Comments on: Does your small business make your customers feel good?

By: Stefan Töpfer

Stefan Töpfer — Sun, 18 May 2008 08:37:42 +0000

Love this list, very good comment, thank you very much.

– Stefan

By: Internet Marketing Services

Internet Marketing Services — Sun, 18 May 2008 07:55:43 +0000

Stefan-
What do you think of this list of why people buy?
Make note of #6.

1. Desire for gain - usually financial, but also to gain
in love, power, respect from other people.

2. Fear of loss - usually financial, but also emotional.
This trigger may tie to the loss of something already
gained, or to the fear of not gaining something that
is perceived as a need.

3. Comfort and convenience - convince me that your
product or service will make my life easier, simpler,
more productive, more worthwhile.

4. Security - will your product or service protect me, my
loved ones, my assets, and reduce my fear of loss?

5. Prestige and pride of ownership - although it may not
be a psychologically healthy frame of mind, most
people do attach self-worth to the ownership of
exclusive material items (ie. Rolex watches, designer
clothing, limited editions of anything.) Will I be proud
to tell my friends that I own or use your product or
service?

6. Satisfaction of emotion - will your product or service
make me ‘feel good’ about myself, my life, and the
world I live in?

List credited to Terry Telford.

By: Skip Anderson

Skip Anderson — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:47:06 +0000

Stefan, I enjoyed your thoughts, and I mostly agree. Here’s my take on it: Avoiding pain feels good. So I believe the one over-arching buying motivation of customers is: to feel good. Hope feels good. Staying within a budget feels good. Treating yourself feels good. Pleasing your boss feels good. Looking good feels good. Buying wisely feels good. Etc., etc., etc. It all comes down to feeling good as an OVER-ARCHING motivation to buy. When you drill down further, however, you have other macro and micro needs, dependent upon the prospect and on the details of the moment.

By: Robert Moore

Robert Moore — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:02:42 +0000

Another reason why people buy is in hope. Hopefully this will make my life better or hopefully this will help my business make more money… I guess it comes under the idea of trying to avoid feeling bad

By: Mary Stanton

Mary Stanton — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:46:24 +0000

I guess as consumers were not as smart as we would like to think and we are always going to be driven by some pretty basic reactions - the urge to win and the fear of losing.
Another way of looking at it - the desire for quality and positive benefit and addressing a basic need.

By: Stuart Jones

Stuart Jones — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:40:45 +0000

I agree with your final comment but in a consumer nation I think you’re better off being in the first group (making people feel good) than in the second( helping them avoid being bad).

As accountants I feel well qualified to comment!