What is consumer behavior and what does it matter? - Consumer Behavior refers to the study of customers and how they behave when deciding to buy a product that meets their needs. This study is the performance of customers that leads them to buy and use specific products.
Studying consumer behavior is more important for marketers. Because they can understand consumer expectations. This helps you understand what drives the customer to buy a product. It is very important to evaluate the type of product that consumers like so that you can market it. Marketers can understand the likes as well as the ones that consumers do not like and base their marketing plan on the findings.
Studies of consumer behavior give us information about different situations. Such as what consumers buy, why they buy, when and how often, why, and so on.
For example, consumer behavior has been studied by researchers and their goal is to find out why women use moisturizers (to reduce skin problems). What is the most popular brand (Olay, L’Oréal), how many times they use it (two Once or three times a day), where they prefer to buy it (supermarkets, online) and how many times they buy it (weekly, monthly).
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The importance of consumer behavior
Understanding consumer behavior is essential to the success of existing products as well as the launch of new products. Every consumer has a different way of thinking and attitude towards buying a particular product. If a company fails to understand the consumer’s reaction to a product, the product is more likely to fail.
Consumer behavior also changes due to changes in fashion, technology, trends, lifestyle, income and other similar factors. A marketer must understand the factors that are changing in order to plan marketing efforts accordingly.
What is the importance of consumer behavior? This article describes several of them.
1- Consumer differentiation
In marketing, consumer differentiation is a way to differentiate a customer from several other consumers. This helps to create a target group of consumers with similar behavior.
Although you have a targeted demographic in your business, there may still be differences between different clients. Each group of consumers is different and their needs and wants are different from other groups. Once a marketer is aware of the differences between each group of consumers. He or she can design separate marketing plans.
Consumer differentiation helps to tailor your strategies to the needs of different customer groups. Once the consumer differentiation is done, you can expand your services. You will be able to serve a wider group of people.
2- Protecting consumers
“Consumer behavior is more important to marketers because the main goal is to create and retain customers,” says Professor Theodore Levitt.
Customer behavior is not only important for attracting new customers. But also retaining existing customers. When a customer is happy with a particular product, they repeat the purchase. Therefore, product marketing must be done in a way that convinces customers to buy the product consistently.
Therefore, it is obviously very important to create and retain customers. This will be possible only by understanding and paying attention to consumer behavior.
3- Designing a related marketing plan
Understanding consumer behavior allows you to create effective marketing campaigns. Each campaign can communicate specifically with a separate group of consumers based on their behavior.
For example, if you target the child market, you may have to look for TV commercials, school programs, and blogs that target young mothers. You need to take different messaging approaches for different groups of consumers.
Studying consumer behavior enables marketers to understand what consumers are motivated to buy. In addition, the same motivation can be used in advertising media to stimulate the desire to buy. In addition, marketers need to decide on brand logo, coupons, packaging and gifts based on consumer behavior.
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4- Predicting market trends
Analysis of consumer behavior is the first indicator of changing market trends. For example, the recent trend of consumers towards the environment and healthy food. This changing market is seen by many brands, including McDonald’s. Based on consumer behavior, McDonald’s added healthy food options to the menu.
By studying consumer behavior, the company stores a lot of resources that might otherwise be allocated to producing products that are not sold in the market. For example, in the summer a brand does not waste its resources on products that do not sell in the summer. Based on consumer behavior, the company decides on a production strategy that saves on warehousing and marketing costs.
5- Competitors
One of the most important reasons to study consumer behavior is to find the answers to the following questions:
- Does the customer buy from your competitor?
- Why does the consumer buy from your competitor?
- What features attract the customer to your competitor products?
- What gaps do your consumers identify with your products compared to competitors?
Conclusion
Leading companies such as Coca-Cola and Barclays are constantly improving their existing products. And focusing on new products. By conducting market research to identify consumer behavior, Coca-Cola has incorporated its corporate strategy of “empowering everyone who is affected by our business.”
Consumer behavior analysis has emerged as an important tool for understanding customers. By examining the consumer’s psychology and the forces that influence their behavior, companies can develop new products, increase marketing and profitability campaigns. Companies need to talk to consumers, avoid frustration, and most importantly, identify their needs and expectations!
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