Why Customers Buy (And The Levers You Can Use)

This is an article from The Business Boost & Build Newsletter.

It’s once a week and includes one tip from me and three resources from others.

The reasons behind why customers buy

This Weeks Tip: Understand Why Your Customers Buy

People don’t buy products.

People don’t buy features.

People buy because of emotions.

To put it more succinctly, marketing is 9% logic, 91% emotion

We buy things based on emotion and justify it with logic afterwards.

The Emotions That Govern Your Purchasing Decisions

People will buy if they believe the product or service will do one of three things:

  1. Move them towards pleasure
  2. Move them away from pain
  3. Be novel

If you can effectively tell people how you’ll transform their lives and solve their problems, you’ll make a sale.

And the best way to do that is to understand their wants and needs.

But so many marketers skip this simple step!

We All Want The Same Things

People are simple.

Once we have the basics - food, water, shelter and safety.

We generally start to desire the following:

  • To make more money
  • To save time
  • Be part of a tribe
  • Be admired
  • Gain higher status
  • Have a purpose

Position your product or service as the mechanism that will provide one of these.

Know Your Who, What and Why

Your marketing strategy needs all three of these.

  • Who - Your customer

  • What - Your product

  • Why - Their problem

Connect the dots between each of these. Create simple messaging and content to attract.

Ask yourself these questions to help you understand why your customers buy and how you could help.

  • How are your customers feeling about their current situation?
  • What would be their best possible scenario?
  • What’s the biggest problem for them right now?
  • What’s getting in the way of their next steps?

Three Resources From Others

  1. Josh Spector’s episode with Mark Masters called Two Super Simple Ways To Figure Out What An Audience Wants (Even If You Don’t Have One). The full episode is well worth a listen.
  2. If you need help with email campaigns, Drip Scripts is a great place to get you started very quickly.
  3. This thread from Jay Clouse about having a clear purpose.