Have you ever wondered why customer behavior changes with respect to their purchase decisions?
It’s simply because they are humans and are subject to changes that come with seasons, situations, environments, emotions, and more. Due to the changes that occur in humans, businesses must learn to understand the psychology of customer behavior and how they make their purchase decisions with respect to these changes. Therefore, companies can pattern their strategies around the changes to influence customer behavior in their favor.
In this article, we’ll help you see why you should influence your customers’ purchase decisions and not leave them to chance, which may be to your loss. We’ll help you understand the factors that influence customer behavior and how decisions are made by customers.
Human emotion influences most decision-making processes. It’s not unusual for customers to make a purchase decision because they are happy, excited, sad, or fearful. In some instances, customers make purchases to get relief from stressful happenings, such as going to a spa or an eatery after a breakup.
Since customers are moved to make purchases when their emotions are excited, marketing and campaign managers leverage this human attribute to influence customers to make purchase decisions. They make emotional appeals like fear of missing out (FOMO) to spur customers to action.
Aside from this, other factors can also influence the purchase decisions of customers, such as:
Therefore, companies must understand that to increase the purchase of products, positive emotions must be stirred in customers to influence their decision-making.
The Influence of social Proof on Customer Behavior
Research shows that 92% of consumers are most likely to make purchases after reading a trusted review. This shows the extent to which social proof can influence decision-making.
One of the key things every company should try to build around their business is trust. Your customers want to trust you first before making their first purchase. If they can’t find a way to trust you, they are more likely to get the same product from your competitor, who has learned to build trust around his business.
A potent way to build trust is by using social proofs like reviews and recommendations. Many customers will buy a product because their friends bought it and said good things about it. Others will make purchases after reading good reviews online. While this behavior is constant for customers, companies must understand that it follows the quality of the products. Customers will only give good reviews and recommend products when they meet their needs and satisfy them. Therefore, companies must work on constantly improving their products and using reviews from other customers to build trust and attract new customers.
On the other hand, businesses have noticed the impact of influencer marketing on boosting their sales. Therefore, they collaborate with social media influencers and celebrities to endorse their products or services so as to reach a wider audience and influence their purchase decisions.
Most people place value on a product based on its price. Your pricing strategy can influence your customer behavior in certain ways. For example, customers are more likely to purchase goods that have discounted prices than those that do not. When customers make purchases at a discounted price, they feel like you’ve given them a good deal, even if the discounted price was the intended price of the goods.
In other cases, customers tend to place more value on products that are more expensive. This model works best in companies with good aesthetics and standards. Customers visiting this company are given the impression that every product they’ll be getting is of high quality and standard; therefore, they will be paying more for every product purchased.
Also, packaging does wonders in creating pricing models. If you want to sell a good at higher prices and also influence your customers to buy it, invest in packaging the products. It gives customers a better impression of your product and the brand.
To influence customer behavior and buying decisions, companies should use the strategies mentioned above to create good impressions about their products.
Every customer wants to be associated with brands that have a good identity and reputation. Aside from the quality of Nike products, customers are happy to wear the products because Nike has a good brand reputation and name.
Beyond the products and services, customers are drawn to a brand’s stories and identity. The story a brand tells, its values, and the emotions it elicits all contribute to the development of a brand identity. Creating a captivating brand story guarantees that customers do more than just make a purchase; they become a part of the story.
To influence customer purchase decisions, companies must invest in their branding, brand identity, and brand storytelling.
In customer acquisition and retention, understanding customer behavior is pivotal. The crux of understanding customer behavior and influencing their buying decisions lies in understanding human emotion and how they respond to certain marketing strategies. Having explored a series of factors that can influence customer purchase decisions, companies should make use of the strategies embedded in them to increase purchases. Therefore, they are able to satisfy customers and increase customer loyalty.
