The key to knowing your clients’ needs: Consumer behavior and all its benefits

Consumer behavior is the key to successfully sell anywhere we want. In the same sense, we create services and products to meet their needs. Besides, they, the consumers, will always play an important role in business. A happy consumer will always return to buy the products we offer them.

Thus, it’s vital that exceed their expectations to keep their loyalty. Given this, we will always face an interesting challenge. This is, innovate to give the best service possible to the consumer and make them feel part of the brand.

What is a consumer?

Consumers are all the people who purchase a product or service at an estimated price.

Two fundamental pillars make up the market: supply and demand. Hence the importance of knowing what the consumer needs. This is because, through this, we can offer the best item to meet that demand.

But in today’s world, another factor has arisen: the Internet. Many people today have changed face-to-face stores for online stores. The main reason for this can be that they can buy the same products from anywhere in the world in a more comfortably.

This change has developed very quickly. Thus, it’s essential to be aware of all the transformations that are being made in the world. This because they influence marketing.

Companies face changes in the market almost daily. This is why we recommend that you prepare for these changes if you don’t want the competition to displace you. As part of these changes, we include those in consumer behavior. This is something that can be hard to understand.

Why? Because sometimes satisfying a lot of people at the same time is not always easy. However, at BluCactus, we will give all the tools you need to maintain loyal customers. Besides, these will also allow you to understand their behavior. We will also give you some tips. This is so you can offer the best product and thus, meet the needs of your consumers.

What is behind the consumer purchase?

Knowing how thousands of consumers act can be tricky. However, there are a lot of strategies you can use to understand what the buyer is thinking.

An important thing to know is the process behind the purchase.

Why? Because everything a consumer does before, during, and after the purchase affects their behavior. These can look easy at first glance.

However, there is an entire team behind a single goal. This is that the consumer buys the product.

We can fulfill all sales strategies if the consumer does buy the product. If someone wants to buy a shirt, it’s because they have a need they must satisfy. So, we strategically place the said shirt in a clothing store for people to see. By doing this, we are doing the commercial distribution correctly.

Finally, if that person remembers the brand, it’s because the advertising used works. This is just a simple way to explain the entire process that the consumer goes through when buying something. Besides, it also explains what the said process means for companies.

Companies are the ones who create this process. They put to use their efforts to turn a potential client into a loyal client. Not only that, but consumers also go through an interesting process before buying a product. Kotler and Armstrong (2008) defined the consumer decision process in 5 basic stages. Now, we will mention them below. This is so you have an idea on how the consumer thinks before buying their product:

Identify the need:

Each consumer starts here before purchasing any product or service.

This is where the person recognizes they have a need they must meet.

They can identify their need in many ways. One of them is through advertisements.

However, they may also look for the recommendation of a family member, friend, or acquaintance.

Research:

People tend to search for more data on that product before making the final purchase.

Some delve into the potential benefits that such a product can bring.

However, there are others for which the advertisement is all they need.

Look at the options:

This is where the potential customer finds out if the product will meet their needs.

For this, they consider all the information they found about the product.

Determine whether or not to buy:

This is the key decision that will determine whether or not the person will buy the product.

Although this is a unique process for each individual, some external factors may influence this.

These same factors can also play a part to avoid making a failed sale.

Assess the results of the purchase:

When the consumer finally acquires the product, their liking or dislike of it will influence whether or not they want to buy again.

This point is still important since people often recommend the products they buy. If they buy a product they liked, they will surely tell everyone they are close to.

The same happens vice versa. If the client doesn’t like what they bought, they will also tell everyone.

Therefore, it is important to offer them the best product or service possible.

What aspects interfere with consumer behavior?

Outside factors, like culture, can also affect consumer behavior. So, to understand how a consumer could act, we have to point out some factors. Why? Because they play an important part in the making of these important decisions.

External aspects:

These are the opinions and external options that affect consumer behavior.

The opinion of family and friends can sometimes be a decisive factor in the purchase of a product. However, thanks to social media, another factor is present today.

Influencers or people with a lot of followers have become influential in the purchase of products.

Besides, the Internet and the way it allows us to get information easily are also key to this process. There are other factors that we must also highlight which are social and economic status. They are part of all those elements that let us study consumer behavior.

Internal or personal aspects:

Here, we consider the wishes and tastes of the consumer.

Besides, some demographic and cultural elements can affect their behavior and decision-making.

Some of these can be age, gender, occupation, and geographic location.

Psychological aspects:

Psychology also influences consumer behavior when buying a product.

Some details are also important when buying.

It can be if the person is emotionally well or not, whether they understood the message that the brand wanted to convey if they feel that the product can meet their needs and the way how they think.

What is the importance of knowing consumer behavior?

Knowing well who you are going to sell to is one of the first steps to success in the world of sales.

Without a doubt, this very important element is part of a strategy that is essential when creating objectives.

It is important to note that the more you know your customers, the more opportunities you have for success since it will be easier to respond to demand and, therefore, meet their needs through a good offer.

But that is not the only benefit, below, we bring you a small list with the importance of knowing the consumer:

Create strong ties:

A brand that understands its customers and gives them the best product or service will be successful.

A satisfied and happy customer will spread the word and tell everyone that the product you offered is the best.

This loyalty and trust of the consumer will make it an essential part of the company.

Identify the profile of the consumer:

Knowing the consumer allows you to have a clear on the profile of those people who buy your product in large quantities.

This way you can save resources and only invest in what these people want.

Thus, creating the necessary inventory and know, for example, which is the most bought product.

Expand the Customers circle:

We can relate this to the first point.

This is because the more people recommend the product, the better the brand’s positioning will be.

Thus, more people will choose to buy what you’re offering.

As you can imagine, this translates to higher sales and more recognition in the market.

The company is consolidated in the market:

Without a doubt, all entrepreneurs (no matter large, medium, or small) want to improve their company’s profile.

For this, they have to take into account the needs of consumers.

So, it’s important to focus on a specific target audience.

We call this segmenting, and it allows us to only invest time and money on those who are interested in our product and only them. For this reason, it’s vital to have a target audience and focus our resources on potential clients.

How to obtain information on consumer behavior?

Now that you know why it’s so important to know the consumer behavior, there are other aspects that you need to know about. They are also important to get key information that will, without a doubt, help you to identify your consumers’ needs. This way you will be able to offer them the best product/service possible. We will show you some formulas that you can use to get this data. We bet that you already use some of them for your business.

Questions and answers section:

On your business website, you can use this window. This can allow you to know the opinions of your consumers about your products.

You will also know how well your users have reacted to them. Besides, it allows you to innovate and ask your clients what novelties they would like to see next. An example of this can be if they want a new product.

Comments:

From the comments of your clients, you will find out any possible mistakes that you could’ve made.

They could’ve happened in the sale, distribution, or even the creation of your product.

So, this will allows you to correct in time any defects that buyers noticed and optimize your product or service.

Interactions:

Likes on Instagram or a Facebook post count as interactions.

This aspect is also important.

Why?

Because it lets you know what the favorite products of your potential customers are.

Surveys:

Surveys are useful as they allow you to ask both open and closed questions. With this, you can get both clear and precise answers as well as some slightly more developed opinions.

This way you will better know what those potential customers think. But remember, this instrument works from time to time, it is not something that can be applied as often. Besides, we recommend that the surveys do not exceed 15 questions so that it is not so complicated for customers to answer.

Here are some cool tools that you can use to collect cool data about your leads.

These data can be used in the general field and will surely help you to offer the best product always adapted to the needs of the consumer. At BluCactus we offer you the best methods to boost your brand. For more information, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter to receive our marketing strategies.

What is the importance of the consumer in the development of a product?

Sales revolve around the experience that each consumer has when purchasing a product. Customers are the ones who give clues to companies to innovate and create new items.

So, the presence of the buyer is important around the creation and sale process. This is because the final product is designed for them.

Currently, marketing trends focus on providing a good consumer experience and not just selling a product. The new era has changed in many ways.

So, the way customers see a purchase has become more complex. Thanks to the Internet, consumers are more critical and inflexible than ever. Thus, this means that companies will have to put more effort into meeting that demand.

What is consumer psychology?

The psychology of consumers studies everything that has to do with the process of purchase.

So, everything that happens before, during, and after it.

It aims to study what goes through the minds of customers and to understand their behavior.

All of this is part of the internal or personal aspects we explained before.

These behaviors result in the customer’s way of making decisions.

Kotler (1996) affirms that “consumer behavior is the starting point to understand the incentive-response model.

Environmental and marketing stimuli enter the buyer’s awareness and characteristics. So, the decision-making process leads to certain purchasing choices”.

These stimuli can be given willingly and unwillingly For example, a lot of companies use the psychology of color to create these unwilling stimuli. There a lot of meanings that people give to colors.

That’s why in the world of marketing, we use different colors depending on the purpose and image of the brand. Thus, these details and meanings are also essential to offer a product.

What benefit does knowing the consumer bring for brands?

Loyal customers: 

A satisfied customer will buy the product again because it means they liked it.

This in turn means that their needs were met. However, it’s always good to innovate and not settle for the customer’s approval.

Currently, a lot of brands focus on surprising the customer.

This would be a step higher than simply “satisfied”. So, if you want loyal customers, you could try the option of surprising them with your products and go a little further.

Avoid wasting resources: 

Knowing what the consumer wants becomes the main goal.

This means no time or other important resources are wasted trying unnecessary techniques.

Clear objectives: 

Knowing the customer also prevents companies from wandering and they can focus on the goals.

By knowing what needs need to be met, it will be much easier to set goals.

Better elaborated products: 

If you know what that target audience wants, you will be able to create the best product. This is because you can adapt it to their needs and thus, successfully satisfy the demand.

As you can see, these are some benefits of getting to know the consumer and their behavior well. Remember that customers, at the end of the day, are an indispensable part of your brand.

We hope that these interesting facts about consumer behavior have been useful to you.

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