Have you ever wondered why do organizations spend hefty amounts on marketing, different modes of promotions and discounts? Even the brands with a good reputation in the market keep on trying to convince you to buy the products? And the amazing part is still some of the people buy that product but the others go for the competitor’s offering. Well! here comes the role of consumer psychology.
Do you think you should be generating a better understanding about the basics of this science to know what is actually going on? Obviously, that would help you in getting to know the gimmicks of these large companies in a better way. Yeah, so next time, you won’t fall into their prey? So, let’s start our journey to find what is consumer psychology.
What is Consumer Psychology?
It is the psychology of the consumer based on which the purchase decisions are made. A better understanding about the concept helps psychologists and the marketers in understanding the underlying processes going on in the brain that are responsible for decision-making. With these findings, marketers can actually devise better strategies for selling their products and services. In other words, they can know you better and can manipulate your brain in a unique manner.
Comparison Between Brick & Mortar Operations and Online Stores with respect to Consumer Psychology:
The need for knowing about your needs and the way you shop has increased constantly with the spiking competition. Traditionally, businesses were used to employ the 4P’s of marketing at their best to provide you the best experience along with the collection of data at the point of sales. Although, that amounted for a lot of data and interpretation but still it was simpler and it did work.
But now with the availability of online platforms, the collection of data and the tactics that can be used for tracking and attracting customers have gone to a new height. Now, the online stores, websites and companies can collect data from your clicks and website visits and this data is used for understanding the psychology of the consumers.
Examples of Consumer Psychology:
In this section of this article, our focus would be to discuss a few specific examples that would help you in understanding the science behind it. So, let’s have a look at them without wasting anymore time.
1. Pricing:
Have you ever noticed some of the products have a price ending up in .99 or .90? This is one of the prominent examples of the effective use of consumer psychology while selling the products. The use of this strategy increases the chances that the consumers would perceive the price lower in comparison to the use of whole number and that would make them buy the product.
How many times have you fallen into such a trap? Think of it and you’ll at least find a few products or companies that uses this strategy.
2. Packaging:
Another important use of this phenomenon can be seen when analyzing the packaging of the product. Most of the companies use vibrant colors in packaging and this is done with a view to get the attention of the customers immediately.
3. Volume of Advertisement:
If you watch television regularly, then you would have noticed that in every break, the volume of your TV requires adjustment. Do you know why is it so? This is because marketers believe that higher volume would attract the attention easily. And this is what usually happens. With a higher volume than the usual, you tend to put your focus on the voice.
If you haven’t observed this phenomenon, try it now and you’ll start understanding the psychology of the consumers.
4. Social Influence:
The research shows that people buy products if they get the recommendation from their social circle. Because of this research, the concept of influence marketing is becoming prominent. Marketers use celebrities, influencers and people with high following for spreading the word of mouth.
5. You Attitude:
You attitude means the focus of the company, business or website on the “customer” or “audience”. One of the effective determinants of a good consumer psychology is to play with “you attitudes”. In this approach, the marketers tell the customers that it is them who is important and all the efforts of the company is for their benefit.
Mostly, the problem being faced by the consumer is highlighted. And the customer is shown that how can you get help from it rather than saying how can it help you. Similarly, you’ll find most of the companies simply concentrate on “you” and tell the entire story to the customer. With this approach, the companies can drive more sales from you.
Theories Governing Consumer Psychology:
You can definitely find a large number of theories discussing consumer psychology from various perspectives. But our motive here is not to get into any sort of academic debate. We just want to keep things simple and explain the concept in the best possible way. This is why, we’ll just be pointing out some of the famous theories and how they govern the concept.
1. Cognitive Approach of Human Data Processing:
According to this theory, the decision-making process depends on the mental data processing. People can have their own rationales for making a decision. So, despite all the commercials they see and like, still the internal factors of the environment could be responsible for making a decision. Thus, for the believers of this theory, packaging and other such things don’t matter at all.
2. Behaviorism:
Alternatively, behaviorism and its proponents suggest that the behavior of the individuals is dependent on the external factors or stimuli. For such individuals, all the feelings, thoughts and actions can have the direct impact on behavior. So, this concept makes commercials etc. important.
Conclusion:
The aim of this article was to discuss consumer psychology definition and help you in finding how companies can manipulate your mind and influence you to buy their products. Most of the points that we have highlighted in the article relate to the general everyday matters that we face.
So, now you are in a better position to find what is consumer psychology and how should you react to these advertisements etc. Although, you cannot block all the efforts of the companies for this purpose. But you can definitely make a better decision after reading this article.
If you are aware of some other tactics that the companies use to influence you and use your psychology for their betterment, then share these strategies in the comments section. It will help all of us.
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