Consumer buying behavior is a critical topic that we find an urge to highlight. Have you ever wondered what drives our choices? And what factors influence consumers to make the purchases they make?
Understanding your customer purchasing behavior is essential to have a successful marketing strategy that aligns with the needs of your target consumers. And in order to clearly understand consumer behavior, we need to identify the factors that influence them.
Accordingly, in this article, Goodzii will discuss in detail the 5 major factors influencing consumer buying behavior, so marketers can use consumer behavior patterns to create successful marketing campaigns.
1- Psychological Factors
There are 4 psychological factors that influence consumer buying behavior which are:
Motivation
The more a person is motivated, the more likely he/she will make a purchase. That’s why understanding how to motivate your customer is crucial because motivation is what will drive your customer to make a purchasing behavior.
Perception
Perception is the process of gathering information about a certain product to develop an image of it that makes sense to you. The perception your customer forms about a particular product influences his/her buying decision. For example, Mercedes is perceived as a premium brand, and consumers get motivated to buy it to join the elite class.
Learning
When we purchase a product over and over, we learn something about it every time through experience. For example, if you bought a sandwich and it tasted bad, you will develop a bad experience and learn not to buy it again. However, if you bought a sandwich and found it yummy, you will have the desire to buy it again. Thus, learning changes the behavior of a person as he/she knows more about something.
Attitudes and Beliefs
We all have certain attitudes and beliefs that we develop throughout our life. These attitudes and beliefs are what drive us to behave in a particular way towards the product. Since attitudes and beliefs develop brand image and affect consumer buying behavior, marketers have to pay much attention to them.
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2- Social Factors
Social factors affect consumer buying behaviors significantly. It means the influences of other people around us on our purchasing behavior. It entails 3 main sub-factors: family, reference groups, and social roles and status.
Family
According to Analytics Steps, Watching our family buy a certain product and avoid others during our childhood affects the buying behavior of a person. This is exactly how we develop preferences and perceptions about products when we become adults.
Reference Groups
A reference group is a group of people that we relate ourselves to. Reference groups are a powerful tool in forming a person's attitude and behavior. Mostly, people in reference groups have something in common when it comes to buying behavior and they influence each other.
Social Roles and Status
According to the position a person holds and the status he/she is in, the buying pattern varies. As people are influenced by the roles and positions they hold in society and behave according to that.
3- Cultural Factors
Cultural factors include the following pillars:
Culture
Culture is a significant part of every society, and shapes many of our values and beliefs. For this reason, the effect of culture on consumer buying behavior is huge. Additionally, we learn the basic values, needs, preferences, perceptions, and behaviors through our culture.
Subculture
Each society consists of different subcultures. According to your subculture group, you adopt particular values and beliefs as per your group. Thus, subculture groups are one of the top factors that influence our behaviors, such as purchasing behavior.
Social Class
Each person has a social class, and it can be determined through occupation, education, family background, and residence location. For instance, during a purchasing process, an A-class shopper may focus on quality, however, a C-class shopper may focus more on price. Hence, consumer buying behavior changes based on social class.
4-Personal Factors
Besides the factors discussed above, personal factors are influential regarding consumer buying behavior. These factors vary from one person to another, and they impact our perceptions and behaviors. Some of these factors are:
Age
Age is a major factor that affects the buying behavior of consumers. Simply, if you are in your 30s, your purchasing behavior will completely change than your teenage sibling. According to an Indian study made in 2014 about the factors that influence consumer behaviors.
Income
Needless to mention that income impacts our buying behavior like nothing else. For example, someone whose income is high is more likely to buy more luxurious stuff. On the flip side, someone with a lower income may only buy the basic needs. So, based on your income, your buying behavior changes.
Occupation
Consumer buying behavior is significantly influenced by the profession he/she possesses. If you are working in a firm, you will buy clothes different from your best friend who works in an art gallery.
Lifestyle
The lifestyle of consumers is another vital factor affecting customers' buying habits. As proof, if reading is part of your lifestyle, then your buying choices will definitely include books. On the other hand, your music lover's cousin will more likely buy music-related stuff.
5- Economic Factors
Our buying decisions rely upon the market's economic situation to a great extent. Some of the economic factors include:
Personal Income
As discussed earlier, the higher your income, the more powerful your purchasing power is.
Country’s Economic Situation
Consumers in countries that have strong economies are more willing to be more than consumers in countries that suffer economically.
Liquid Assets
If a consumer has high liquid assets that makes him/her more willing to spend money on luxurious items than a consumer who doesn't have such things.
To conclude, each purchase has a story behind it, and to be familiar with it, you need to perfectly understand the factors involved in this story that led to the decisions being made. Goodzii hopes this article has flattened the road for you to understand and utilize the factors that truly affect buying decisions in this article.
If you find this article has helped you in better understanding consumer behavior, send a message / email with the next topic you would like us to discuss next.
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