How to Understand Consumer Buying Behaviour

Understanding consumer buying behavior will help you figure out why this couple is just window shopping instead of buying.

Consumer buying behavior includes any activities surrounding a purchase, including what happens before and after a customer buys your product. Understanding this behavior means you have to understand your customers, including how they live, think and feel. You have to know your products as well, so you can market to them effectively and product a brand they'll be proud to talk about at the water cooler. Consumer buying behavior can be quite complex.

Instructions

1. Figure out if your brand is a high-involvement purchase. These types of major purchases present some type of risk to the customer, including personal, social or economic risk. Low-involvement purchases are more routine or impulsive and customers don't think quite as much about them.

2. Find your target market. The customers who buy your product most are the people you want to market to. You should know their demographics, social classes, attitudes and perceptions inside and out so you can tailor your products and advertisements to attract their attention.

3. Determine your customers' needs. If your product is a commodity, chances are it's something your customers need, and the only decision they need to make is whether to buy your brand or your competitor's. If your goods are higher-end, your customers don't need them so you need to focus your marketing on how to make them think they need your products. You can use Maslow's hierarchy of needs to help you here. This concept was created by Abraham Maslow and details humans' psychological needs. The basic needs have to be met before striving for higher needs. Find where your brand fits in this hierarchy.

4. Understand how your customers think, especially after they purchase one of your products. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person has conflicting thoughts and feelings about something, and this can happen when a customer buys your product and then feels guilty about it or unsure about the purchase. If this happens often, you won't have much repeat business or good word of mouth, so correcting the offensive aspect of the product can reduce this; lowering the price works sometimes.

References

• University of Delaware: What is Consumer Buying Behavior?
• Changing Minds: Cognitive Dissonance

Resources

• Marketing Teacher: Consumer Buying Behavior