fortenberry Jr, John L., and Peter J. McGoldrick. “Internal marketing: A pathway for healthcare facilities to improve the patient experience.” International Journal of Healthcare Management 9.1 (2016): 28-33.
Stankevich, Alina. “Explaining the Consumer Decision-Making Process: Critical Literature Review.” Journal of International Business Research and Marketing 2.6 (2017): 7-14.