If you ask most business owners the reason their customers purchase the goods and services offered by their business, you’ll probably get a list of FEATURES.
“Well, my product does this.” “My service does that.”
Over at Word of Mouth Marketing, Martin Russell in his post Understanding Buyers hits the nail squarely upon the head….
Customers (of any age) are buying an emotion! Safety, security, social status, power, comfort, confidence, yes even just plain old fun.
Think about your own business product or service, and dig behind the list of features and practical benefits. Discover the emotional reasons for buying, and deliver on it.
In other words, the REAL reason your customer is buying has little if ANYTHING to do with the FEATURES of your product.
In my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results, I use one of my favorite illustrations to show the difference between features and benefits…
“Buying is a complex and emotional process. Your customers make purchases, both Minor Sales and Major Sales, for reasons that are not always readily apparent. Often times, they will make buying decisions that seem to have no basis in fact. These decisions are based solely upon emotion and that’s why it’s important to try to tap into the buyer’s emotions as you create your advertising message.
An example that illustrates this point is the sale of candles. On the surface, this appears to be a simple Minor Sale transaction. However, when we look beneath the surface, we see that in reality, our customers are not buying candles, but something else. In fact, three different candle buyers can actually be “buying” three different things.
- One customer may be buying “security” because s/he is buying candles to use in case of a future power outage.
- The second customer is buying “romance” because s/he is buying candles for a special evening.
- The third is buying “odor removal” because s/he is needs the scent of candles to cover up odors in the home.
Three different customers and yet not one of them are purchasing candles.
Have you taken the time to figure out the emotions at play when customers walk into your store or log onto your web site? The reasons they buy are NOT silly… and are instead the real life blood of your business. Maybe your customers are buying because you treat them like the Pope is coming… now isn’t that a nice thought!
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