It’s essential for any business owner to have an in-depth understanding of their customer. They need to learn about who they are, what motivates them, what inhibits them, their personality traits, and many other facets.
But most importantly, a business owner needs to have a full grasp as to what drives a customer to make a purchase. Here are four influences that motivate someone to make a purchase, so you can start channeling your sales and marketing tactics in the most effective way possible.
Image and Self-Confidence
A person’s image is a direct reflection of what makes someone want to make a purchase. For instance, someone with low self-confidence may want to consider doing something to enhance their look or feel more comfortable in their skin. These are the types of people to start a conversation with digitally when you want to find people interested in laser hair removal.
They will need to do an online search to find the best laser hair removal treatment nearby and have to make the choice amongst your competitors whether or not they will come to you. This is how you will choose to stand out from the crowd, by focusing on elements that speak directly to a person’s level of confidence.
Emotional Tie to the Company, Business Owner, or Influencer
Defining what your brand is means how you intend to connect with your customers. This isn’t simply based on how your branding colors, logo, or color grid on Instagram is aesthetically pleasing to them. It’s about the emotional connection you make with your customers and vice versa.
Perhaps your business is an independent fashion designer. To make a profit, you may need to sell your clothing at a higher price. But to engage with people enough to make such a high purchase price, they need to have an emotional connection to you as the designer.
- Are your products made from recycled materials?
- Do you donate a portion of your sales to a coinciding nonprofit organization that is important to you?
- Do you speak authentically about your personal experiences as a business owner or someone struggling with their own personal issues?
How a customer sees a brand, company, or influencer is based on if they believe in what the brand stands behind, regardless if it is an individual or a major Fortune-500 company. In order to directly influence a customer’s purchase decision, you need to start with emotion.
Economic Status
Many purchasing decisions made by the average customer have a lot to do with what they can or can not afford. Plus, this is strongly based on demographics as well. Determining the economic status of your ideal customer will also identify who they primarily choose to purchase from or how they make their purchases.
This could be anywhere from what device they typically purchase from to individuals who only prefer to shop from local business owners. You have to make a certain connection between who the customer is and what they really can afford.
For example, if your ideal audience is someone recently out of college, and you are trying to push a product through ads on Facebook that is far beyond their budget, you aren’t going to be nearly as successful. Whereas a person with more disposable income obviously has more purchasing power and a higher likelihood of making additional purchases beyond their standard needs.
User or Purchaser Experience
As we mentioned before, there needs to be an emotional connection between the customer and the brand to get them to make a purchase. This also applies to the user or purchaser’s experience with the company as well.
One company that does this incredibly well is Capsule, a prescription medication delivery service. They offer free delivery for medications and remove the stress of waiting in line at the pharmacy or having your doctor communicate with your insurance and pharmacist. It’s a simple, user-friendly experience they can do in a matter of minutes right from their mobile device.
Plus, the marketing materials the customer receives with their delivered products create an emotional connection. They receive a personalized, handwritten note and use language such as calling their customers “dear” to make them feel like more than a number in their system.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, when working on marketing your products and services, it’s important to consider your customer. Consider how they connect with your business on an emotional level and how you can improve the experience they have with your business to motivate customers to buy.
Think about what they can realistically afford to pay and treat each customer with care. Remember, these are human beings on the other end wanting to make a decision to purchase with your company.
