It's no secret that people are not logical decision-makers. They may say they are, but most of the time it is more about their emotional state than anything else. Yet, there are some commonalities in how customers make decisions and you can use these to your advantage when selling to them. This blog post will share 11 ways to know how your customers make decisions.
The science of selling anything, be it movie tickets, gadgets or just simply convincing someone to get into bed with you, is nothing less than an omnipresent phenomenon. There are many factors that play into the sales process, some of them being completely intangible and others more obvious.
But what are these factors? Or should I say, who are these people whose minds have been picked apart by various managers in an effort to understand them better?
Obviously, the average person doesn't have time to run around picking brains for market research (although there might actually be some truth behind this urban legend ), but we do know enough about human psychology to make good guesses about what makes us tick when making certain choices.
Selling anything, from a house to a pack of gum, requires you to understand how your customers think. In order to do that, here are some scientific aspects that come into play while selling anything, explained in detail.
The first thing to recall is that the sales process starts long before you even meet your customer, so what I'm going to talk about here are proofreading factors. Let's start by defining some concepts first. Keep in mind, however, that these definitions have been created with simplicity and ease of understanding in mind; they might not represent 100% accuracy as far as the official theories go.
When we talk about a sale, whether it's a product or service, we mean: someone (who wants something) meets someone else (who wants money). When this happens, there is usually a third element involved - info or knowledge --that influences the choice somehow; which means we're looking at 3 parties involved: customer – the seller – information.
All 3 elements affect the choices of the others in some way: customer – seller and customer – info. However, in most cases, we're only interested in what affects customers and sellers, because that's usually what sells things; although it is important to mention that when talking about selling information with content (for example blog advertising or online courses), both parties will be exposed to the same info at the same time with no separate role for each party. So let's get started!
1. Information
When trying to decide between two options within a significant decision, we tend to lean towards better-known terms known as familiar-more than unfamiliar ones. Imagine you're trying to decide whether you should eat a raspberry or an orange for dessert.
You like both options equally, but you feel more inclined to lean towards the first one simply because you know what it is; even if this is not better than the second one (it might actually be worse).
This means that in order to sell something, you must make sure that your customer knows about it. This can be achieved by placing your product next to competitors' products on a shelf, ads with catchy slogans and/or images, mentioning other customers who bought the item before them, etc.
The important thing here is that there should be some sort of reference point so customers can imagine owning, using, or doing whatever it is you're offering.
We tend to choose the familiar over the unfamiliar regardless of what we're actually looking for. If we don't know what we want, or if we want several things at once, we often resort to various ways of narrowing down the options. One such way is Comparative pricing, where customers compare two items and choose the one that is cheaper than both (Rath & Palade).
Another way includes changing our preferences depending on how much information we have about a product – which means that as more information comes in, our decision will change accordingly. When faced with 2 similar products, some people will actually start by comparing them side by side and then end up liking one over the other because it had more details revealed about it.
Only when they discover there aren't any differences between these two seemingly options, they will start over and choose based on price. Of course, in some cases, it might happen that after comparing prices, there still isn't a clear winner in any sense, in which case people usually just break down and pick randomly.
2. Price
Using the previous example, we saw how we tend to choose the cheapest option when faced with two similar things; however, this can be used in an entirely different way.
One good strategy I've seen is having 2 products that are equally priced but have large differences in quality. For example, you can get an entry-level version of your product for $50 and another one with more options for $150.
This means if your customer picks something cheaper than both prices, they will get a product with fewer features- so it's more likely for people to choose the higher-priced option. Since both these options are equally good, it means that you can objectively claim that your product is worth $150 because you're giving them way more value than what they paid for.
3. Performance
The performance of any product might affect sales in 2 different ways:
a. Customers might choose between similar products based on quality; if yours is better than theirs, there is no doubt you'll sell more. However, this doesn't mean anything unless your competitors' products are well known as well (familiarity again). That is how you need to use the science of selling.
b. If your product isn't much better than other similar ones out there, but your customers hate to admit it, you can try rumors, comparisons, and word-of-mouth to get them to buy from you. In this case, all you have to do is get other people to say that product A is better than product B.
If their opinion matters enough for the customer who needs a product like yours, he might feel pressured into buying from you even if there isn't much difference between these 2 products.
4. Timing
It's easy for us to accept new things if we see or experience several other people doing it before us. This means that marketing campaigns with celebrity endorsements are always more effective because they help spread ideas through rumors and gossip among regular members of society.
The thing about celebrities is that they have a certain degree of power and respect from the general public, so what they say has more weight to normal people.
When it comes to DIY stuff or even clothes, something small can make all the difference. This means you might want to add some features or tweak some colors just for show because if it's going to do wonders on your product, it shouldn't matter what its functionalities are like.
5. Availability
The more accessible a product is the easier it is for your customers to get hold of yours- the better. Possibilities include having an online store with PayPal options, making sure that your warehouse stocks enough items, etc. If you're not in China where they sell pretty much anything, it's kind of hard to compete against the Chinese discounts.
6. Awareness
However, availability isn't the only factor that affects sales; awareness is important too. For example, if your product doesn't sell well in some countries (perhaps they don't like it), you might want to try spreading the word through a Facebook ad campaign in order to increase demand for your products in that geographical area.
The most common way to the science of selling is to get customers to buy from you over other people is by being present when they need what you have. This means having an easy-to-use website with a decent-looking design, making sure shipping and orders work fast, etc.
In the case of online stores, also having enough stock will help because people usually don't want to wait long periods after ordering their item.
7. Convenience
Another thing that can affect sales is to make purchasing as easy as possible. This means that if you're selling a product with installments, you want to make it as simple as possible to get your customer the money they need.
If your product requires too much information to buy, people won't bother buying because it would feel like a waste of time. Time is money, after all!
8. Association
People might not go for what we offer if we don't give them something else in return; this is why all kinds of products use associations to try and convince us that they're actually giving us more value than the price we pay for them.
For example, products with sleek packaging are usually more expensive than others, but people associate it with quality so they pay for it. On the other hand, if you're giving out something extra for free -your product might be worth less than your competitor's, but you can still get sales if people think that what they're buying has more value.
There is also some kind of weird thing where people tend to buy from brands they already know about; again this is why celebrity endorsements work like magic. Connecting products that already sell well (branding), sometimes one good idea isn't enough to make us buy; we need something else on top of it. To make up for this problem companies tend to connect their products to brands that already sell well.
For example, if you're selling a new type of kitchen product that doesn't have any brand recognition, it would be smart to connect it with an established brand for more sales. After all, customers are more likely to buy something they already know about even if its functionalities or benefits might be inferior/superior.
9. Condition
One last thing people consider when buying is the condition of the product. If it's visibly damaged at first glance, chances are people will walk away from it unless you lower the price so much that your store becomes profitable again.
This means that if you sell refurbished products, you should display them in a way where their flaws are obvious not too much as to turn people off, but just enough so they know that the product is cheaper for a reason.
10. Emotions
We all know that selling isn't just about being smart or having a lot of knowledge, it's also about the emotions involved in our purchasing decisions. Studies show that customers tend to buy from products they feel can make them happy rather than ones that are logical and cost-efficient.
People say no to things they don't like, but they'll say yes if something is fun or makes them feel good about themselves. This means that if you're selling a product, try making people who view your product page have those emotional responses you want them to have.
11. Gamification
Nowadays we're used to being rewarded for completing missions and various challenges; this is why having some kind of reward system on your e-commerce site can improve customer retention as well as sales. Even though this may not have to do with the product itself, it can motivate people to buy more of something they already want or need.
This is also why offering free shipping for large orders works - you're essentially rewarding them/bonus for buying more things from your store.
Of course, another thing that can make people want to buy from you is authority. If we know or trust the person who's recommending us something, then we'll probably buy it. This type of marketing relies heavily on influencers - bloggers, industry experts, etc.
In e-commerce specifically, it could be beneficial to get someone to write a review for your products if their audience matches yours. You should also consider using cases where different people share how your product helped them (like testimonials).
Another thing that plays into our decision-making process is social proof; basically how many other people are talking about your brand or sharing their thoughts on it. If our friends are recommending us something and we like their taste in products then we'll probably like yours too (or at least give it a chance).
We all know that this is what influencer marketing is all about, but you can also apply this effect even on a smaller scale. Apart from social media posts that say good things about your brand, reviews and testimonials work well if they're positive.
Lastly, another thing that can convince people to buy from you is social proof. It is one of the crucial steps in the science of selling. This means that if you have other people's trust, then your customers will trust you too even without trying or knowing much about you.
This is why usually the top-rated products in a store get more traffic and sales than others (who doesn't like things that everyone else likes?). If we also look at product ratings on platforms like Amazon, we see how 1-star and 5-star reviews affect us; we consider 4 stars as a safe choice, while 3 or below would be something to avoid unless the price is low enough.
