We all buy things… but why? What is the reason you bought that new pair of shoes? Well, actually there are really only 6 reasons that we buy things. It’s important as a business to understand these motives in order to align your product or service to your audience. You will need to define what problem your product or service solves for the customer in order to define what motive they will have in purchasing from you. Let’s take a look at the 6 buying motivations.
1. Buying for profit/gain. Marketing for this type of motivation requires showing the benefits of buying. How does it improve someone’s life? Does it have high ROI or great reward? What can one achieve from buying this service or product? The type of products and services that come to mind are investments and education but it is not limited to this type of product or service.
2. Fear of loss. This type of consumer is not a risk taker… obviously. This will help the consumer hold on to something they already have, such as their home. Products and services that come to mind are home owner’s insurance or further training for employee customer service.
3. Comfort, convenience and pleasure. This one really speaks for itself. It’s that new blender you bought for smoothies or that newest laptop for work. These purchases make someone’s life easier or more convenient.
4. Security & protection. This one is similar to fear of loss. Think of home security, cyber security or just the safest decision over another. For example, choosing one brand over another because WOM (word of mouth) recommendations.
5. Pride of ownership. Remember that time you bought those nice Gucci sunglasses? Was it because you really liked them and they were far superior to others? Probably not 100% true. Sometimes buying something that comes with grandeur due to their reputation can be something we feel we deserve for our hard work. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Marketing to this group of consumers will come with giving them feelings of gratification, dignity as well as a feeling of “high class.”
6. Satisfaction of emotion. This stimulates some type of an emotional response. Marketing for this type of audience is probably the easiest in our opinion. Most people are emotional buyers and will then justify their decision with some logic. Let’s look at an example though for clarification. Imagine that someone purchases a repurposed dining room table from a local, small business. This can create a feeling of personal satisfaction from supporting local business as well as feeling a sense of pride from choosing more sustainable options.
Understanding buying motivations is key to your marketing and advertising strategies. Knowing what category your brand falls under in terms of buying motivations will help deepen your understanding of your customer base. Why will your customers be buying your products or services? Will it create convenience or will it be purely for pride of ownership? If your brand understands where it will fall for buying motivation, sales & retention will inherently increase as a result.
