What's up brand builder Stephen Houraghan here at brandmasteracademy.com and in this video you're
going to learn five factors influencing consumer behavior so you can understand
what really drives customers to buy so you can influence and stimulate those very decisions
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now i created a video recently called what is consumer behavior and how to influence it now if
you haven't seen that video i'll leave a link in the description below you should check it out but
in a nutshell the study of consumer behavior in marketing determines how consumers make buying
decisions to choose their products services and their brands the more you know about the decisions
that are most important to your audience and the thought processes emotions and motivational
factors behind them the better place you are to influence them so in this video i want to show you
five of the most important factors influencing customer behavior now the brand of car that
you bought is different to your friends and the brand of tv that you bought is different to your
neighbors but what causes this exactly what is the reason behind you choosing a different car to
your friend or you choosing a different tv to your neighbor or more specifically what are the buying
decision factors influencing your decision to buy and why are they different from your friends
or your neighbors now typically there are five core factors that influence the decision to buy
which are psychological factors social factors cultural factors economic and personal factors
so let's dive deep into each one of these so you can understand them a little better
now every decision that we make in life whether it's a decision to buy a decision
to have children or a decision to go to the pub on a friday are influenced by our psychology so
let's explore these psychological decision-making factors in a bit more detail
the first one is motivation now how motivated we are to do something has a high degree of influence
on whether we do it or not now in maslow's hierarchy of needs he outlines five different
levels of human needs and at the bottom are the basics like food and shelter and at the top
are self-actualization now if someone was worried about making rent to keep a roof
over their head then that would be the focus of their efforts rather than trying to find a purpose
in their lives and likewise if i'm unhappy with my body weight then i'm far more likely to be
motivated to get myself booked into a weight loss boot camp than my neighbor who is as thin
as a rake now how motivated we are to do something is the point of tension between where we are now
and where we want to be the next factor is our perceptions now our perceptions are the way we
regard understand interpret or see something based on our direct or indirect experiences so
for example if my experience with an acquaintance is that he always follows through on what he says
he's going to do well then my perception is that he's reliable and he can be trusted so perceptions
are everything in branding so perceptions become reputations which become brand equity
which is the willingness to buy or pay more for a brand than its competitors the perception of apple
as a brand is that they're a modern and innovative company creating superior products which is why
they can price their products at such a premium to their competitors now the more effective brands
are at positively influencing their audience's perceptions of the brand the more they influence
the buying decision the next buying decision factor is learning so what we learn through our
experiences can change our buying behaviors and influence our future buying decisions
so for example if you bought a pair of jeans that lost their shape after a few wears then
you'd be far less likely to buy that product or even that brand in the future and this is why the
brand experience plays such an important role in retaining customers long term the better the brand
experience the more they learn to associate a positive experience with your brand and the
more likely they'll be to purchase again in the future now the worse the brand experience is the
more likely your customer will be to learn from that brand experience and change their purchasing
decision in the future i.e they just won't come back for more business next up is attitudes and
beliefs now attitudes and beliefs are really powerful decision-making factors because
they tend to be born from deep experiential emotional or traditional enduring principles which
are really hard to shake they're often unshakable you'll tend to find that consumers have these deep
beliefs about these feelings so in other words the attitudes and beliefs are next to impossible
to change and the products and brands that they buy tend to either align with these beliefs or
they don't so because these attitudes and beliefs are so strong and so emotionally charged brands
that understand their customers beliefs can align with them through their brand messaging
and that's often really really powerful if you're able to do that if you're able to align with your
customers beliefs through your messaging then they will be drawn into your brand and you know
they'll have this deep emotional connection to the messages that you're putting out into the market
the next buying decision factors are social factors now as humans we are social creatures
we've learned to survive as a species by working together and the impact of our peers and their
perceptions of us is really really important to us we all want to feel a sense of belonging and
that we have our place in society and we're part of something bigger than ourselves so rightly
or wrongly we place a high level of importance on our social standing and what our peers think of us
now of course our purchasing decisions reflect this as well with factors including many things
such as family now family for many people is their foundation and their reference point for
anything from a choice of partner to a choice of lipstick now if your new partner gets the thumbs
up from your family then it's game on in most cases and the same is true for brands especially
in the food and beverage category some heritage or traditional brands make it into the coveted
family brand status that is their offspring from a family brand household will likely to continue to
use that brand throughout their lives so getting the family tick of approval is a common factor
influencing that buying decision the next social factor is reference groups now reference groups
or peer groups are groups of people that we tend to associate with so these groups could
be from school from work from clubs social sports events or just groups of friends or acquaintances
now people within these groups often have a similar pattern of purchasing behavior and
they may be influenced by a popular leader of the group so for example growing up as a kid with my
friends we all had the same sense of taste we all had the same taste in music and most of my
childhood friends were the same and the kicks of choice at the time for us were converse all-star
and the purchasing decision for my bright red high tops was deeply influenced by my group of
mates the next factor are culture and traditions now human behavior is largely a result of learning
we learn from our teachers our family our friends and for the most part in the early years anyway
these learning experiences tend to come from the same culture in other words the values preferences
and behavioral patterns that we adopt are passed down through tradition and culture culture
and tradition therefore influences many of our purchasing decisions with many different factors
so let's take a look at a few of those the first is culture now our culture shapes our basic values
our requirements our beliefs our wants our preferences and our behaviors as well in other
words our culture shapes who we are and who we are determines what's important to us in life and
what's important to us in our purchasing decisions as well then we have subculture now every culture
consists of smaller subcultures that people identify with more specifically than they do their
overarching culture so although subcultures share the same overarching beliefs as the culture it's
formed under they also have more specified beliefs that often differ from the rest now messaging
speaking to subcultures will likely resonate more with that subculture than messaging to the
overarching culture now this is the exact same as messaging to market segments versus an overarching
market segment so the more specified you get the more they're going to resonate with your messaging
the next cultural factor is social class so the social class of a person often influences
what they buy social class isn't determined by simple factors such as income rather a combination
of factors including occupation education power lifestyle etc so many purchasing decisions of
mercedes-benz cars have as much to do with the social class association that it provides
as the quality engineering that it offers the next core factor are economic factors now economic
factors are hugely influential when it comes to purchasing behavior as they determine the means
available to the consumer now of course there are some purchases that consumers simply cannot make
not because of their desires to buy whatever it is on offer but due to their economic factors
which include their personal income and much much more so let's have a look at personal income first
and foremost so how much income a consumer earns in a year is a direct determinant of
how much discretionary and disposable income that they have so in other words how much someone earns
determines the means that they have to spend and the freedom they have within their buying
decisions the next economic factor is family income now family income and personal income
are often interconnected but not always the more people within the family that are working the
more likely the cost of living will be shared and individual spending capabilities will be enhanced
so ultimately this means more disposable income as a family and more disposable income as individual
consumers next up is income expectations now expectations of increased income can influence
buying decisions as well so any expected increase in income often becomes mentally available to the
buyer before the funds are actually physically or digitally available so for example a woman
might see a nice pair of shoes that she wouldn't normally buy because of the high price but with
her expected salary increase around the corner then she's happy to put it on the credit card and
where the cost later on the next economic factor is the savings plan now savings in the bank or the
contribution to savings can play a major role in the buying decision a decision to save now
rather than spend will reduce the amount of available income in the buying decision if
the savings is part of a longer term plan than purchasing behavior and the person's overall
purchasing profile will be affected the next core buying decision factor are personal factors now
personal factors influencing the buying decision processes are circumstantial situational and
behavioral so they set the scene and provide insight into the life of the customer which
together can play a role in how decisions are made so let's take a look at some of these factors
first up is age now the age of the customer or the consumer is an overarching personal factor in the
influencing buying decision so we all have buying decision patterns which are likely directed by our
age so for example a 13 year old teenage boy is less likely to spend money on shaving products
than he will when he's 23 and that's just a simple age consideration when it comes
to that buying decision factor the next factor is occupation the occupation of a person often
influences the buying decisions of individuals so for example a blue-collar professional working
downtown in the finance district will be far more likely to invest in a professional and formal wear
than an engineering consultant working on site the next personal factor is lifestyle
now a person's lifestyle tells you a bit about the way they live their lives which includes
their activities their interests and hobbies and ultimately how they engage in the world
around them lifestyle branding that promotes a person's ideal lifestyle aims to influence the
buying decision of their target market by aligning with the lifestyle that they're passionate about
so these are the five core decision-making factors that influence consumer behavior they
are psychological factors social factors cultural factors economic and personal factors so the next
time you sit down to determine your audience or to create a customer avatar don't just stop at their
demographics and their psychographics and call it a day dig deeper to find out what factors are most
important to them in their buying decision that will ultimately impact their decision to buy if
you want to learn more about how to define your target market so you can better resonate then
this video will help you out until next time brand like a master and i'll see you in the next video