As business owners, understanding your audience is crucial. Diving a little deeper, we need to understand what motivates their decision-making and purchasing behaviour.
When it comes to consumers, most people believe that purchasing decisions are made through a rational, logic-based consideration of available options on the market.
You might be surprised to learn that neuroscience proves this to ultimately be untrue.
Consumer neuroscience, or Neuromarketing, looks at the brain to gain insight on how and why consumers are driven to make buying decisions. And all evidence points to our feelings and emotions guiding the way.
Here are 4 things you might not know about consumer behaviour, backed by neuroscience:
- 95% of purchase behaviour is influenced by the subconscious limbic system. Yup, you read that right – 95% of our buying decisions are made subconsciously! The limbic system involves emotions, memories, and feelings. This means buying decisions are ultimately driven by emotions, not logic and reasoning. Enter the importance of creating an emotional connection with our audience.
- Studies have shown that without emotions, it becomes almost impossible to make decisions. Wild, right? Connecting emotionally with your consumers drives purchasing behaviours – it gives them what they need to make the decision to work with you. Hot tip: consumers connect emotionally with shared values and are also greatly influenced by positive emotions.
- Color subconsciously evokes certain feelings and emotions that can influence consumer behaviour and buying decisions. This is where a strong brand identity comes into play. Even color alone can increase brand awareness by 80%, and with increased brand recognition comes increased consumer trust.
- Social influence can play a large role in consumer decision making. The core emotions of fear and love are tied to our desire for a sense of belonging, which is necessary for our mental satisfaction, happiness and longevity. Consumers naturally feel safer following decisions made by others, and we gravitate towards products or services that are high in demand. Think of how you might be naturally drawn to the Amazon products that are rated “#1 Best Seller”.
Neuromarketing ultimately allows us to create a better consumer experience, a genuine and deeper connection with our audience.
When it comes to selling, neuroscience empowers us to create meaningful emotional relationships with our audience instead of just shouting out, “this is what my business is selling and this is why you should buy it!”. That improved and engaged consumer experience will naturally lead to more sales.
This is why it is so important to understand who your ideal customer is – so you can know what they need, what motivates them, and how you will be able to connect with them on an emotional level.
Try implementing emotion, or some of these neuroscience techniques into your marketing, and see how your audience responds.
12
Jun
