Psychological Factors of Consumer Buyer Behavior

Consumers are complicated.   If they bought things based on only a select criteria, then it

would be easy to convince others to buy our products and services.  There would be no

need for elaborate ad campaigns and large advertising budgets.  Unfortunately, consumers

are influenced by many different stimuli, and they use many different factors to decide

what to buy and when to buy it.  One of the major influencers of consumer buyer behavior

is the consumer's own unique personality.

When we study personality, we are examining the unique psychological characteristics

that create relatively consistent, lasting behavior in response to the consumer's

environment.  We usually refer to someone's personality by traits, such as self-confidence,

dominance, sociability, autonomy, defensiveness, adaptability, and aggressiveness. 

Personality is extremely important, because it allows us to build a profile of our customer. 

It allows us to really understand who they are, and why they buy.  You can use that profile

to better understand how to tailor your products and services to that buyer, and tailor your

messaging to be as affective as possible when selling to that customer segment.

Consumers aren't the only ones who can have personalities and profiles.  So can brands. 

Brand personalities are the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to that

brand.  In order to better associate our brands with our target customers, we try to give

them personalities that are relatable.  We use these personalities to tailor the look and

perception of the brand and its messaging in the marketplace so that we can attract specific

consumers to our products and services.

Self Concept

Many marketers use a concept related to personality, called Self-Concept.  The main

premise of self-concept is that a consumer's possessions directly contribute to, and directly

reflect their identities. Basically a person "is" what they have.   Therefore, marketers try to

understand our target customers by the things that they own and the things that they buy. 

When we know the buyer's personality, when we have defined our brand personality, and

when we have attempted to understand our consumer buy their existing buying patterns,

we then combine all of this along with specific psychological factors to better understand

their buyer behavior.  Currently we look to four specific factors of our target customers

when building their personality profile:

1) Motivation

2) Perception

3) Learning

4) Beliefs and Attitudes

Let's examine these one by one.

Motivation

A motive is a need that has become so sufficiently pressing that it directs the consumer to

seek satisfaction of that need.  A consumer has a number of needs at any given time of their

life.  Humans are constantly being influenced by various biological and psychological

motivations.  Many common biological needs arise from various states of "tension", such as

hunger, thirst, or some form of physical discomfort.  Psychological needs will arise from a

desire for social recognition, esteem, or belonging in familial, social, or political groups.  If

one of these motivations becomes strong enough within the consumer, it "becomes" a need.

Through various research marketers have identified five "categories" of motivational

needs:

1) Self-Actualization: a consumer's self-development and realization

2) Esteem: a consumer's sense of self-esteem, self-recognition, and social/economic status

in the world

3) Social: a consumer's sense of belonging and feeling loved in their environment

4) Satisfaction: a consumer's sense of security and level of protection in their environment

5) Physiological: a consumer's basic need for food, water and shelter

Marketers have found that there tends to be a hierarchy of need satisfaction within the

typical human being: Physical needs must be satisfied first, then a person is willing to seek

satisfaction fulfillment, then a person will approach social needs, then a person will pursue

esteem, and then finally self-actualization within their environment.  The basic principle

here is that a consumer will almost always try to satisfy the most "pressing" needs first

above anything else.  When that need is met, it will stop being a motivator, and the

consumer will "move on" to the next most influential motivator in the hierarchy of needs. 

Marketers need to remember that motivated people are ready to buy.  Use that to your

advantage.

Perception

How a consumer determines what they will buy is heavily influenced by their perception

of the situation they are in at that moment in time.  Perception is the process by which

consumers select, organize, and interpret information and environmental stimuli in order

to form a more meaningful picture of the world around them.

One of the most massive forms of environmental stimuli is advertising.  On average,

consumers are exposed to 3000 - 5000 advertisements everyday.  It is physically

impossible for a consumer's brain to actively pay attention to all of that stimuli.  Add to that

all of the other environmental stimuli around them: smells, tastes, sounds, conversations;

it's a wonder that humans are able to concentrate on anything at all.  As a result, the brain

controls what stimuli it will engage with.  It is this process that creates perception. 

Consumers form their perceptions through the brain's distinct processes of selective

attention, selective distortion, and seletice retention. 

1) Selective Attention is the tendency for consumers to screen out most of the

information they are exposed to.  We have to work very hard to get the consumer's

attention.

2) Selective Distortion: Every consumer fits incoming stimuli into their own mind-set -

through their own set of "rose colored glasses".  Selective distortion is the tendency of

people to interpret information in a way that will support what they already believe, or

what they want to believe.

3) Selective Retention: Consumers will usually forget much of the stimuli they have been

exposed to.  Consumers will usually store the information that best supports their existing

attitudes and beliefs (or the ones they want to have), so selective retention allows them

"remember" the good points they favor and "forget" the negative points that have been

made about other brands that they don't like.

These processes are why marketers use so much repetition in their advertising campaigns. 

We have to battle our way into the minds of the consumer, force our way in, and in the end,

convince the mind of the consumer that our message is the right one to pay attention to.

Learning

When people perform an activity, they are actively learning.  Most learning theorists

believe that the majority of human behavior is "learned" behavior.  Consumer buyer

behavior is a partly learned behavior.  Consumers "learn" their buyer behavior through

drives, cues, responses, and reinforcement.  Each one of these builds upon the other.

Drives are strong internal stimuli inside the consumer's mind that create calls for action. 

These calls for action, if strong enough, will create a motive (see above), and lead the

consumer to attempt to move towards an object of stimuli.  That object usually will be what

satisfies the need.

Drives create Cues.  Cues refer to more "minor" stimui that condition the consumer's

behavior.  Cues help the consumer decide when, where, and how to respond to a drive.

Responses are the consumer's actions based off of drives, motives, and cues from

environmental stimuli.

Responses build Reinforcement, which influences the consumer's future buyer behavior.  If

the purchase experience and immediate experience with the product has been positive,

then the consumer will likely consider buying that same product in the future.  If the

consumer's experience is somewhat negative, then they are likely to seek a different

product later when the need has to be fulfilled again.

Beliefs and Attitudes

Through our daily activities, we build beliefs and attitudes that in turn influence our buying

behavior.

A consumer's beliefs are descriptive thoughts that they have about something, while

attitudes are a consumer's "relatively" consistent evaluations, feelings, and tendencies

toward an object or idea.  Attitudes put people into specific frames of mind, and help to

move them towards or away from certain products and brands.  Unfortunately attitudes

can be very difficult to change.  Attitudes are a part of a consumer's learned behavior

patterns.  Changing a consumer's attitudes and beliefs usually will require us try to change

many other perceptions and attitudes in other areas of the consumer's mind.  Often it is

easier to position a product into an existing attitude, than to fight against them and try to

change them.

Marketers need to understand these beliefs and attitudes in order to best position their

messaging in front of the target consumer.  If we believe some of the target consumer's

beliefs and attitudes are wrong about us, thereby preventing sales, then we can understand

how to launch focused messaging campaigns to change beliefs about our products and

brands.

Consumers are complicated.   Their unique personalities have many facets, and all of

them are involved in what is hardly a simple decision when they are choosing to buy

something.  It is the marketer's responsibility to do their due diligence and learn as much

as possible about their target customer.  Failing to have some understanding of the

pyschological factors of consumer buyer behavior will result in unfocused messaging, and

wasted marketing dollars.  Today's economic reality forces us to do enough research before

starting any creative for our ad campaigns.

Sociological Factors

Social group is defined as having two or more people who will interact to accomplish

individual or mutual goals - one of which is usually purchasing a good or service to meet a

need or desire. The reality is that a consumer's behavior isn't influenced my just one group;

it is influenced by many different groups.  We refer to these groups as Reference Groups.

Reference groups influence the consumer by serving as direct (face to face) or indirect

points of comparison or "reference" in building a consumer's behavior and attitudes.  In a

reference group with direct influence, several individuals may be a part of the consumer's

purchase decision. The typical roles of these individuals are:

The Initiator

The Initiator is the individual that first suggests or thinks of the idea of buying a product or

service.

The Influencer

The Influencer is the individual whose view or advice influences the consumer's buying

decision.  This person is sometimes also referred to as the Opinion Leader.  The Influencer

is usually has special skills or knowledge, personality or other characteristics that will

exert social influence on other members of the group. The role of the Influencer or Opinion

Leader has taken on a whole new meaning and emphasis with the advent of social media

platforms.

The Decider

The Decider is an individual with power and/or the financial authority to make the choice

regarding which product to buy.  This is usually the consumer, but it can also be another

person.

Buyer

The Buyer is a person who conducts the buying transaction.  This is also usually the

consumer, but it can be another person as well.

User

The User is the person (or persons) who will actually use the product or service that has

been bought.

It is important to note that very often consumers are influenced by reference groups that

they do not belong to.  We will sometimes refer to these groups as aspirational groups.  One

example of an aspirational group would be the olympic team of the consumer's country. 

The consumer may aspire, due to the success of the team members, to "be like them."  This

may lead them to buy many of the same products that the team members may be

endorsing, so that they can move towards their goal of acquiring many of the same traits of

those group members.  Aspirational groups can exert a lot of influence over a group of

consumers, and their potential to help a marketer increase sales should not be ignored.

Family Groups

Family Groups are usually considered to be the most important “buying” organisations

within a given society.  Marketers are most interested in the roles and influence different

members of a family group on a large variety of products and services a consumer may

buy.  Over time the buying roles of the traditional husband-wife model relationship have

been changing. In most societies, the wife is usually the primary buyer for the family unit,

primarily in the product categories of food, household products and clothing. However,

with more women entering into full-time work, and more men becoming telecommuting,

traditional family roles are changing.  The challenge for the marketer is understanding how

these societal changes affect demand for their products and services, and how the

messaging mix might need to be changed to attract male rather than female buyers in a

given product category (or vice versa).

Another factor to consider in Family Groups is the stage of life of its members.  Married

individuals tend to show strong desires towards buying products and services which would

benefit not only them but also the members of their family group. A consumer who has a

spouse and child at home usually will buy for them rather than spending on themselves. An

consumer entering into marriage would be more interested in buying a house, a car, and

other household items such as furniture and decorating products.  Every consumer will

usually go through a common set of stages of life, and will show a different buying mindset

in each stage.  For a common male consumer this tends to look like:

Bachelorhood: Trends towards alcohol, electronics, vehicles, mobile technology

(Spends Lavishly)

Newly Married: Trends towards purchasing a home, car, furnishings. (Spends

sensibly)

Family with Children: Trends towards purchasing products to secure the well-

being of his family’s future.

Empty Nest (Children getting married)/Retirement/Old Age: Trends towards

medicines, health product categories, and products that are part of an increased

lifestyle and income level.

Social Status

One aspect of social status is a consumer's economic status.  Marketers take into

consideration the social class of the consumer when tailoring messaging to them.  A social

class is a relatively "permanent" and ordered division in a society whose members share

similar values, interests, and behaviors.  These classes have their own distinct reference

groups, and often reference groups in some classes will influence consumers who are

members of a different social class. Different social classes will tend to desire different

categories of products as part of their consumer buyer behavior.  For example, an upper

middle class consumer will tend to spend more of their disposable income on "luxury"

items, whereas a consumer from middle to lower income groups will tend to purchase

items that are required for their own survival over day-to-day comfort.

In the United States, there are four distinct class groups:

Upper Class (3%)

- Upper Uppers: The social elite who live on inherited wealth.  They are philanthropic, own

many homes, and send their children to the best schools.

- Lower Uppers: Consumers who earn high income through great ability.  They are active in

social and political culture groups, buy expensive homes, educations and vehicles.

Middle Class (44%)

- Upper Middles: Professionals and corporate managers who don't have a high family status

or unusual levels of wealth.  They believe in higher education, and they want the "better

things in life".

- Middle Class: "Average" income white and blue collar consumers who live in the better

part of town.  They buy products to keep up with current trends.  They want to be in a nice

home in a nice area and send their kids to quality schools.

Working Class (38%)

- They lead a working class lifestyle at any income level, education level, or job.  They

usually will depend on relatives for economic and emotional support, for purchasing

advice, and for assistance in rough times.  Family is the most important reference and

cultural group.

Lower Class (16%) 

- Upper Lowers: These are the working poor.  Their living standard is just above the

poverty line, and they actively strive to advance to a higher class of life.  Often they do not a

great education or skills, and they are often poorly paid for unskilled work and tasks.

- Lower Lowers:  These are the visibly poor in society.  They are poorly educated and

unskilled.  They are usually out of work and depend on the government for assistance most

of the time.  They are in the middle of a day-to-day existence.

It is the marketer's job to not ignore any of the reference groups of our target markets.  We

must be constantly researching and identifying these groups, because they will expose

people to new lifestyles and behaviors, and change their attitudes and influence the

consumer's self-image.  Reference groups are a vital component of our marketing

campaigns.