Welcome back! Now that you have an understanding about “The 5 Steps to Identify Brand Attributes,” we can get into the psychology of buying.
The first thing you should know is that there are three types of buying:
1. Compulsive - Compulsive shoppers are those that believe in retail therapy and are accused of being “shopaholics.” They embark on intentional shopping expeditions when they experience negative emotions or stress. Compulsive buys are normally for materialistic reasons. These purchases are meant to give a feeling of self worth and identity, which is often why retail therapy involves buying clothes-clothing style and brand names signal something about the wearer’s status and identity to others. Compulsive buyers are often excited by consumption of goods and the promise of happiness from their purchases. Because these feelings are already associated with shopping, compulsive shoppers are likely to have an emotional reaction to well written marketing messages.
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2. Impulsive - Impulsive buys are spontaneous. They are often, but not limited to, low involvement products. Involvement is determined by how much the item costs and what social implications are attached to it. A consumer is more likely to impulsively purchase a Snickers bar than they are to impulsively purchase a new dishwasher. Involvement is also relative to the consumer, especially in terms of price. Someone working a minimum wage job will not see a Ferrari as a low involvement purchase, however, a millionaire might.
3. Physiological - There is always a motive for a purchase, otherwise people would just be giving their money away! Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a structure that lays out basic motivations which must be met in hierarchical order (i.e., one must have physiological needs met before he can worry about safety needs).
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
McDonald’s fulfills a physiological need to eat; compare this to the compulsive shopper who is filling an esteem need. The compulsive shopper will also not be able to fulfill her esteem need if she is hungry and her physiological needs are not met. Knowing which motivational platform that your brand fulfills for the consumer is necessary for effectively promoting your brand. What need does your brand satisfy? Does it satisfy one need for some consumers and a different need for others? What need you think your brand should fulfill may not be the same as the need that your customers use it to fulfill.
How do you want consumer to purchase your product or service? Compulsively? Are your consumers addicted to your product or need it to increase their self worth? Then you should position yourself in a spot where the consumer can easily find you and be reminded that they need you. Do you want them to purchase impulsively? You still need to be easy to find, but you also want to stress factors that make it easier to give in to those impulses, such as low price. Or do they purchase your product to fill a physiological need? In this case, your consumers will go specifically to you or hunt for you, because they have a strong basic need that your product can fulfill.
Consumer Decision Process Now that you know why your consumers buy your product, you need to know how they decide to buy or not to buy it. Actually purchasing a good or service is only one step out of six in the buying process. Knowing where you lose customers in the buying process can shed light on how to improve your marketing or services.
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Do you feel this overwhelmed when you make decisions?
1. Problem Recognition In this stage, your consumer realizes he has a problem and wants to do something about it. This problem can fall into any of Maslow’s stages. Sometimes the consumer does not know he has a problem until you tell him. People didn’t know about halitosis, or bad breath, until Listerine made it up and then made an advertising campaign around it.
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Listerine became a household name and has been a staple in dental hygiene ever since.
2. Informational Search After deciding that a problem exists, the consumer gathers and compares information to create a set of possible options. This information comes from the consumer’s own memories or from friends’ opinions, word of mouth, advertising, or internet searches. All information is not created equal. An unpleasant memory or a friend’s bad experience will hold more weight in the consumer’s decision making process than your newest TV ad. The possible options that the consumer finishes this stage with is called an evoked set.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives Now that a set of top choices has emerged, the consumer needs to weigh the pros and cons of each alternative before he chooses a brand in the evoked set. In this stage, aspects of each potential choice is ranked and weighted. I know I want to buy a pet, but do I want a pet dog or a pet fish? “My wife is allergic to pet dander” might be a stronger motivator than “walking a dog every day will ensure I get my exercise.”
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We talk about this stage in extremes, but for some low involvement products “I’ll get both” is an acceptable solution
What if neither or a dog nor a fish fit the criteria you need? Back to the informational search phase!
What characteristics does your consumer look for in your product category? What do you think they have ranked highest? Do they coincide with your brand’s key characteristics? Does your brand strategy reflect these characteristics?
4. Purchase Decision The customer is now halfway done with the decision process! Does it seem like a lot of work to get to this point? The amount of time and effort put into the previous steps depends on the product category and the consumer. Items that are high involvement or purchased rarely will take longer to go through the previous steps than products that are used everyday and purchased regularly. It is common practice for a consumer to heavily research a computer prior to purchase, but not common practice to research toilet paper.
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In this stage the consumer chooses what he wants in great detail. Brand, price, color, where and when to buy the product are all decided.
5. Purchase
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The purchase is made! Is it the item decided on in step 4? Maybe. Maybe not. What is actually purchased depends on availability and changes in other fluctuating factors, such as price.
6. Post Purchase Evaluation Is the consumer satisfied or dissatisfied with his decision? Although we want every customer to be satisfied, that is not always the case. Dissatisfaction can lead to cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is discomfort felt by someone when they have acted or felt in a way contrary to their beliefs. Spending money on something that is dissatisfying goes against most consumers beliefs. Because cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable, consumers look for ways to rectify or justify their decision. Providing quality post-purchase follow up is one way to aleve potential consumer discomfort.
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