Buying behavior

Research into consumer behavior will provide answers to a number of important questions.

1. What are the target audience's needs and expectations?
2. What financial capabilities do consumers have?
3. How much are potential and existing customers willing to spend on the products or services offered?
4. What needs to be taken into account when developing a development strategy aimed at increasing consumer activity?

Professional research helps companies solve the following problems.

• Determination of the socio-demographic portrait of buyers. This is necessary for conducting effective targeted marketing campaigns. The research allows you to optimize costs and launch advertising aimed at a specific target audience or its segment.
• Studying the capabilities and needs of existing and potential clients. This information is needed to optimize sales offers and create an attractive service.
• Launch effective advertising with geographic targeting. The study will reveal where the target audience is concentrated.
• Identification of criteria and factors influencing buyer activity. This data is needed to prepare the most relevant offers and increase loyalty through effective BTL and ATL events.

Research on consumer purchasing behavior

It is extremely difficult to analyze the purchasing behavior of consumers, since in the process of work it is necessary to determine the motivation for choosing a place of purchase, to study the factors (external and internal) influencing the purchase of a product or service and the process of making a decision to enter into a transaction. This can be accomplished through well-designed qualitative market research. Quantitative methods for this task are practically used only in combination with qualitative ones.

Professional research into the purchasing behavior of potential and existing consumers suggests:

• drawing a detailed portrait of the target audience or its individual segments;
• study of buyer behavior;
• dividing the target audience into groups according to various criteria and the 5W methodology;
• assessment of the financial capacity of segments;
• analysis of consumer sensitivity to price dynamics;
• identifying the needs of the target audience (including using the Kano method);
• determining the media preferences of the target audience;
• TRP and GRP assessment.

In the research process, experts use three main methods.

1. Observation. Allows you to understand what the choice is based on, how it happens, and what pushes consumers to make a purchase. Based on the collected data, forecasts and hypotheses are built.
2. Measurements and surveys. At this stage, the assumptions made are tested.
3. In-depth interviews. They are carried out in conditions of complex consumer choice.

As practice shows, the use of the results of professional research on consumer behavior helps companies increase sales of goods and services by 15–20% in a short time.

Extended model of consumer behavior

Buying behavior is a whole series of patterns. The same factors cause similar reactions in consumers.

The purchasing behavior model consists of:

• marketing incentives, these include the product, its cost, methods of product promotion and sales promotion.
• economic, social, political, scientific, technical and cultural stimuli;
• personal characteristics of consumers;
• features of the purchase decision-making process;
• customer responses (choice of a specific product, time and place of purchase).

External and internal factors of purchasing behavior

Consumer behavior is influenced by various factors. External include:

• cultural (social class, culture, subcultural affiliation);
• social (reference group, status and role, family).

Internal factors are divided into personal and psychological. The first group includes:

• age;
• personality type;
• self-esteem;
• work;
• economic conditions;
• character traits;
• style and lifestyle.

Psychological include needs, attitudes, perceptions and motives.

People choose specific products or services as a result of all of the above factors. The degree of their influence varies. Status and family have the strongest influence on consumer behavior; culture is less significant.

Main types of purchasing behavior

Building a model involves determining the type of purchasing behavior. It could be:

• uncertain, most often manifests itself in the case of a high cost of products/services and when there are offers on the market with similar characteristics;
• search engine, formed if there are products on sale in the same category that differ significantly from each other; people are eager to try out a new product;
• habitual, observed when purchasing everyday goods;
• complicated, manifests itself when making a decision to purchase an expensive product; customers are fully involved in the selection process and are looking for additional information about products/services and the brand.

Stages of studying consumer behavior

The process of shaping the purchasing behavior of potential consumers consists of the following stages.

1. Influence on important selection factors. Under the influence of internal and external factors, potential buyers have a need to buy a product or order a service.
2. Search stage. Interested consumers are looking for the most suitable offers. Various commercial, personal and public sources of information are used.
3. Formation of attitude towards the brand and brand. At this stage, consumers study the products of the selected company in detail. Effective marketing campaigns improve brand awareness and loyalty.
4. Concluding a deal or purchasing. The potential client makes the final decision to make a purchase. At this stage, buyer behavior is also influenced by external factors.

After a purchase/transaction, it is important to determine the consumer's reaction. Satisfaction is a sign of repeat business. Negative attitude is a bounce rate.

Managing consumer reactions is difficult, but possible. When choosing a new product, buyers pay special attention to the following factors:

• advantages;
• degree of compliance with existing experience and preferences;
• communication visibility;
• complexity of operation.

Perception is also influenced by:

• public approval;
• degree of uncertainty;
• possible risks;
• product cost.

Correctly conducted marketing research will help the company in its daily work with consumer behavior, as well as in competently forecasting changes in customer preferences.

Examples of research