20 Fun Facts About Consumer Behavior
Understanding the psychology behind consumer behavior is key to building an effective marketing – and sales – strategy for your business. Here are 20 fun facts about how consumers think and behave, and some tips about how you can use that to your business’s advantage.
It is much easier to sell to an existing customer than to gain a new customer (60-70% vs. 10-20%).
You should: Focus on maintaining customer loyalty rather than finding new customers. It will save both time and costs. Start a loyalty or rewards program, or offer discounts specifically for repeating customers.
89% of shoppers do research online before making a purchase.
You should: Make sure your online presence is enticing and resourceful. Your first impression to a new buyer will most likely be online, and you want it to be a good one. If you need help with your website, social media, or general digital strategy, contact us!
96% of customers don’t even file a complaint after a bad experience; they’ll simply never go back to that brand.
You should: Never skimp on a good customer experience for your existing customers. This also goes back to #1: loyal customers are ultimately more valuable for you. Set up a feedback system that’s easy to use and streamlined so that you can catch more bad experiences and have the opportunity to make amends (and perhaps earn yourself a loyal customer in the process!)
Limited availability of a certain product can create an obsession amongst consumers.
You should: Use the sense of urgency as a marketing strategy to your advantage. But use it well! Make sure it’s always accompanied by a call to action and clear next steps that consumers can take to ease that sense of urgency.
A customer who has a good experience will tell 4-6 people; on the other hand, a customer who’s had a bad experience will tell between 9-15 people on average.
You should: Both encourage customers who’ve had good experiences to tell as many people as possible, while creating processes to catch people who’ve had bad experiences and make amends. Set up a constant and instant feedback loop with your customers, or make sure they’re being check in on often enough.
Bundling is an effective sales strategy as long as the bundled items can be bought separately, because it portrays the image that it is a convenient purchase.
You should: Consider bundling some of your products that are sold separately, but would be a convenient package for certain consumers. This makes for great marketing with creative bundle names, and something “new” your customers can be excited about.
More than half of consumers are willing to pay an additional fee for guaranteed preferred customer service.
You should: Offer this! If your business is in the right space, then you can offer a “premium” package where customers can get priority access to your best customer service representative. It’s basic, but it’s also powerful.
70% of the buying experience is based on how the customers feel they are being treated.
You should: Make sure customers have an amazing buying experience throughout the customer journey. Begin with some basic customer journey mapping, identify the gaps in what could be a good experience, and solve those gaps with solutions that will improve the buying experience. If you need help with this, contact us today!
A majority of consumers (around 80%) will make purchase decisions influenced heavily by online reviews.
You should: Set up an online review presence – in multiple places. TrustPilot is a great place for people to leave reviews in a neutral third party space, and it’s always best practice to have some reviews on your website or social media.
Loyal consumers are worth nearly 10 times the value of their initial purchase.
You should: Create loyal consumers with some systematic processes, such as offering a rewards program or referral compensations. This also goes back to a common theme: keep your customers happy!
A little less than half of consumers will stop an online purchase because of shipping costs.
You should: Always ensure your shipping costs are reasonable. In fact, it’s a powerful marketing campaign to offer free shipping; your customers feel like they’re getting a deal, and you get an additional purchase for the cost of shipping.
75% of consumers will participate in “stress shopping.”
You should: Create a buying experience that allows for stress shopping to happen! Make sure it’s streamlined and frictionless, focused on the customer’s experience, and easy to use all the way through.
The Pratfall Effect states that admitting a weakness or flaw is actually more appealing to consumers because the brand is building trust, and subsequent statements become more believable.
You should: Always maintain a genuine, honest, and personable brand identity. In this day and age, consumers want something real and relatable, and what’s more relatable than making mistakes or admitting you were wrong? A brand manager can be extremely valuable to this end.
People are more likely to purchase during a big life event, because that’s when our habits and confirmation bias becomes destabilized.
You should: Target your relevant marketing to be centered around big life events, whether that’s a wedding, new baby, new job, a big relocation, graduation, even birthdays. Focus on the fact that this is an effective strategy because people’s daily habits tend to become inconsistent during these times, which is when they’re more susceptible to make purchases they otherwise may not.
There is such a thing as over-personalization: make sure you personalize enough for effective marketing without losing the combined cultural essence of your brand.
You should: Keep your brand and its community spirit in mind even as you personalize outreach via email or other marketing channels. Your consumers still need to feel like they belong to a group of some sort to stay loyal to your brand. Personalization is a powerful tool, so use it wisely.
Suggest a minimal action for consumers who may be struggling from “analysis paralysis.”
You should: Keep your CTA’s (call-to-action’s) simple and easy to fulfill. Rather than make a purchase, urge them to put a product in a shopping cart, or reach out to a sales rep to learn more. These sound more non-committal, but it’s an effective next step to get them through that sales funnel.
Being told we’re a part of a group is a powerful tool to make people embrace messages coming from that group.
You should: Create a solid community of consumers that can relate or identify with each other through one commonality: their relationship to your brand. Whether it comes in the form of a social media group, rewards program, message board/forum, a membership, or regular meet-ups, being a part of a group is powerful. Just look to health institutions – like gyms – as a great example.
To be a part of a group, you need a common enemy. In this case, it’s a powerful tool to have a main competitor.
You should: Strengthen the bond within your brand’s group by introducing a competitor. This can be a brand that sells a similar item with some fundamental difference, or it can be an ideological enemy that the brand symbolically disagrees with. Both are powerful tools to increase the sense of camaraderie within the brand’s loyal consumers. Just look at Apple vs. Android.
The words and copy you use has significant influence on consumer buying behavior; for example, adding the word “small” in front of a fee can increase response rates by 20%.
You should: Hire an awesome copywriter/content marketing manager! It may seem like words make little impact on your marketing efforts, but in essence, they may be the most important factor of them all. If your content strategy needs a little boost in the right direction, we can help out.
Customers are more prone to buy when they feel their problems can be solved instantly.
You should: Reward them immediately after they’ve made the payment, either with the product itself (if digital) or a small “thank you” of some sort. It might also pay off to use words like “new,” “instant,” and “free” in your marketing copy.
