1. What is Perception?

Perception is all to do with the processes which consumers use to collect, interpret and recall information about the world around them - more specifically, in our case - buying our products. There are basically 4 processes which information passes through and they are:

1. Selective Exposure: This is whether or not a person chooses to be exposed to advertising or not. This can occur conciously, when a person leaves the room as TV ads come on, or subconciously, when the person learns over time not to goto specific websites which are filled to the brim with 'annoying' untargeted ads.
2. Selective Attention: This determines how much attention people devote to the advertisement. As humans can only conciously process around 7 bits of information at a time, our subconcious filters out what we don't need and allows us to focus our concious mind on the things that matter. Have you ever been on a website where your attention is transfixed on a particular advertisement which you just happen to need? That's what we call Selective Attention. In some models, Selective Attention is grouped into Selective Exposure, however many empirical studies reveal that people can recall a brand which they do not conciously notice.
3. Selective Comprehension: Once people notice an advertisement, they then attach meaning to it based on their beliefs, attitudes, values, needs and experiences. So people can really see what they want to see. Maybe you know someone like this, who lives blind to the world of possibilities, or blind to the fact that everyone hates them. In their ideal world, its true. Just go out one night and pretend someone is following you - I can bet that you will find evidence in the world around you that it's true. This is great for customers because you will be able to sell them something and if you are a good enough marketer to them they will search for reasons which will make them buy your product.
   
4. Selective Retention: People can only remember so much. The closer things are linked, the better retention people will have. Thats why marketers always use mnemonics with symbols, images ryhmes and associations. This is especially important when considering co-branding in your business.

That's basically all perception is about with regards to consumer psychology. I could get a lot more detailed but this will suit our purposes more than enough.