Long back, consumers were largely dependent on traditional advertisements and recommendations before making a purchase. Though these methods are effective today, technological innovations have proved to transform the means for the interaction of brands and consumers. Now, there are a large number of factors that affect the decision of a buyer.

Over the years, consumer behavior has changed. As a result of the rise of different digital channels, including social media and review platforms, consumers not only want to make a purchase but also look forward to building a relationship with the brand. If you want to swap your marketing and sales campaign, the first thing is to learn about the factors or external influences on consumer behavior. Before going further, let’s study the way modern consumer purchases products.

HOW DO CONSUMERS DECIDE?


Whenever any individual wants to make a purchase, they undergo a consumer decision journey. Here follows its brief breakdown: 

AWARENESS


Once your ads are exposed to people, they get to know about your business. For instance, if you deal with insurance, seeing the name of your brand on television, across billboards, or on other paid advertisements, they will consider your firm as the option while looking for an insurance policy.

EVALUATION 


The buyer will gather opinions and think of all important factors to evaluate each of them thoroughly. Once your ads have gained their interest and attention, they would search for more details about the business. This is exactly the place where social media platforms and review sites will come into use.

PURCHASING 


After they consider all the factors, the customer finally chooses to convert. These days, consumers expect a wide range in purchasing options, mainly if business is operated in the retail industry. Making the best use of an app or site and having consumer service lines will lay the foundation for the smooth process.

EXPERIENCE


Once you start offering services, this is the point where consumers begin to form opinions and impressions. If you provide them a remarkable experience, you will get the outcome you had desired.

ADVOCACY


You have the effective campaigns arranged, however, word-of-mouth marketing is still the most effective method. In reality, 92% of consumers are going to believe the suggestions than any other thing.

Once you have successfully completed what consumer needs, chances are they will promote the brand. Instead of focusing on the reputation establishment, you can look forward to building customer loyalty and convincing them to shop again.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE PURCHASING DECISION OF MODERN CONSUMER


After the consumer’s journey, let’s study the factors that influence the purchasing decision of the person.

CONSUMER REVIEWS


As businesses and brands are constantly stepping into digital space, people are more exposed to a wide range of options. Now, as they look for something new, they significantly rely on experiences past customers have had. As such the service standards have become higher than they were earlier, you will have to maintain a positive reputation. Almost 90% of consumers prefer to read brand reviews to find out more about the business, thus, it has turned out to be important to optimize conversions. If you want to see yourself as a trusted figure, you must encourage positive experiences to establish brand loyalty.

RECOMMENDATION TAKEN FROM DIFFERENT CHANNELS


Word-of-mouth marketing is the major factor that influences the buying behavior of the customer. However, it is still important to find out other methods by which the audience can collect information related to the brand.

Social media platforms provide the opportunity to check and involve customers. Brand’s behavior at social media platforms heavily influences the consumer. Platforms including Instagram and Facebook help you to boost the online presence. If you have your website, include a particular section or make a landing page for their testimonials. This can provide your leads a clue of what to expect from you.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES


We humans have our natural need to belong, that’s why we naturally follow some social norms. When it comes to making a purchase, social and cultural influences play a specific role too. Thus, the opinions of family, friends, and other social group can have an impact no matter if it is related to consumers’ small purchase or a big life-changing investment.

Also, the cultural norms of people in a specific area or community might determine the things consumed by them. For example, if you operate in the food industry and deal with meat-based products, setting up the shop in the area of the vegetarian community won’t drive your sales.

Due to these influences, people are easily tempted to follow the trends. In case, if any person observes that other people are enjoying a particular product, they are somewhere going to have a desire subconsciously to own one. Though people have separate psychological and practical motivations when it is about buying a product, still, the herd mentality can leave an emotional influence on the consumer.


INDIVIDUAL PURCHASING CAPABILITIES


Studying consumer statistics is a component of market research. Apart from noting down the characteristics of the audience including gender, age, and locations, acknowledging their social status will help you to build correct buyer personas. The financial status of a person will, at last, define what they can purchase. 

Your products might be the best, but if they are not priced considering the purchasing capabilities of the buyers, you cannot expect favorable results. Instead of individual capacity, consider the economic status of the place where the potential consumers are located, this will play a great role in impacting their financial behaviors.

PERSONAL PREFERENCES


In the end, it comes down to a person’s specific preferences. The behavior of the customers is greatly influenced by their likes or dislikes, lifestyle choices, beliefs, and inventive preferences. This is the major reason for the importance of branding and targeted ads. On comparing with ads created for average people, 54% of buyers find that personalized ads are more engaging. At the same time, branding that suits the taste and preferences of the audience will make it easy to remember you when they want your service.

CONCLUSION


Businesses who know about their audience never fail to stay a step ahead of others. Understanding their journey and other elements affecting their buying decision can help to improve the impact of sales and marketing strategies.


In the age that has greatly turned digital, fighting for conversions and leads will only become hard. If you want to remain relevant, getting more leads with multi-channel marketing will be the way out to success.