Consumer behaviors can often change significantly over time. As a business owner and a marketing agency, it is essential to understand the psychology of consumer behaviors in the market and to improve decision making process.
These decisions, as insignificant as they might seem, keep marketers and owners under immense pressure. Because decoding the processes behind customers’ decisions means that we can use that info to boost revenue and create a better marketing strategy.
The evolution of consumer buying behavior research has been characterized by a growing understanding of complex psychological factors that can influence consumer behavior and a better understanding of consumer decision-making.
Psychological Factors:
The psychological factor plays a vital role in shaping consumer behavior. These factors are mainly internal and subjective and involve marketers interpret, and process information about consumer purchases.
Key psychological factors that can come from a marketing agency can affect consumer behavior include motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, and attitudes;
● Motivation refers to the internal drive or desire that prompts consumers to take an action, such as buying a product. Various factors, including personal needs, desires, and goals, motivate people. For example, a consumer might need an iPhone because their old phone isn’t working as fast.
● Perception refers to how consumers interpret and make sense of information about a product or service. Various factors can influence perception, including the consumer’s past experiences, expectations, and cultural background. A marketing agency has data for that. For example, a consumer might not like a product due to its color.
● Learning refers to how consumers acquire knowledge, skills, or attitudes about a product or service. Learning can come in many ways, like from personal experience, observation, and communication. For example, a consumer would buy your newly launched product because your shop might be crowded with customers. Using observation to purchase it.
● Beliefs are the cognitive framework or assumptions that consumers hold about a product or service. Belief can be based on personal experience, cultural values, or social influence. For instance, Muslims don’t eat pork, and as a company you need to understand and respect their decision to abstain.
● Attitudes refer to the consumer’s overall evaluation or perspective of a product or a service. Attitudes can be positive, negative, or neutral and can be influenced by various factors.
The types of Consumer Behavior:
There are four main types of Consumer buying Behavior. These four are the following;
1. Complex buying behavior:
This type of behavior is encountered when consumers are buying an expensive product. They are highly involved in the purchase process and consumer research before committing to a high-value investment.
In complex buying behavior, consumers engage in extensive decision-making, investing time and effort to gather information, evaluate alternatives, and make a well-informed choice. Examples are real estate, luxury goods, and so on.
For marketers, understanding complex buying behavior is crucial as it allows them to tailor their marketing strategies and help in viewing from the consumer’s perspective when they make a decision.
2. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior:
The consumer wants to continue the purchasing process but has difficulties determining the difference between brands. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior is a type of consumer behavior that occurs after a significant purchase, particularly when the consumer perceives a high level of risk or uncertainty associated with the decision.
This behavior is characterized by the consumer experiencing cognitive dissonance, psychological discomfort, or tension resulting from conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or perceptions. This behavior is unleashed when consumers feel a sense of risk due to the financial investment or the perceived consequences of making the wrong choice.
3. Habitual buying behavior:
Habitual purchases are characterized by the consumer having very little involvement in the product or brand category. This decision to buy is typically habitual, driven by familiarity, YouTube, and established brand loyalty. For example, when you go to buy fruit, you just want to make sure that it’s fresh and don’t think any deeper than that.
4. Variety-seeking behavior:
In this type of behavior, a consumer purchases a different product not because they weren’t satisfied with the previous one but because they want to try something different. Unlike habitual buying behavior, where consumers repeatedly buy products, variety behavior reflects a desire for diversity and freshness in their consumption. For example, a Samsung user buying a OnePlus mobile to see how it works and feels to use.
What affects consumer behavior?
Many things can affect consumer behavior, but the most frequent factors influencing consumer behavior are:
Marketing Campaigns:
The marketing campaign influences purchasing decisions a lot. If done right and regularly, with the right and attention-grabbing marketing message, they can even persuade customers to switch to a new brand or choose a more expensive alternative. The effectiveness of marketing campaigns can profoundly impact how consumers engage with a brand and make purchasing decisions. They can even be used to retain old customers as well.
Economic Conditions:
This factor mainly affects more expensive products, especially houses, cars, or luxury services. Rising economic environment gives consumers more confidence and willingness to indulge in purchases, irrespective of their financial liability.
Purchasing Power:
Purchasing power refers to the ability of an individual or a group of consumers to buy goods and services with the income or financial resources available to them. Those individuals who have lower income don’t have the pleasure to afford all the types of goods and services. On the other hand, higher income generally means increased purchasing power, allowing consumers to buy more and potentially go for higher-priced items.
Social:
Social psychology impacts consumer behavior. Choosing fast food over home-cooked meals, for example, is just one such situation. Education levels and social factors can also affect people’s buying decisions. This is due to peer pressure also influences consumer behavior. What our family members, classmates, immediate relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances think or do can play a significant role in our decisions.
Conclusion:
The psychology of consumer behavior plays a vital role in marketing. Before making an important business decision, make sure to study consumer behavior in your industry on how they interact with your product along with different economical conditions. And then based on that research, make a marketing strategy.
