4 Powerful Psychological Factors that Influence Buying Decisions

Appealing to the right emotions to reach your customers is easier said than done.

You might feel like you need to spend thousands of dollars on ads to get in front of your customers and influence their buying decisions, but that can be a futile tactic if you don’t get your messaging right from the start.

Being strategic with your marketing starts with an understanding of why people act the way they do online.

Let’s take a look at some of the key psychological factors behind why people buy and how you can appear in the right places at the right times to influence them.

1. The Quest for Knowledge or Expertise

Most of us do our research when it comes to buying things online. We like to know we’re purchasing from the right companies to suit our needs—this is especially true in an environmentally conscious world where sustainability and authenticity matter.

We’ll search far and wide for answers to our questions, whether they come in the form of guides, FAQs, lists, interviews, customer reviews, or recommendations. That’s why we look for authoritative voices online, and it’s also why those authoritative voices need to appear at as many different touchpoints as possible to have a greater influence on purchasing decisions.

Part of your company’s marketing strategy here can be to find opportunities to showcase your expertise outside of your own website to help people find the answers they want. This may involve building relationships with relevant publications, being active and vocal on social media, and creating the kinds of content that others will talk about. 

If your authority is clear and reliable, other sites will be more likely to quote or recommend you and customers will be more likely to find and trust you. You can start uncovering your opportunities for extra coverage in an instant with Surround Sound. 

2. The Hunger for Power or Control

Ultimately, we all like to feel in control of our own decisions and this applies doubly when we’re parting with our money. We want to enjoy the feeling that comes with researching every source to find the best deal, snatch the last product off of the shelf, or solve a problem in the most effective way possible.

This level of buying intent can’t be met with a single source of information like your website—that’s simply not enough. As customers, we will check out the competition in comparison lists, read customer reviews on various sites, and watch countless videos to find the right solutions to our problems. Appearing in multiple sources with multiple offers, deals, and bits of expert advice can help you help more of your customers throughout their online journeys.

This is where Surround Sound SEO comes in. Find the best opportunities for valuable mentions on pages that rank for your keywords, instantly.

3. The Desire to Feel Important

One of the basic principles of successful selling is understanding and responding to the needs of your target audience. Products and services that don’t will (and often do) fail.

Make your customers feel important by focusing your solutions on what they want and, of course, don’t be afraid to adapt based on their feedback. Listening is the most crucial component of a strong marketing strategy, so, whether you’re providing an app or selling social media management software, let your customers know that you hear them and you understand them by implementing the updates they want.

Get to know the intent behind the keywords they use to search, too, so you can optimize your content at every stage of the user journey. Companies that make life easier for their customers online are more likely to succeed because it shows they care.

4. The Need for Safety, Comfort, or Community

Whether we’re seeking to relieve a fear of the unknown or the fear of missing out, we are all driven by our basic human need to be safe, comfortable, and not alone. We might buy a robust security system for our home or tickets to see that new show everyone’s talking about—whatever our needs, there are many ways for brands to fill them.

Surround Sound can be useful here, too, as it can help you increase your share of search when it comes to marketing your fear-quashing solution. You can use it to find examples of coverage you already have for specific keywords and determine where links might be missing so you can go after them. 

What’s more, you can also pinpoint which sites are ranking for your keywords, yet don’t mention you, opening up the opportunity to pitch your product or service for an editorial slot.

Increase Your Brand and Product Awareness Today

There’s no getting away from the fact that people are led by a combination of emotion and logic when they buy. That’s why they use multiple sources to inform purchase decisions in almost every digitally-driven industry in the world, so it’s important that brands are talked about in all the right places. 

You can start to increase your share of voice by using these factors to inform your marketing strategy, and leveraging the power of Surround Sound to secure links on the third-party sites customers trust the most. 

The competition might still be dependent solely on traditional SEO, but you might soon take over the SERPs with a multifaceted approach that goes a step further.