Complete Guide To Understanding Customer Psychology

Customer psychology can influence your marketing strategy and can be applied across all industries. This guide will discuss how customer behavior is affected by different factors, such as product design, pricing, messaging style, and advertising campaigns. Businesses could get away with many questionable techniques in the early days of web marketing. It’s nearly unbelievable. Consumers were constantly inundated with rude, over-the-top marketing, whether it was via email spam, free iPod frauds, or bright “surprise banners.” What’s the terrifying part? These strategies were successful. Consumers clicked on shady ads in the hopes of — well, who knows what.

Now fast forward to the present day. Consumers are more informed than ever before. Of course, they’re still inundated with pushy marketing messages, but they’re armed with anti-spam and ad-blocking software to cut down on the nonsense. So it’s reasonable to assume that deceptive and aggressive marketing days are ended for the better. So don’t think twice before hammering the last nail into the coffin. Today’s marketing is more than ever about customer empowerment. This article will explain why.

Research-Inspired

When Rishi Dave, Dell’s senior director of worldwide marketing, claims that today’s customers are 60% through their purchasing journeys by the time they contact firm sales personnel, he is dead on. Consumers now have a multitude of information at their fingertips. They can access a limitless amount of customer reviews, blog entries, and competition websites from anywhere around the globe.

Even if they’re standing in the center of your physical shop, distant from a computer, they may place orders from your rivals right then and there. Your brand may oppose it — and upset a lot of consumers in the process. It’s preferable if your company completely supports this natural customer behavior. Consider it from a logical standpoint. Customers will get irritated if they can’t discover the information they’re searching for. They’ll be ecstatic if your company provides them with all of the information they need to make an informed selection.

One of the most important drives of the KISSmetrics Blog is that viewpoint. If you’re not acquainted with KISSmetrics, it’s a firm that makes online analytics software for companies that want to gather data at the user level. Engineers, marketers, and small company owners will find this material highly useful. Web analytics is, without a doubt, a problematic area with a wide range of competence levels. With clients ranging from entry-level to advanced-level analysts, KISSmetrics sees that variety.

The support staff at KISSmetrics gets a lot of inquiries regarding KISSmetrics and web analytics in general. So the KISSmetrics Blog was established: to educate people about online analytics, marketing, and technology. The material is peer-generated, which means it originates from people who aren’t affiliated with the KISSmetrics brand.

KISSmetrics also holds seminars and provides how-tos for clients who are getting started with the program. The concept is simple: no one wants to spend time waiting on hold for customer service. They would instead do their research and education.

KISSmetrics strives to provide a good, enjoyable, and pain-free user experience. However, merely creating content isn’t enough. People now have access to an endless amount of information because of the Internet. When internet audiences are looking for information, they want it instantly, right when they have a query. Therefore, businesses must make their material accessible and available when consumers and prospects have questions.

There are two approaches for brands to achieve this goal:

• Make sure you’re targeting the proper stage of The Conversion Funnel, a funnel used to convert visitors into customers. While disseminating material. This strategy requires a degree of foresight and intelligence regarding what choices your consumers are making and when they are making them.
• The second strategy businesses may use to be accessible when customers have queries. That entails optimizing your website for SEO, being active on social media, and responding to the questions on Quora and LinkedIn, among other things. When individuals have questions, they usually resort to search engines for answers. So make sure your response is front and center, whether it’s a blog post, a guide, or a whitepaper.

Information should act as a pull mechanism, allowing people to locate the information they need just when they need it. Brands must ensure that they are producing and disseminating accurate information. You’ll end up with nothing if you publish a guide on a subject that customers are already knowledgeable about but don’t concentrate on the extra facts that they’re actively seeking (and can’t discover). Customize your work to meet the demands of your target audience. This principle is shown by the fact that the guide you’re reading was created in response to a public request.

You most likely know what your consumers are looking for. If you don’t already have one, now is a fantastic time to start:

• Examine your Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools data to understand your visitor’s search when they arrive at your site.
• Learn about your clients’ needs and interests by speaking with them. Make a face-to-face meeting or call them. Have a free-form discussion on how you can improve your customer service.
• Discuss typical questions with your sales agents, account managers, and customer support representatives. Then, to address some of those queries, you may develop a knowledge center (similar to Eventbrite’s).

You might simply converse with your consumers about anything. But, instead of becoming overwhelmed, pay attention to the most typical human psychological tendencies. By reading between the lines of your interaction, you may figure out precisely what inspires your consumers and prospects. Moreover, you’ll be able to traverse this process more quickly if you can determine what matters to your consumers.

Filtering Systems That Work

We can digest information at breakneck speed. We have noise-canceling headphones that focus on what we want and need to know. We’re born skeptics who can see nonsense from a mile away. Yet, despite the continual barrage of noise, we are always on the hunt for helpful information. We’re always seeking new ways to learn and advance in our jobs. We want to be amused, we want to be able to take a break from our work, and we appreciate businesses that can make us laugh.

We’re continuously assaulted with aggressive marketing messages and sales pitches, and we’ve been programmed to tune it out. We’ll press the ‘delete’ button and never, ever return.

Consumers use both their cognitive and emotional minds to filter information. When brands can appeal to both mindsets, they are in a powerful position. Understanding what drives us as consumers is the first step toward success.

Motivators for Success

This guide’s readers are a mix of consumers and marketers. It’s often difficult to distinguish between these two aspects of our personalities. We believe in excellent marketing as an art form, and we think it’s incredible when we see it done effectively. The problem is that, although we see the world through the eyes of Internet geeks, the general public does not. We aren’t all marketers. We’re small-business proprietors who first used the Internet in our fifties. We’re surgeons who only spend 5% of our time in front of a computer. We’re students who would rather be on the internet killing time than doing work.

The following are the primary motivators that today’s consumers are influenced by:

The benefit to the individual

Products, services, and enterprises that give value to our lives are important to us. We value our time and money and are hesitant to give them up for a sub-par product or a fast cure. A clear and compelling advantage is required.

Consumers’ concerns include:

• What am I getting out of it?
• What am I going to receive out of utilizing your product?
• What product would provide me the best return on my investment of money and time?

Here is how ModCloth, a women’s fashion retailer, appeals to Benefit the individual.

Delight

Life is hectic, and we’re either bored, exhausted, or somewhere between. We’re generally too preoccupied with errands, working long hours, or dealing with our children. As a result, we consciously seek moments of pure bliss, which are few and far between. Five minutes might seem like five glorious hours when we discover those moments of absolute delight.

Consumers’ concerns include:

• Is it necessary for me to return to work?
• What gave me such good fortune?
• Is it feasible to stay in this state indefinitely?
• What can I do to make this moment endure longer?

Customers may post images of their favorite trends to ModCloth’s user style gallery, which delights them. ModCloth’s target demographic (’20-something women) will like the experience, which will immediately benefit the company’s business model — apparel sales.

Social Persuasion

We put our faith in the opinions of our friends and relatives. Instead, we’d start our product searches from the beginning then rely on personal recommendations. Even though we are self-sufficient, we nevertheless seek out the advice of our peers and mentors.

Consumers’ concerns include:

• What are the things that my friends are using?
• What do you think my closest buddy would think of this?
• Is this something my mother would approve of?
• How do I know whether I can put my faith in this company?

When ModCloth instructs you to search for their brand on Facebook, you’ll be able to discover which of your friends have already done so.

“You”

Something about the word “you” in marketing helps firms establish an immediate connection with their customers. Right away, the term demonstrates that you care about your audience.

Consumers’ concerns include:

• Is this firm concerned about my well-being?
• Is this firm aware of my situation?
• Is this a product that this corporation created just for me?

That’s why ModCloth makes its goods about its consumers by using the term “you”:

Familiarity

People are motivated by their experiences in the past. We depend on our memories to make the appropriate decisions about what we should and should not purchase, even when we want to try something new. If we see an ad for a product we’ve been admiring for a long again and over, we’re more inclined to purchase it.

Consumers’ concerns include:

• Is this a product that I’ve previously desired?
• Is this something I’ve been considering purchasing for some time?
• Is this anything I’ve seen before?

The heart and soul of ModCloth’s Facebook and remarketing efforts is repetition. They’ll highlight products that their customers and prospects have previously looked at.

Safety And Trust

The Internet has a horrible reputation for being untrustworthy. Users will doubt your motivations even if your organization is reputable. You are a spam site in their view unless you show differently.

They’re posing the following questions:

• How do I know this site won’t defraud me?
• How long has this business been in operation?
• Is my personal information secure?
• Is it okay if I give these folks my credit card information?

Look at how ModCloth uses security promises and badges to generate confidence on their checkout page.

By displaying testimonials from current customers, InVision, an app that helps designers generate high-fidelity prototypes, develops trust with prospects.

The Conversion Funnel is a funnel used to convert visitors into customers.

You’ve undoubtedly heard of “conversion funnels” or “sales funnels” if you’re a marketer or a company owner. This part may be skipped if you’re already acquainted with the idea. However, keep reading if you’ve never heard of the word before; it’s the most significant notion in marketing. Users may not be ready to make an instant purchase when they visit your website.

Innovative Insights are the source of this image. This concept might be unsettling for company owners: when visitors arrive at your website, you want to see an instant transaction. It’s in our nature to enjoy immediate pleasure. Direct response marketing is the name for this sort of marketing, and it always follows the same pattern: a person visits your website and completes a transaction. The conversion route is always a straight line. Conversions, like many things in business, aren’t always straightforward. The road to a sale might be winding.

Ion Interactive is the source of this image. This is when the marketing funnel enters the picture. It’s a breakdown of prospects’ whole process before becoming paying clients.

Brand Awareness at the Top of the Funnel

Users are in the research phase and aren’t ready to make a purchase. Instead, they’re collecting information, exploring possibilities, and learning about your brand at this stage. Consider it like a first date, to use a corny example. You’re not ready for a second date, much alone a marriage. Therefore, most users at the top of the funnel will not conduct business with you. That’s why marketers utilize the funnel metaphor: as consumers advance through the several phases, the number of interested purchasers decreases.

Dom Lane is the author of this image. To grab prospects at this funnel point, use blog articles, freebies, e-books, discounts, and promotions to cast a broad net. LearnVest, a software that helps individuals manage their finances, is an example of a top-of-the-funnel marketing approach. LearnVest creates content to increase brand recognition and subscription numbers. The money driver, however, is product conversions, not the blog.

Your objectives and success criteria will be as follows:

• The amount of traffic on the internet
• Sign-ups for email newsletters
• Time spent on the webpage on average

Consideration — Middle Funnel

Your business and product will not appeal to everyone. Therefore, only a tiny percentage of your leads will make it to this step of the funnel, and that’s OK. Prospects are reviewing your brand and choosing whether or not they want to do business with you at this stage in the funnel. They aren’t ready to pick yet, but they are curious about your company. As Dom Lane points out in the infographic below, marketing begins with casting a broad net (the top of the funnel). The next stage is to convert those incoming clicks into leads, of which only a tiny percentage will convert into paying clients.

Your objectives and success criteria will be as follows:

• Creating leads
• Getting customers to contact your salespeople
• Having one-on-one interactions and developing connections
• Increasing the number of people who sign up for a free trial

Conversion Funnel at the Bottom

Some of your leads will desire to become paying clients at this stage. They’ll sign agreements with you, purchase your goods, and do business again. What it takes to get to this position will depend on your organization’s business plan. The journey for e-commerce enterprises is usually more straightforward and shorter, with customers spending less time in the consideration stage. On the other hand, buyers will pay a substantial amount of time in the center of the funnel for client service firms.

Your objectives and success criteria will be as follows:

• The number of transactions
• Order value on average
• Having one-on-one interactions and developing connections
• Increasing the number of people who sign up for a free trial

Post-Conversion

Don’t let your satisfied consumers down. For your company, Purchases made again and again maybe a substantial source of income. Create a community around your client base, promote social sharing, and continually look for ways to welcome them back. Email marketing is an excellent approach to reconnecting with former and present consumers.

Your objectives and success criteria will be as follows:

• Purchases made again and again
• Customer lifetime value

Consumer Marketing vs. B2B Marketing

People operating on behalf of businesses are targeted by B2B marketing, while single individuals who pay for their transactions are targeted by consumer marketing. Marketers usually divide their efforts and audiences into two categories: business-to-business (B2B) and consumer-to-consumer (consumer-to-consumer). B2B marketing refers to marketing to other companies. For example, customers who purchase things for their homes, families, and enjoyment are consumers.

The fact is that the distinction between B2B and consumer marketing is blurry. Many customers are also workers. We go to work, but we also spend time with our family at home, resting and enjoying life. Marketers must consider context, recognizing when customers think with their professional and personal minds. Whatever the content of your advertising message, it’s critical to connect with them. LinkedIn has looked into the activity of over 6,000 social media users to see how their personal and professional networks vary. According to the findings, viewers on professional networks are more information-driven.

People use personal social networks to reconnect with old acquaintances, exchange humorous experiences, and pass the time. Professional networks are approached with more zeal since our jobs are our lives. People use networks like LinkedIn to gain new skills and advance in their jobs. Information and education are increasingly important to today’s audiences. Take a look at the three studies below to learn more about the contrasts and overlaps between B2B and consumer marketing.

HubSpot

HubSpot is a company that offers inbound marketing software that allows businesses to blog, email, watch social media, construct web and landing pages, automate marketing, and conduct SEO all in one place. In addition, the organization hopes to educate its clients on marketing themes through its blog and case studies. The business even runs an inbound marketing school to assist consumers in improving their marketing abilities. By reading HubSpot’s blog and case studies, passionate marketers may get wiser (and progress) in their jobs.

ModCloth

ModCloth strives to keep its customers interested, happy, confident, and amused. Recognizing that fashion is an essential component of women’s work life, the firm attempts to make its viewers feel good about what they’re wearing.

ModCloth also empowers customers by allowing them to create their styles and become a part of the ModCloth community. In addition, customers may vote on things they’d want ModCloth to purchase via the ‘Be the Buyer’ initiative.

Meeting of the General Assembly

General Assembly shows the meeting of The convergence between B2B and consumer marketing. The firm provides events, courses, and classes for those wishing to change occupations or develop their skill sets. Customers come to the Meeting of the General Assembly to invest in their knowledge bases and capabilities. Customers also come to meetings of the General Assembly on behalf of their employers. Companies also come to the Meeting of the General Assembly to recruit graduates as new employees. The Meeting of the marketing staff at the General Assembly is equally divided between B2B and consumer marketing.

Personalization’s Importance

The days of commercial messages being aired over the airwaves are ended. Consumers are busy and don’t have time to sort through the massive amounts of data they see daily.

Reaching out to your audience one-on-one is the most effective technique to elicit a reaction. The approaches listed below may assist you in achieving this balance:

1. But, first, customer personas should be created. Buyer personas assist you in putting a face to a name. In contrast to traditional market research (which groups consumers based on demographic factors), customer personas will allow you to study (and categorize) your users individually. The steps for establishing a client persona are as follows:
   • Take a look at one of your buyer groups (product managers, men, marketers, designers, etc.)
   • Choose a name and a picture to represent a member of the group.
   • To learn more about them, answer the following questions:
     • What are the most typical methods that potential customers know about your business? Is it via word of mouth? Referrals?
     • What are some of the questions they’re asking right now?
     • What is the average purchase decision-making process? What kind of follow-up questions are they asking, and who are the stakeholders engaging in brand conversations?
     • How long does the whole procedure take? How long does each step take on average?
     • What are some of the most typical causes of sales failure? Cost? Is there a mismatch between your product or service and the demands of your customers?
   • When creating your marketing message, pretend you’re talking to these folks. This procedure will assist you in making your approach and copy more human.
2. Adapt your message to your website’s conversion-related actions.Clarity, a network that links advice seekers with subject matter experts, performs an excellent job when it comes to determining when to engage users.When consumers schedule calls using Clarity’s network of specialists, the firm earns money. Imagine you want to make a phone call but are too lazy to do it (and not follow through). Clarity will send you a personalized email to remind you to complete your call setup.

   

3. Use a light, conversational tone. Let’s be honest. Boardrooms may be stuffy and monotonous. A formal tone will either startle or put listeners to sleep, whether you’re communicating with them in a B2B or consumer-facing scenario. Friendship conversations are much more enjoyable. Instead, we’d be kidding about with pals over dinner, coffee, or a drink at a bar. Legalese and grammatical accuracy are usually a source of frustration for marketers. You will bury the heart and soul of your marketing message if you focus only on the formalities. Simply be yourself, and let the people behind your business shine. Talk to your customers as though they are your friends to engage them emotionally. Act as though you’re presenting a sales presentation to a corporation. Instead, use a friendly, compassionate, and down-to-earth tone.
4. Pay attention to the little details. It’s not always about what you say. It all comes down to how you deliver your message. Marketers typically assemble pre-fabricated content and graphics because it seems to be effective. For example, they’ll rely on tacky stock photos rather than taking images of their consumers. Sure, the photographs seem to be satisfactory. They’re not genuine, however. Apart from the fact that customers are cognitively predisposed to notice these things, there’s no other explanation. Consider how this corny (and awful) stock shot differs:And take a look at this landing page from Coworks, a platform that curates UX and visual talent and leverages real-life client photos:

   

5. Talk to folks one-on-one: Rather than being the exception, spray-and-pray marketing is the rule. It’s much too simple to send a message to 100 individuals rather than converse with them one-on-one. That’s why so many marketers jump at the chance. The issue is that this strategy is doomed to fail. The human eye has been taught to reject half-hearted, generic marketing more than we know. Instead, make your marketing approach personal while designing it. Marketing automation, retargeting, and content marketing is examples of approaches that may help you reach this aim. These strategies will be discussed later (spoiler warning!)
6. Reciprocal altruism: Last but not least, we want to talk about a concept in consumer psychology called Altruism that is reciprocal. The phrase originated from Procter and Gamble (at least in the marketing sense). It said the following: When companies offer something free, they acquire the loyalty of their customers for life. Give something out, and your organization will see a tenfold increase in revenue. This is why many businesses create branded content in blog posts, videos, and e-books. Giving out the information helps companies to establish customer trust. What’s important to understand is that reciprocal Altruism is quantifiable and measurable. You can use tools like Google Analytics and KISSmetrics to build attribution models to see the conversions and sales that your efforts are driving.

How Do You Measure A Customer’s Loyalty?

By appealing to the psychology of their customers, successful marketers may increase sales. This is a truth based on more than simply faith – brand loyalty is something businesses can track and improve. The key is to prioritize one foundational metric — Customer lifetime value (LTV). Marketers that want to create long-term relationships with their consumers should put LTV ahead of all other ROI KPIs. Organizations often fall into the trap of just monitoring the direct reactions. This common blunder might prevent your marketing from reaching its full potential. For example, a $1,000 marketing investment may lose money in the short term but yield $5,000 in the long run. You’d lose out on the longer-term growth lever if you solely concentrated on the current sales potential. The difference between your in-session revenue and your LTV is what you need to maximize. You’ll have a bit of a cushion and be able to reduce how much money you’re ‘losing’ in the near run.

Conclusion

• Consumers aren’t interested in hearing pushy sales pitches. So instead of selling to their consumers, marketers should concentrate on engaging them.
• Customers are significantly through their shopping journeys when they reach out to a sales rep at your company. The mind of today’s consumer is heavily Research-Inspired — to make customers happy, your business should invest in communicating the information they’re already looking for. In other words, be the first to connect with prospects when they want information.
• Customers (and viewers) should be treated as people, not clicks. Marketers who are just focused on stats miss out on the important psychological reasons that motivate their consumers.
• Customers are continually assaulted with information and have high B.S. meters. Companies may set themselves apart from the competition (and the crowd) by developing high-quality marketing materials. ‘Goodwill never suffice. Your work must be outstanding.
• Conversion funnels are the lifeblood of every internet company. Although the premise is the same, the applications will differ depending on the company and business strategy. Conversion paths are usually winding rather than straight. Depending on your company’s income model and product (or service), they may take a long time. B2B transactions, for example, often take longer to complete than B2C purchases.
• Today’s marketers should emphasize the importance of having a heart. Giving more than you expect in return is an excellent method to form a direct relationship with your customers. Customers should be captured for the rest of their lives via marketing activities. Don’t only rely on quick answers.
• Marketers may measure lifetime user value to see whether their marketing efforts are practical (LTV). This indicator reflects how much money your company is saving in the long run. To see how short-term losses match up against long-term benefits, compare LTV to in-session revenue.

More on utilizing psychology in your marketing efforts may be found in the six other related pieces I’ve published below.

Frequently Asked Question

Why is it important to understand consumer psychology?

A: Consumer psychology is an academic discipline that studies consumers’ thoughts, feelings, and motivations. It focuses on how product users think about their goods and services in terms of needs and satisfaction levels.

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