The Top Three Buyer Motivations

In today’s post I want to get straight to the point. I’m going to outline the biggest reasons why people buy from you and I want you to see if your marketing, branding or actions map appropriately to your customer’s motivations.

Here are the big three:

1. Impulse.

Have you ever been scrolling through Amazon and hit that “Add to Cart” button out of instinct? You weren’t hunting for anything in particular but it felt good to make that purchase. Amazon is really good at showing you things it thinks you’ll like, need or could want and they know that everyone likes an easy dopamine hit. You also get those good feelings because your brain rewards you for engaging in a behavior that’s rooted in survival - like storing food for the winter, getting a perceived good deal, or avoiding FOMO. Your brain gives you that quick dopamine hit and you enjoy the benefits of your purchase in the short term.

Is your product or service recreationally based? Is your value proposition tied directly to providing an amazing customer experience? If it is then you should think carefully about how you’re rewarding your buyers in the now or immediate future. Nerf does an amazing job of this for it’s customers of all ages - it’s a brand that is the physical embodiment of fun. You might not be selling soft foam toys but you might be able to glean a thing or two from Nerf’s marketing if you’re counting on your customer’s instincts to buy.

2. Reflex or Reaction.

When people are buying out of reflex or reaction they are addressing an immediate need or problem. If your toilet is flooding in the middle night and you call a 24-hour plumber, that plumber is charging you a premium to help you solve that problem. Out of sugar when you’re baking cookies means you’re running to the grocery store. Struggling with marketing, received a cease and desist order, or need help building your business development efforts means your engaging with the appropriate professional services provider. I think you get it.

If your product or service solves a specific problem then you need to figure out what situations best create the opportunity for someone to find and use what you’re offering. Is your marketing mapping to the times when people need you most? Are you leading with the value you provide in those tricky situations? What about how much better someone’s life is after they engage with you? Understanding your customer’s biggest motivators or “why” for needing you will help position your business for success because you won’t just be listing your features or benefits. Remember, people don’t go to the hardware store to buy a power drill you’re selling the hole the drill makes.

3. Aspirationally.

The promise of change can be a big motivator for people. Right now we are living in a world where one of the biggest draws in something like a new phone is its ability to get smarter. I know this first hand because I bought the new Pixel 2 XL because of Google’s promise that their AI would get smarter which means it will help me be more productive. Yes I needed a new phone but aspirationally I’m always looking for better ways to do more and be more and this phone tugged at all the right heart strings for me. The promise of being better is why online courses, fitness programs, and even some professional/life coaches sell so well. It’s because customers engage because they believe that going through a process or consuming a product/service will make their lives better.

Having the power to sell aspirationally is a power that you need to wield carefully. Well it’s actually less Spiderman’s Uncle Ben and more of a King Arthur’s Excalibur (double edged sword.) The reason? Of all the ways to position your business to your customers, aspirationally is by far one of the easiest. It’s easy to come up with words of inspiration and promises of change. What’s hard is delivering the value on that promise. What’s hard is getting people to finish the online course they started with you, to take your advice and actually do something with it and to stick to the diet the fitness program outlines. That’s why it’s a double edged sword. Not only that but the market is overcrowded with hucksters that will gladly take money from a customer and be happy with delivering a mediocre at best experience. So, if you’re business is promising a transformation or a benefit that makes someone’s life better you need to make sure you have the chops to deliver.

Now you’re challenge.

I challenge you to take a hard look at your business. I want you to really think about why people engage with you and the value that you deliver. Then you’ll be able to figure out which bucket catches most of what you do. It might not be perfect but it’s important to focus on one of the three reasons why people buy and realign your marketing so that it matches the motivations of your customers. It will help you save money and talk directly to your customers more authentically. There’s no wrong choice here and I’ll give you three examples to match businesses that are doing each one really well.

Note: None of the following businesses are sponsors in any capacity. I just think they are great examples of the reasons why people buy.

Impulse - Vat19.com - https://www.vat19.com/ This site sells really fun and interesting gifts. They have a ton of fun in their videos and on their site and do a great job of inviting you to join in on that fun.

Reaction - Freshbooks - https://www.freshbooks.com This is an small business accounting and invoicing service that steps in when your business needs to up its professional game. They do a great job nurturing small businesses and letting their customers know that they are going to be there when their customers needs them.

Aspirationally - Marie Forleo - https://www.marieforleo.com/ Marie Forleo is a big deal in entrepreneur and business building circles. The reason is because she delivers hard on her promise of helping business builders change their lives so they can build businesses that reflect the “special gift” only they can deliver.

See, no secret formula. Just great marketing celebrating where people are on their buying journey. Best of all these examples aren’t trying to capture everyone. They’ve identified how they deliver value and why their target customers are most likely to buy.

Now, get to work!

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If you're looking for a little more hands-on help then you should totally check out Disruptive Strategy Co.'s new HIRE page. Booking a Disruptive Strategy Power Hour gives us the opportunity to work one on one and to create a tailored plan so that you can stop using the spray and pray approach to growing your business. 

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How To Keep In Touch With Your Customers

In this post I want you to think about the people that buy from you.  If you're just starting out or are restarting don't fret, this post is also for you.  The questions I challenge you to think about are:

How are you keeping in touch with your customers?

Are you getting regular and timely information out to your customers that’s relevant to their experience – like impromptu closings?

Are you engaging in a way that is more than the traditional marketing touch points?

More than just flyers, coupons, surveys, and talking to the customer on the way out?

More than TV/Radio commercials, possible news interviews, and even the occasional hosted special event?  

You will move yourself to the back of the memory-and-relevance-bus because your customers, even your best customers, aren't connecting with your brand outside of the basic exchange of goods and services for money experience. If you settle for just a basic vendor experience you will only be relevant in your stakeholders mind when your offering satisfies their need – not bad but you should be striving for more.

The type of business you run doesn’t matter when it comes to staying in touch with the people that support you. You are just creating excuses if you can’t engage with your customers because you’re a small restaurant, café, bookstore, pet walker, or even an electrician. The idea is that you can always provide value for people and establish yourself as a resource wherever your customer is in the buying cycle.

“I am already getting the sale. Why do I need to engage them? Isn’t the fact that they bought from me and will possibly continue to buy from enough? “

Short answer is no. Longer answer is nooooooooooooo!

A report put out by Bain & Company in 2011 reported that customers that engage with brands regularly spend a lot more money in those businesses. That is to say that customers that have meaningful engagement, above and beyond your traditional marketing touch points, reported increases in revenue between 20%-40%. That’s huge if you want to keep your business growing. Not only that, the reach grows exponentially as more and more people see your customers engaging with you in a very public way.

I can already feel your eyes starting to waver because you know what’s coming next.

Social.

Social Media, every business guru’s favorite topic. Maybe you’ve found some success or maybe it’s been a huge waste of time. Either way you have set up your accounts and get to it when you have the time. Most likely, and sadly, only if you have something to announce to your followers. Stepping up on your social soapbox to only announce when things are happening for you is not a great use of resources. You won't be able to cut through the noise.

My personal favorite social media faux pas is logging into Facebook and by the time you walk away from it two hours have elapsed – I call this “social media time traveling”. This is not a full on tutorial about social media and you should use whatever platform works best for you to engage with your customers. This post is about getting to the heart of what you are going to do to create some benchmarks to measure yourself against and some concepts to put into practice.

Here’s the plan for kicking up your customer engagement and ultimately kick up those revenues.

1.    Decide what you are measuring when you start a campaign.

Are you trying to grow by acquiring email addresses to market to later? Is your goal just to spread awareness? To get people to talk to you? Then track those Facebook comments. (Be wary of “Likes”, more doesn’t mean that it is a reflection of authentic engagement)

2.    Come to terms that engaging with customers is going to come in a full range of experiences.

It’s going to take work and it should feel like you are having a conversation with your audience. Think about your favorite YouTube channels – odds are they make you feel like you are part of their community every time you watch their shows.  This also means you have to be an amazing listener. You need to be able to understand their needs and wants just as well as what gets them excited and is interesting to them.

3.    Mobile is only getting bigger.

You don’t have to go out and create a new app (unless you want to) but whatever medium you use should be mobile friendly. Facebook groups, Twitter, and even Instagram are checked every minute of every hour so make sure you are reaching out with value and not spam.

4.    Everyone needs to benefit. Remember your customers or potential customers are always going to be looking for value.

So you need to do more than just spam your happenings. Find things that your customers can relate to outside of your product or service and spread the love.

5.    Listening is the opposite of just constantly shouting at your audience.

Listening is about trying to keep people talking to you after the sale. It’s about collecting information about your user’s experiences (great and not so great) and about showing them that you are making real efforts to take that information and improve the experience. 

Lastly, stand for something that’s more than your sales. Get involved in your community and get to know people in a way that has nothing to do with selling to them. Engaging your customer and being a resource for them outside of the sales cycle will keep you in their conversations beyond the immediate need you serve.

Remember: 

“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.”

-   W. Edwards Deming

Understand Your Market Or Fizzle Out

When it comes to starting a business, growth hacking your business or even just trying to launch something new in your business there is one piece of the equation that (in my opinion) does not get enough attention. Entrepreneurs and business owners are so fixated on getting the first iterations of their products, ideas, or services out of the door that they fail to assess the depth of the market they are serving.

An awesome idea with no market or a market that is on the verge of some kind of pivot makes for a bad business.

There are two things that are as good as fact when it comes to building a business:

1. Your customer’s tastes and expectations will constantly change.

2. There is no such thing as long term or sustainable competitive advantage.

It’s because of those two things that you really need to be able to identify your market/industry and to try your darndest to get a handle on what’s happening around you so that you can best position your business for success.

I know. You’re thinking that you don’t need a deep dive into understanding your market or industry because you know your customers and are solving a problem they have.

Great but...

• Do you have any idea what your competitors are doing?
• Do you know what your market is expected to do over the next few weeks, months or years?
• Do you know what the demand determinants are for your customers?
• Have you positioned your business such that it you’ve added to the barriers to entry that already exist?
• Are you adding value or different from similar industries, products or services that might already exist?
• Do you know what the most important external drivers are that motivate your customers to take action or engage with you?
• Are you measuring success in a way that will keep challenging your business growth?

One more and then I’m done.

• Do you know how your cost structure measures up to that of your market?

I could keep going but, I think you get my point. Understanding your customers and the world around you is imperative to keep your business moving in the right direction. It might feel like just a busy work exercise but it’s not! The better you know your business’ environment the more quickly you’ll be able to spot trends, you’ll be able to react quicker a your customer’s tastes and expectations change, and you’ll be able to ask good questions to get good feedback from your customers.

There’s no worse feeling than pouring your heart and soul into something only to have no one buy. I know because it’s happened to me once or twice in my early days. It happened because I skipped trying to understand my market and assumed that I knew what was best for my customers.

Besides answering the questions I listed above here are 3 things you can do right now to get a better idea of what’s happening in your market.

1. Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and look at trends in people’s discretionary spending.

Here’s a link that goes straight to the Consumer Expenditure page http://www.bls.gov/cex/ It might sound dry but after you figure out your demographic you can learn a lot about what is important to people by taking a look at their spending. Probably the most important thing is to see if people are already spending money on your solution - great way to look for validation. You can also tap http://www.census.gov to get more on drilling dow into the specifics of who your demographics are and how they behave. Yay “.gov”’s!

2. Break your target market into segments.

Think of segments as buckets that are full of different “people who...”. If your product/service is for small businesses then you should break them out into “small businesses who....have a physical location, have under 10 employees, need a business plan, etc.” That will help you as you are trying to quantify your market and your market’s behavior over time. Get specific and deliberate about who you are serving and it will help you make the most out of your time, money and emotional resilience in your business. Remember, tastes and expectations are always changing and they might change in different sizes, rates, or scopes.

3. Figure out what the experts are saying about the future of economic activity.

Yes, this step is about making your way through some economic data but I have a link that will make it manageable for you. This article from Kiplinger is a good place to start because it hits all the major economic indicators and offers links back to their sources so you can continue to dig around. Market and economic outlooks are important because they will give you some insight into the future of your customers needs, confidence, and spending. All very important information when you are trying to compete to get their discretionary dollar’s attention as economic conditions ebb and flow. Here’s the link back to the article: http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/business/T019-S000-kiplinger-s-economic-outlooks/

Most of the businesses I run into don’t give this type of thinking and planning enough attention because they believe they are too small to be affected by their “market”. Please don’t make the same mistakes. You are making decisions in your business everyday and the quality of those decisions are a direct impact of the information you use.

Stop winging it, stop wasting time, and start spending more time getting to know your customers/industry.