How to Influence Your Buyers Decisions

Understanding what type of consumer your business attracts can help you understand their buying behaviour. What kind of consumer is your target market? Do they research their products or buy impulsively? Are they regular shoppers or only occasional buyers?

The more you understand what motivates your customers to buy, the more you will be able to connect with them emotionally on your website or through your shop and subsequently grow your business and increase your profits.

As you will know, many consumers connect emotionally to certain products and businesses and as such will go beyond price when it comes to making a purchase decision. These devoted customers also make good recommendations to friends and relatives and this is why it's important to understand what motivates your target consumer. It is important to find out what motivates their actions and how you can put that information to use to boost your business.

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PURCHASING PSYCHOLOGY

Every day, consumers make purchasing decisions. When people choose your product or service, they are thinking about how your service will solve their needs. Consumer behaviour is influenced by four psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning, and attitude.

The way your target consumer views the world or learns about your product, whether online or in person, may also have an impact on their behaviour. Similarly, belief systems have the power to affect your consumers.

Use Scarcity

Motivation addresses the consumer's interior demands. Understanding how to motivate and inspire your consumer is a valuable skill. Using the idea of scarcity is one method to achieve this. If a product is plentiful, your consumer may want to buy it, but may not feel compelled to do so immediately. However, when something is thought to be rare, people tend to rush to get it as soon as possible.

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If you use phrases like 'limited availability' and 'last few remaining' it instils a sense of scarcity in your consumer's mind, motivating them to purchase out of fear of losing out. The important thing to remember is that individuals want what they can't have as well as what others have and perceive limited objects as more valuable and desirable- so keep scarcity in mind when it comes to marketing!

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The key to utilise scarcity effectively is to keep it modest and to avoid using it excessively. If you use it everywhere it will lose credibility so be careful not to overdo it. Get in touch and Paddle Creative will be happy to help you develop brand and pricing strategies that work for your business.

“The way to love anything is to realise it might be lost”

G.K. CHESTERTON

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THE PURCHASING DECISION MAKING PROCESS

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When it comes to purchasing goods, consumers go through a decision-making process. Understanding how people pick what to buy and guiding them through the process can enhance your odds of them purchasing from your business. Here's a short rundown of the process:

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Step 1: Recognition.

This is where your business should recognise and be aware of the needs of your potential consumer. It is your responsibility during this phase to present your product or service as a solution to a problem or need that a consumer may be experiencing.

Step 2: Search for Information.

This is where your business should make itself available in places where potential consumers will go to learn more about your products or services. For instance, if your target market are frequent internet users, you should ensure you have a well established website, complete with all and any information your consumer may need. This takes us to the next step.

Step 3: Evaluating the Alternatives.

By providing easy to grasp information about your product, you are giving your service an edge up from your competitors. If a potential consumer has all the information they need from your service or product and can easily access it, they will likely choose your business service over alternative services.

Step 4: Purchase.

The most important thing here is to make your items available to customers or they will go elsewhere to buy. Also, make the purchasing procedure simple and pleasurable for the customer, you don't want them to get stressed otherwise it might deter them from using your business. You can also implement a little scarcity psychology to entice your customer at this stage!

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THE INFLUENCE

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Reviews Matter

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As discussed in our ‘5 Reasons You Need A Website’ blog, reviews are a vital aspect for any establishment when it comes to achieving trust and credibility. Even if the reviews come from a secondary platform and not straight from your website, they add great points to your business's reputation. It has been found that there is a strong correlation between a product’s review stars and the number of orders.

Many past studies have confirmed what we already know: people read reviews and decide what to buy based on them. Some 88% say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 39% read reviews on a regular basis. So it is pretty clear that reviews play a big part in the consumers buying decisions.

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Recommendation Sources

Despite the fact that social media and the Internet are dominant, buyers make purchasing decisions utilising a combination of old and new media, as well as discussions with friends and family.

According to a 2009 Harris Interactive study, the most common methods for gathering information prior to making a purchase are: using a company website (36%); face-to-face conversation with a salesperson or other company representative (22%); and face-to-face conversation with a person not associated with the company (21%). To further add to these statistics, a slightly more recent study claims that 59% of people still consult friends and family before making a purchasing decision.

This is another reason why you should not rely solely on social media to boost your business. Rather, the figures suggest that a website is the way to go and lucky for you, you are in exactly the right place for one!

Essentially, there are a variety of factors that affect consumer decisions, and understanding these factors can help you better understand your target market's purchasing patterns and, as a result, enhance your organisation.

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Simplicity Wins

Cognitive fluency is the human proclivity to favour things that are not only familiar, but also straightforward to grasp (this is why simple websites are scientifically superior). For marketers, this means that the easier an offer is to grasp, the more likely consumers are to purchase it.

Why people love to buy unlimited plans; Understanding and comparing different TV subscriptions is a hassle. It takes time to identify the best option and no one wants to spend 40 minutes comparing different channels and streaming quality. So what do people do? They buy the unlimited plan. It’s often not the best value, but it’s easy to understand and you know you’re getting a lot.

Consumers want things to be kept simple, they don’t want loads and loads of options, they just want to know what service will solve their problem. Take a look at our ‘Power of 3’ blog for a deeper delve into this theme!

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People are complex and so are their buying habits, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of what they really want. Now that you’ve gone through all of the key factors of influencing your buyers, try and figure out what kind of buyer you are, what is your process, are you an impulsive buyer or do you like to gather lots of information and options first? Understanding how to figure out your own buying habits will help you understand your target market better and in turn help your business!

If you want to find out more on how to influence your buyers, get in touch, Paddle Creative are always more than happy to aid you with any of your marketing needs.