Did you buy anything that you did not intend to buy?
Maybe, it was a pair of sneakers you found in your Instagram feed, a cup of coffee at an appealing cafe or a device that is supposed to make your life better. In that very moment, the purchase was justified to you by rational reasons, you deserve it, need it or find it inexpensive. However, digging deeper into our actions, we would see that most of purchases start with emotions even before our minds help us justify them.
Welcome to the wonderful sphere of consumer psychology.
There are numerous decisions we make every day, but buying a certain product is rarely based only on it. When customers buy a smartphone, a skincare product or a gym subscription, what they actually buy is convenience, self-confidence, happiness, security, status or something else that they expect to improve their life.
It is a valuable skill for marketers to understand the motives behind the purchasing decisions people make. Companies that know their customers’ motives can build powerful brands, improve customers’ experience and create campaigns that resonate with people.
According to research conducted by Professor at Harvard Business School Gerald Zaltman, subconsciousness accounts for about 95% of purchasing decisions made by consumers. Therefore, feelings, habits, experiences, perceptions have a greater impact on consumer behavior than one might assume.
Psychological factors influencing purchasing decisions and learn why consumers prefer certain brands.
People Purchase Emotions First and Then They Buy the Product. For example, there are two firms producing similar watches. One focuses on specifications, power supply, and materials of the watches. The other firm tells about celebrations of life’s major occasions, such as new graduates, entrepreneurs and families celebrating milestones. While both watches serve similar purposes, the latter advertisement forms an emotional connection. Emotions stay in people’s memory longer than features. That is the reason why luxury firms do not concentrate solely on their products’ specifications. They sell people’s identity, aspiration and style. No matter whether people buy luxury perfumes or cheap notebooks, they are driven by emotions. People buy feelings of success, comfort, confidence, attractiveness or inspiration.
In fact, the product becomes the tool that delivers those feelings. Trust Is the Key to Any Purchase. Even though the product looks great, people do not want to purchase it from a brand they do not trust Trust eliminates doubts. People feel more comfortable when they see honest testimonials, professional brand management, clear communication, safe payment methods, and transparency. Based on Edelman’s Trust Barometer, consumers prefer to buy from trusted brands, even if there are cheaper options. It takes time to build trust, and it takes just one moment to lose it. This is the reason why companies that have good products, answer their clients’ questions, and stay transparent often beat competitors despite less efficient advertising.
Social Proof Influences Decision-Making Process.
Think about two restaurants you are passing by. One of them is completely empty. The other one has people waiting in the queue to get inside. Most people would think that the crowded restaurant provides better meals without any other information. This psychological effect is called social proof.
Many individuals turn to others for guidance whenever they need to make any decisions, especially those associated with uncertainty. Online reviews, testimonials, influencers’ advice, customers’ success stories, and even users’ generated content help eliminate risks since they show that other people trusted the brand. According to a BrightLocal study, about 90% of people check online reviews before picking any local business. Thus, social proof is a powerful motivator for making a purchasing decision nowadays.
The Power of Scarcity
Have you ever wondered why people make fast decisions after receiving such messages as “Only three products left” or “Time-limited offer”? Such messages create the effect of urgency. Whenever people see something as rare or unavailable soon, they automatically consider it valuable due to their fear of missing the chance. This phenomenon is called the Fear Of Missing Out, which is also known as FOMO. However, real scarcity works more effectively than any other methods of creating pressure. People prefer truthfulness, and they easily detect any tricks such as countdown timers.
Why People Like to Buy Products Through Stories Rather Than Through Statistics
People have always found it easier to memorize stories than statistics or any other type of description. This phenomenon has been around long before the emergence of advertising because that was the only way for people to interact and share their experiences back then. This instinct is deeply embedded into the way we perceive things. When a company tells a story of its brand, a story of a customer who experienced something through their products, or the story of how a product helped someone solve his problem, it establishes a relationship that is impossible to create through cold facts. Think of the commercials you can remember best of all. It is probable that they have triggered some emotion in you. That’s the reason why you can remember them. The customers not only need to understand the function of the product but also its place in their life.
The Psychology of Pricing
Pricing is about far more than just numbers. It affects how people view value.
Strangely, consumers don’t necessarily pick the least expensive choice. In most cases, people correlate high prices with high quality and good reliability. On the other hand, products priced too high in comparison to their real worth can deter buyers. Even small tricks with pricing can help sway decision-making. For instance, prices like ₹999 look much more appealing than ₹1,000 since people tend to pay attention only to the leading figure. The trick has been employed by merchants for decades as it helps to raise the intention to buy a product while leaving its worth unchanged. The main point here is not to make products seem less expensive but to convey the worth of products properly. If people think that the value of products is higher than their price, there’s no doubt that consumers will make purchases.
Impressions Influence Consumer Choices
Nowadays, the time that it takes for people to make their impressions is just a few seconds long. When someone visits your web site, the first thing they see are the design of the website, loading time, colors, pictures, and navigation. In a matter of moments, visitors start making their conclusions about the professional level of the brand. Studies claim that within just a fraction of a second, people make their judgments about the website and whether it is worth visiting or not. However, the same rule applies to social media accounts, product packages, and business logos. Professional look of your business can make a huge difference before you say anything. This is why branding is about more than just being attractive; it is about inspiring confidence.
Personalization Helps the Customer Feel Important
The customer prefers personalization and does not like uniform treatment by all brands. Consider how personalized recommendations for the next movie are provided through streaming services or how products based on searches are recommended in an online store. All these things reduce the time spent by the consumer and create a sense of importance in them. This is what modern consumers expect from companies. As per a report by McKinsey & Company, approximately 71% of consumers are looking for personalized interactions from the brand side, and failure to meet such expectations creates frustration. Personalization need not necessarily include sophisticated technology. Personalizing greetings, remembering past purchases, providing relevant product recommendations, or providing valuable content can do wonders for businesses.
Simplicity Makes for Better Decisions
The majority of businesses think that having more options guarantees more sales. However, things work differently in real life. Too much choice can make a person unable to decide. That happens because people experience a condition called “decision fatigue. You may enter a store full of various, similar products. You don’t feel enthusiastic, but confused, and you exit without any purchases. Effective brands make the process of choosing simpler. They have all the products organized, make recommendations, and make the buying process as easy as possible. The simpler it is to choose, the higher the probability that a client will make a purchase.
Brand Loyalty Is Developed through Experiences
The first sale is an important step in building a business, but the second and third sales make or break a business. Customers stay loyal with those brands who provide them with consistent good experiences. Good customer services, quality, transparency, and meeting commitments all help to create lasting loyalty. Not only will loyal customers come back to shop with you, but they also refer others to your brand. Word-of-mouth still remains a powerful form of marketing as people tend to believe those who are close to them.
Great brands realize that every experience of their customers builds their reputation. Every interaction, delivery, reply, and experience plays a significant role in shaping up the customer’s impression about the business.
Conclusion
Buying is far from being as reasonable as it seems on the first glance. Every purchase is based on complex feelings, trust, perception, individual experience and psychological aspects. Consumers are not just purchasing products; they are buying solutions, feeling of confidence and safety, convenience and possibility to make their lives better.
Understanding the psychology of consumers is one of the main assets that can be used for creation of efficient marketing strategies today. Instead of thinking about sales, efficient companies think about people and try to create trust, evoke feelings by storytelling, reduce the process of purchase and provide the buyer with additional value even after the deal.
With time, marketing will become more technologically sophisticated and will receive new platforms and tools, but human psychology will remain an essential component of each successful campaign. Companies that know the true motivations of consumers always have competitive advantages because they create experiences, rather than promotions.
The psychology of consumer behavior shows us once again the importance of one idea: people may easily forget the ads, prices and even features of the products; however, they never forget the emotions that they had during the contact with the company and its offers.