Factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions

Factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions are a mine of knowledge for marketers. Getting to know them in-depth will allow you to match the best marketing activities. What influences the fact that the consumer will buy a given product or abandon the idea of buying it? Check!

What drives the consumer who buys a given product or uses a given service? There is no definite answer. There are many types of consumers. Some buy on impulse, while others carefully analyze whether they really need something. Moreover, each person has different inclinations and beliefs. There are certain factors that will affect you, while the same factors will not affect your friend in any way. Listing all the factors is unrealistic, because people are very different from each other. Singles have different food needs and families with children. A person attached to a given brand makes a purchase in a different way than a customer who is unfamiliar with a given company. Despite the existence of many types of customers, there are factors influencing the purchasing decisions of consumers along with the division into groups.

What do I need this knowledge for?

You may wonder if you need to know about the consumer decision-making process. Yes, yes, and very much so. When you understand the factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions, you will gain a fuller insight into the customer's mind. And you will also guide them to choose your product. Appropriate marketing activities have a huge impact on consumer decisions. In-depth knowledge of your customers will allow you to answer the question: how to shape specific consumer behavior? If you do not understand what drives your target group, your actions will not bring any results.

Division of factors into groups

In an attempt to illustrate the factors influencing the customer's purchasing decisions, four groups have been selected:

• situational factors - relate to the level of consumer's involvement in a given purchase and the offer available on the market
• personal factors - that is, all individual characteristics of the client: age, gender, life and economic situation or personality,
• psychological factors - what is the customer's motivation to buy, his attitudes and beliefs, as well as the learning and socialization process,
• social factors - they relate to the influence of culture on the consumer, social class, reference groups, friends and family.

Situational factors influencing the consumer's purchasing decisions

Situational factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions are the purchasing task and the market offer. The purchasing task relates to the level of consumer involvement and the approach to solving the problem and how much effort it requires from him. It also applies to product knowledge. If the customer has bought a given product several times, the decision to buy it again will be much easier and simpler than in the case of a completely new product. Being a loyal consumer, we buy on a habit, without thinking about it intensely whether we really need a given product or not. We make decisions without the need for additional information or comparison to alternative solutions. Possessing high customer loyalty remember not to rest on your laurels. Competition never sleeps, and is constantly trying to find features that will make the customer choose their product.

Market offer available

The wide offer makes the purchasing decision much more complex than in the case of a limited product offer. Take, for example, laptop manufacturers: Samsung, Apple, Lenovo, Dell and others. Each of them offers many laptops that differ in size, color, memory, screen, appearance, quality, type of disk, etc. For the consumer, it will not be a quick or easy decision. A wide selection allows you to best match the product to your needs, but also, unfortunately, such an amount frustrates and confuses the consumer. On the other hand, if the consumer is to buy one product that only one store offers, the purchase decision is much simpler. You live in the suburbs of the city and need milk for now, in this situation you do not go to a huge hypermarket in the city center, but choose a small shop next to you, because you do not have time to travel for one product. In this case, limiting the offer clearly affects the consumer's purchasing decision.

Brands may take different actions for each of the above situations. In the case of a wide offer, focus on making your product stand out from the competition with its unique features. In turn, with a limited choice of matters, the experience with the product should be positive. It will build both strong corporate image and customer loyalty.

Personal factors

Personal factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions include: demographic data, lifestyle, personality, and life stage. Demographic factors are the basis for knowing your customers and matching products to their needs. They include basic variables such as: age, gender, income level, education, marital status. Designing an advertising campaign it cannot do without focusing on generational differences. People at retirement age have different needs and teenagers. It is no different in the case of gender - women and men have different needs and desires. Finance also has a huge impact on purchasing decisions. No wonder, if the customer cannot afford a given product, he will not buy it despite strong need. Therefore, the Apple brand will be advertised differently, aimed at people who can spend more for a high-quality product. In other words, Xiaomi maintains its position of cheap electronic equipment. The stage of life or lifestyle are also important factors influencing the consumer's purchasing decisions. Situations such as: studies, getting married, buying a new home, retiring, having a child - all these life events shape the attitudes in how we make purchases.

Lifestyle and personality types

The same is true of our lifestyle. A lot depends on our interests, opinions about the world, how we spend our free time, what we are willing to spend money on. If brand values and its image aligns with our values, passions and interests - a given brand will find a permanent position in our awareness and build a long and loyal relationship. Hence, brands try to form strongly emotional ties with consumers in the process creating a brand imagebecause then we are more likely to buy their product. For example, the "Yes" brand, which in its advertisements conveys the values related to strong femininity, emphasizing the importance of motherhood and the fact that mothers can also wear jewelry every day, fighting against inequality in the labor market or generally with the "ideal and role model" of women - such advertisements will appeal to women with these lifestyles and beliefs.

Different personality types will also react differently to market offers. Knowing the personalities of your customers can help you tailor the right marketing mix. However, it is not easy to get to know her. It would take very complicated marketing research that will determine the personality of a given consumer.

Psychological factors

Psychological factors include motivation, attitudes, and beliefs. In order for the consumer to make a purchase decision, he must be deeply motivated to do so. Producing this motivation is the main area of activity of marketers. It prompts us to take action for the sake of an unmet need. Another psychological factor is a person's attitudes and beliefs. Beliefs include, for example, that "dark chocolate is not good" or "the latest smartphone is for snobs."

Attitude, in turn, includes both the consumer's beliefs and the emotional feelings associated with them. For example, the belief that "only rich people buy the latest smartphone" and the feeling that "the latest smartphones make me feel contempt." People have different attitudes and beliefs, but they largely influence purchasing decisions. If there is a false or negative belief about the product among the target group, your task will be to undertake marketing activities that will change it.

Psychological factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions

Psychological factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions include: motivation, attitudes and beliefs. In order for the consumer to make a purchase decision, he must be deeply motivated to do so. Producing this motivation is the main area of activity of marketers. It prompts us to take action for the sake of an unmet need. Another psychological factor is a person's attitudes and beliefs. Beliefs include, for example, that "dark chocolate is not good" or "the latest smartphone is for snobs." Attitude, in turn, includes both the consumer's beliefs and the emotional feelings associated with them. For example, the belief that "only rich people buy the latest smartphone" and the feeling that "the latest smartphones make me feel contempt." People have different attitudes and beliefs, but they largely influence purchasing decisions. If among the target audience there is a false or negative belief about the product, your task will be to undertake marketing activities that will change it.

Social factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions

The last group of factors are social factors, including social classes, reference groups, family and friends, and culture. Culture has a huge impact on people, because from childhood it shows us how to behave and what we should value in our lives. In-depth knowledge of the culture to which we sell our products is necessary above all in order not to commit tactless actions. For example, a Coca Cola advertisement in Thailand and Norway about the slogan "Coca-Cola will give you life" was considered an exaggeration and over-interpretation. In particular, one should remember about religion, which in some societies has a huge impact on consumer behavior. Subcultures are other factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions. Thanks to them, you can have a significant impact on a population whose needs have so far been unmet. People with a strong sense of subculture will be willing to buy products from companies that seem to understand them, speak their language and meet their specific needs.

Purchasing decisions are also influenced by reference groups, family and friends. Among them, there are often so-called opinion leaders who influence others. It could be one friend in your group, your mother, or even the school principal. Enterprises should track target groups and their opinion leaders well in their segments. It is also worth looking at the family, which also has an impact on the behavior of the consumer and his choices.