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Sales

10 Customer Buyer Motives: That Every Salesperson Needs to Know

Philipp S.
Last updated on January 26, 2023

When marketing your business, it’s important to know what motivates your customers to buy. If you can understand what drives them, you can create content and messaging that resonates with them and encourages them to take action. In this article, we will discuss 10 customer motives that every marketer needs to know. Understanding these motives enables you to craft a powerful sales message that speaks directly to your customers’ needs.

What is buyer motivation?

Buyer motivation is the psychological or emotional need that encourages a customer to purchase a product or service. It could be something as simple as needing to save money, looking for convenience, or wanting to make an impact in their life. Identifying and understanding this motivation can help you create targeted content that appeals directly to your customers’ needs.

There are three main stages in the buyer’s journey. They are:

1) Awareness – Consumers become aware of a product or service.

2) Consideration – Consumers research different products or services and consider their options.

3) Decision – Consumers make the final decision to purchase a product or service.

Different Customer Buyer Motives

influence each of these stages. As a salesperson, understanding and leveraging these motives is crucial to ensuring your message resonates with customers.

  1. Desire for gain
  2. Fear of loss
  3. Comfort and convenience
  4. Security and protection
  5. Pride of ownership
  6. Satisfaction of emotion
  7. Acceptance
  8. Pleasure
  9. Impulse
  10. Aspiration

Desire for gain buying motive

Consumers may have the desire to gain something from making a purchase. This could be in terms of financial benefits, such as saving money on the product or service. It could also come in the form of status or recognition associated with owning a certain product or brand.

People resort to the desire to gain if they feel they are getting a good deal. For marketers, understanding this motivation can help them craft their messages to emphasize the benefits or value of what they are offering.

If your customer has the desire for gain, you should focus on the benefit of owning your products or services. This could be in terms of financial savings, status symbols, convenience, or emotional satisfaction.

Fear of Loss

Consumers may also have a fear of loss associated with making a purchase decision. They may fear missing out if they do not take action now, such as limited-time offers or special promotions.

A salesperson can use this fear to their advantage by creating urgency in their messaging and emphasizing the importance of taking action now. This could be through limited-time offers, discounts for buying multiple products, free gifts with purchase, or other creative messages that create a sense of urgency.

Comfort and convenience

Consumers may also have a desire for comfort and convenience when making a purchase. They may prefer to buy products that require minimal effort or time, such as ordering online, pre-packaged meals, subscription services, or ready-made clothing.

Salespersons should emphasize the ease of use and convenience of their products in their messaging to highlight how much time and effort consumers can save by purchasing them.

Security and protection

Consumers may also have a need for security and protection when shopping. They want to feel confident that their purchase is safe, secure, and of high quality.

Marketing messages should focus on the safety features of your product or service, customer reviews, and ratings, money-back guarantees, warranties, or other assurances that provide customers with a sense of security about their purchase.

Pride of ownership

Consumers may be motivated to purchase items that make them feel proud. This could include purchasing a luxury item, or something that is seen as higher quality than the basic version of your product or service. Showcasing the features and benefits, special design elements, or customer reviews can help persuade customers who are looking for products they can be proud of owning.

By understanding buyer motives such as pride of ownership, customer safety, and convenience, businesses can develop strategies to appeal to consumer wants and needs. This is an essential component of customer acquisition and customer retention. With the right combination of customer service, features, benefits, guarantees, and customer reviews that speak to customer motivations, businesses can increase sales while keeping customers happy.

The key takeaway here is that understanding buying motive is essential for businesses looking to acquire new customers or retain existing ones. By appealing to customer motivations such as convenience and pride of ownership with features like fast shipping options, money-back guarantees, customer reviews, and ratings, a business can stand out from its competitors and establish itself as a trusted source for products and services.

Satisfaction of emotion

Satisfaction of emotion is an important factor in customer buying motivation. Consumers will often buy a product or service to fulfill an emotional need, such as wanting to feel better about themselves or seeking approval from others. By creating an environment where customers can feel positive emotions associated with the purchase of products and services, businesses can increase customer loyalty and create lasting customer relationships.

If you have encountered this during your customer buying journey, you know it can be a powerful motivator. If a customer feels good about the purchase decision they make and the customer experience that follows, it makes them much more likely to return for repeat purchases.

Acceptance

is another customer motivator. People want to feel accepted and valued, and this can be achieved through customer service that focuses on customer satisfaction.

Customers also have an innate need for status, recognition, and respect which businesses should take into account when aiming to understand motives. Offering customer loyalty programs with exclusive rewards or discounts can help customers feel appreciated and show them they are getting something out of their purchase beyond the product itself.

Pleasure

Pleasure as a customer buying motive is all about customer experience. Customers need to enjoy the customer journey from start to finish, and that includes customer service, product quality, packaging, and more. Creating an enjoyable customer experience will keep customers coming back for more, increasing customer loyalty and ultimately resulting in repeat purchases.

If your customer looking for pleasure, then you need to focus on customer experience and customer service. Give customers a reason to enjoy shopping with your business, rather than just focusing on the product itself. Make sure customer service is warm and friendly, providing quick response times and helpful advice.

Aspiration

Aspiration is also a key buyer motive, and customers like to feel they are buying something better than the rest. Create an aspirational customer experience by highlighting the unique features of your products, emphasizing brand values, and creating content that helps consumers make more informed decisions.

Some consumers use purchasing decisions as a way to better themselves. They aspire to change and see their money as part of that journey. They may want to buy a luxury version of your product, or something unique and different that will help them stand out. Make sure your customer experience is tailored to meet their expectations by emphasizing the aspirational aspects of your product.

Buying motives are affected by emotional and rational factors.

When considering buyer motives, it’s important to recognize that there are both emotional and rational drivers. Consumers may make buying decisions based on their feelings or their logic. It’s essential to understand what motivates them in order to craft an effective customer experience.

For example, a customer may be motivated by a desire for security or status. They might look for warranties, brand names, customer service guarantees, and other assurances that the product is reliable and worth the cost. Alternatively, they may simply want something special that will turn heads and catch attention – such as an expensive piece of jewelry with intricate designs or a unique clothing item in limited edition colors.

In either case, it’s important to understand the customer’s individual needs and tailor your customer experience accordingly.

Emotional Buying Motives

For some customers, the purchase of a product or service is based on emotion. A customer may be looking for an item that stirs feelings of nostalgia, comfort, or excitement. They may be seeking something that allows them to express themselves in a unique way – such as artwork with personal significance, custom clothing items, or one-of-a-kind home decor pieces.

It’s important to understand customer needs and emotions when creating customer experiences tailored for each individual customer. Creating meaningful customer experiences will not only result in more conversions but also increase customer loyalty and trust over time.

Rational Buying Motives

Rational customer buying motives factor in the customer’s logical side – the customer’s need for functionality, practicality, and affordability. Rational customer buyers may want to buy a product because of its reputation for reliability or price point, or because it provides them with a specific solution to a problem they are facing.

The key here is understanding customer needs and providing products that meet their functional requirements as well as any emotional needs. Offering customers multiple options and allowing them to customize their purchases can help ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In conclusion, understanding customer motives is an important part of creating successful customer experiences. Not only does it allow you to tailor your marketing efforts accordingly, but also helps you create meaningful relationships with customers. By understanding customer buying motives, businesses can ensure that customer needs are being met, leading to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By taking the time to research customer motives, you will be able to create products and services that meet customer needs and make sure customer experiences are as positive as possible. This will enable your business to stand out from the competition and build long-term customer relationships. Ultimately, customer-buyer motives should always be taken into consideration when making decisions about product design or marketing campaigns. With this knowledge in hand, you can ensure your business is successful in meeting customer expectations every step of the way.

How to Identify your customers’ buying motives?

When trying to identify buying motives are, it’s important to understand the customer’s needs. Some customers might be driven by convenience and a desire for quick delivery times. Others may prioritize cost savings and discounts. By understanding customer needs, you can tailor your product offering or marketing campaigns to meet those needs.

Here are a few tips to help you understand what your customers’ buying motives are:

Talk to customers about your product or service

Speak directly with them about their experiences and what drove them to make a purchase or sign up for your services. This can help you gain valuable insights into customer needs.

Analyze customer data

Look at common customer trends and patterns in customer behavior. This could include checking customer reviews, studying customer demographic information, or tracking customer engagement rates.

Research industry trends

Knowing what’s happening in the wider market can help you identify what customer buying motives are specific to your industry or product offering. For example, if there’s an emerging trend toward sustainable products, that might influence a customer’s decision to buy from your business over another vendor.

Survey customers

Getting customer feedback is a great way to gain insights into customer buying motives. You can create customer surveys or reach out directly to customers and ask them what factors were most important in their decision to buy from your business.

Personalize customer experiences

Making sure that you’re providing personalized customer experiences can be an effective way of informing customer buying motives. Try creating custom content relevant to each customer, such as product recommendations based on their past purchases or tailored discounts based on loyalty levels.

By understanding the customer motives, you’ll be able to better target potential customers and create more meaningful connections with existing ones. Taking the time to research customer buying motives will benefit your business in the long run and create customer loyalty.

Offer customer rewards

Customers are more likely to make a purchase when they’re rewarded for it, as incentives play an important role in customer buying motives. Offering customer rewards such as discounts, free gifts, or exclusive memberships can be an effective way of getting customers to engage with your brand. Rewarding loyal customers can also foster customer loyalty, which is beneficial for your business in the long run.

Make use of customer feedback

Getting customer feedback is essential for understanding customer buying motives. Ask customers questions about their experiences with your business or product, what features they like and don’t like, or any other relevant information that could help you better understand their preferences and customer buying motives. You can use customer feedback to inform decisions about the product development, customer service improvements, and other customer-related activities.

Understand customer behavior

Gaining insights into customer behavior is a crucial part of understanding customer buying motives. Analyze customer data such as purchase history, website clicks, time spent on site, and customer reviews to get an idea of what customers are looking for in your business or product offerings. This data can help you tailor your products or services to meet customer needs, leading them to ultimately make a purchase.

Buyer Motives: Conclusion

At the end of the day, customer buying motives can be complex and ever-changing. It’s important to use customer data to make informed decisions about customer service improvements, product development, and other customer-related activities. By understanding customer behavior, businesses can stay ahead in an ever-evolving market.

If you’re not sure where to start, our team can help you figure out what motivates your buyers and create a sales strategy that meets their needs. Get in touch today to learn more about how we can help you boost your sales.

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