What drives people to buy and use certain products?
Who influenced their decisions?
How often do they buy these products?
This is what the study of consumer behavior is all about. Understanding your consumers and how they behave while deciding to buy a product or service that satisfies their needs. It is influenced by various factors, including:
- Social: A consumer’s buying behavior can be influenced by social class, education level, income, and social groups (family, friends, peer groups, social media).
- Psychological: People have different responses, perceptions, and attitudes when presented with certain marketing campaigns. And these psychological responses will influence their buying behavior.
- Personal: A person’s background, age, culture, profession, gender, affects their opinion and interests — which in turn affect their buying decisions.
Understanding consumer behavior allows you to gain insight into the customer’s experiences, pain points, desires — and most importantly, what influences a customer’s buying decisions.
Doing this can help businesses predict the needs and expectations of their target market. Allowing them to tailor their products or marketing strategies to ensure the highest chance of a sale.
Consumer behavior and empathy
Have you ever heard of terms such as consumer-centricity or customer-obsessed?
The implication behind these terms is that brands that are customer-centric can deliver better products and create more effective marketing. However, in order to do so, they are required to develop a deep understanding of their customers — which can only be gained through empathy.
Brands that practice consumer empathy are aware of customers’ needs and the issues they struggle with on a daily basis. They use the insights they gained and create products and messaging that speaks to their customer’s needs and present them with a solution.
By leveraging empathy, you will be able to share your customer’s feelings, which will build trust and help forge a powerful connection with your brand.
Interested in learning more about consumer behavior and empathy? Click here to enroll in our empathetic marketing course.
