Consumer Psychology

Imagine your weekly grocery shopping plan of action: You walk in with your list of items that you need, grab the items, and check out. You might linger around to check out any new sales or whether you should grab that pack of Oreos because you’ve been such a good person. You pay for what you buy and then head out. It’s very likely that this process will repeat itself the next time you visit just like it has before.

Do you understand why you buy the items you buy? On a deeper level, do you understand why you buy the specific brands that you do? How are you influenced to pick one brand of food item over the other? Now you could say that’s the brand you’ve always gotten, but what made you purchase that item the first time around? Herein lies the concept of Consumer Psychology.

Consumer Psychology deals with how our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, & perceptions influence how people buy and relate to goods and services. It helps explain why we choose one product over another on a deeper level. Understanding the why behind purchasing decisions is beneficial in multiple ways.

For companies, understanding consumer psychology gives them a more accurate picture of what products to target certain demographics. Like with almost everything else, this relies on a good chunk of data in the form of surveys and other methods of collecting consumer behavior. Companies can take this information and then create better advertisements that tailor to specific audiences and specific times of the day. It’s why we see snack commercials at 4 pm which happens to be that sweet spot between lunch and dinner.

Another reason this is so important is that it helps you identify what products the consumers are interested in as well as future products to consider bringing to life. If you notice that your demographic tends to complain about a common pain point, that should immediately set off fireworks in your head. Is there something not on the market that should be offered to satisfy the customers? Are you missing a crucial complementary item that would boost customer satisfaction scores tremendously? Typically consumers influence the market and what better way to identify market trends and future areas of growth than understanding your consumers?

As a founder of a startup, knowing the psychology of your target consumer absolutely goes a long way. The key is to gather as much information about them, identify their behaviors and what makes them buy your product, and then act on it. Rinse and repeat this process and you will have a much more refined way of targeting your audience with products they will actually buy. Because if you don’t you can be certain your competitors will.