Posts in Consumer Marketing

6 Psychology dimensions to make sure your website is culturally fit

Book Reviews Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing 1 Comment

Consumer behavior varies from one culture to another — both offline and online.

Learning about different cultures is usually associated with travel, but also, the more you interact with people from different cultures, regardless of whether you have actually visited their country, the more exposure you get.

People introduce you to their culture.

Culture is the study of social behavior and norms.

Culture is not just a different language. It’s not just about the location on the map or the music they like to listen to. It’s not just about whether they prefer to have tea or coffee in the morning.

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Got an upcoming workshop? This trick will increase your attendance rate ;)

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Sales skills

Whether it’s an event, a workshop or a training session, having no shows is a challenge to many entrepreneurs, event organizers, and trainers. 

They put in the effort. They carefully craft the messaging for their advertised content. They write implicit descriptions. They educate their customers. They even confirm their attendance on the phone, and still, a big percentage of those customers wouldn’t show up. They wouldn’t show up. They wouldn’t even send a message apologizing for not coming.

Those event organizers get frustrated, they get disappointed… and then ask themselves…

How can I make my customers commit? 

I have some good news… and an answer to that question, of course using the principles of those consumer behavior studies that I am in love with. 

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Surprising fact on how giving away ‘Bonuses’ could harm your business

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing

Giving away free ‘bonuses’ could backfire. 

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post, 4 Words that will bring your sales to the next level. One of the words was the word “bonus”, which personally drives me insane. However, now, that I know about it, it might not work that well on me… or maybe not? I am not too sure about that.

In my post, I promised, that if I learn anything scientific about the word ‘bonus’, I would share it. I am not really sure why it works better on me than the word ‘free’, but here is an interesting find if you are a business owner and give away ‘bonuses’ to increase your sales. 

It could backfire. 

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4 Words that will bring your sales to the next level

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Copywriting Sales skills 1 Comment

Some words trigger you — they excite you to the extent that you want to spend, right now, eagerly, whatever is in your pocket, or your credit card.

In his book, Brainfluence, Roger Dooley, mentions the magical power of some words on our brain. I could also say I recently discovered one word that works like magic. Read on to find out.

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Learn how mirrors will change your consumers buying behavior

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Customer experience Sales skills

When you look at yourself, what do you see?

Remember earlier when I was brainstorming with my friend who is testing a new stylish laptop bag for corporate women?

If not, it’s ok. I get it, you are busy, but in case you are interested here is the blog post: I am not sure this is for you, but…

A little background context.

I was brainstorming ideas with my friend who is doing customer testing for a new stylish laptop bag for corporate women.

In addition to the “I am not sure this is for you, but…” tip, I also suggested to get a mirror, where customers can see themselves wearing the bag. I didn’t write about it in that blog post though, because, well, my friend was too lazy to get the mirror due to logistic reasons… and I have no results to share with you.

To be honest, that suggestion was purely based on intuition — and that is another reason I didn’t write about it back then.

Now, however, I learned a new trick from Roger Dooley in his book Brainfluence about mirrors that can just make me confidently share my tip. Can I just say that Brainfluence is one of my favorite books?

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Chocolate might make you want to buy more

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Customer experience Sales skills 1 Comment

Indulgence.

What comes to mind when you hear that word? Indulgence?

For me, I think luxury, I think the Spa or perhaps a relaxing massage. I think of candles. I think fine dining. I think coffee coupled with my favorite piece of chocolate. I think a nice dessert. I think of memorable perfume.

Here is the thing about indulgence. When you start indulging, you kind of what to keep doing that — indulging.

That’s pretty much stating the obvious, but not until I read about the impact of injecting indulgence in the experiences of consumers that I realized the power of it.

Roger Dooley in his book Brainfluence, described how being offered candy actually makes us want to buy.

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The reason free trials make you happily spend your money

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Customer experience Sales skills

I have heard it numerous times by people thinking of starting their own business, reluctant to share ideas or information for free, asking: 

“Should I offer it for free?” 

Not only start-ups or small businesses but also large corporations hesitate and think… 

“But if we gave all this knowledge away for free, they wouldn’t need us. They will just go ahead and do it on their own.” 

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How Bath & Body Works screwed up their pricing

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Spending money

Women love Bath & Body works. 

Whenever I visit one of my friends who also happen to be a girl, I find Bath and Body works soup, lotions, candles, body mist, etc. all over the place. Men, on the other hand, like Dettol for some reason. They want to be germ-free I guess. Us, women, we want to experience that sweet scent, the tenderness that comes with it and the relaxation that gets diffused when lighting a strongly scented smell at the end of a long day.

Don’t get me wrong. I am in love with their products too. 

Just pass by the mall and you will find women buying tons of Bath & Body works products. I am one of them. 
I was extremely delighted when they started selling those products online. 
Do you know what I loved the most about the online shop? 

I knew I could buy tons and tons of products and I wouldn’t have to carry them around in the mall. I mean, if you buy candles, lotions, etc., they things really carry some weight. I like to think of my self as strong, but let’s just keep it to mentally strong.

The downside of online shopping though is that I won’t be able to smell every single scent and decide what to buy. Still, the good news is… I already know what I love. 

—

There is no doubt, most women love Bath & Body works… But, but, where is the but?

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The reason I bought ice-cream, chocolate, and honey I didn’t want

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Sales skills Spending money

Just to be clear, I love ice-cream, chocolate and honey. 

– Ice-cream makes a good day beautiful
– Chocolate is practically an addiction to me
– … And I use honey either for my avocado smoothie or my morning oatmeal

That doesn’t negate the fact that I have bought those items when I didn’t need them at the time.
Sometimes it’s just about maintaining a healthy diet and staying slim. 

In an earlier blog post when I started the #savingmode journey, I spoke about how I bought ice-cream even though I didn’t want to. Well, I wanted the red-velvet ice-cream, but it wasn’t there. I just bought ice-cream because I was given so many samples to try. It wasn’t a calorie justified decision. 

I didn’t know why though I bought the ice-cream anyway.

But now I do.

I also didn’t know why I bought the peanut milk chocolate at the supermarket, even though I promised myself to only get dark chocolate to stay, well, “healthy”. 

I didn’t know why did I buy two jars of honey while I was on a tour in Georgia. I mean I am not having any home-made breakfast while I am on vacation.

Why did I make those purchases even though at the time I didn’t really want to? 

I just found out.

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