Why do some small businesses skyrocket while others struggle?
They know why their customers buy.
Big brands spend millions trying to understand buyer motivation. Meanwhile small business owners jump straight to marketing fluff that doesn’t convert.
Buyer motivation matters because knowing why customers buy gives you a huge competitive advantage. One that allows you to outsell and outgrow bigger competitors — on a smaller budget.
Here’s how…
What you’ll pick up:
- Why Buyer Motivation matters more than ever.
- The real reasons customers buy from small businesses.
- How to uncover what your customers really want.
- How to use buyer motivation to drive real sales.
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Buyer Motivation Matters More Than Ever
Small businesses have one huge advantage over big brands.
You can talk to your customers.
Straight up conversations about why your customers buy. That right there is powerful. But most small businesses never take advantage of this because they have no idea what questions to ask.
Research indicates that 95% of purchase decisions are subconscious.
Your customers aren’t going to be able to tell you why they bought from you. They just…
Did.
Buyer’s Motivation collection tools such as testimonial collection software and AI customer research tools make it easy to uncover those subconscious triggers that cause buyers to spend their money. The best testimonial collection software grabs your customer’s raw feedback, then analyzes that text so you can easily identify common themes.
Here’s the secret sauce:
Companies who know what’s driving their buyers are better prepared to pivot when customer behavior changes. Businesses that adapt to consumer trends gain 1.8x more market share than companies who do not.
If you know your customers better than your competitors, you know what they want and you know how to give it to them. That right there is a big advantage. One that can make or break a small business going up against well-funded competition.
The real reasons people buy from small businesses
Most small business owners believe their customers buy their product or service because of:
- Price
- Product features
- Convenience
…and they’re wrong.
Make no mistake. Customers do care about those things. But that’s not what motivates them to buy. Not even close.
Think about the last time you made a purchase. You probably did some research. Read reviews. Maybe asked a friend for their opinion.
By the time you hit that “purchase” button, the product itself was often the least important part of your decision.
What was important to you? How did buying that product make you feel?
Buyer’s decisions are emotional purchases made with logic as an afterthought. If you speak to your customers’ emotions, you’ll trigger…
- Feelings of safety
- Belonging
- Confidence
- Excitement
- Value
- Urgency
- Trust
When people buy from a small business, they expect to feel appreciated. They want to buy from someone who gets them. Someone who they can trust. Once you understand what your customers are looking to feel when they buy from you… You can speak directly to those desires with every ad you create.
How To Discover Your Customer’s True Desires
Ok let’s get into the juicy stuff.
How do you actually discover your customers’ true motivations?
Below are the best ways small business owners can gain direct access to their customers’ subconscious minds.
Let’s do this.
Speak To Your Customers
Preferably over the phone.
But hey, email works too.
Ask these 10 customers a few simple questions:
- What problem are they solving by buying from you?
- Why did they buy from you and not your competitor?
- What nearly stopped them from buying?
- What finally made them decide to pull the trigger?
You’ll be amazed by what you learn.
Run this test. Head to your storefront and write down why you think people buy from you. Write down every reason you can think of. Email copy. Social proof. Discounts.
Then ask your customers why they bought it.
Chances are the real reason they bought from you is nothing like you imagined.
Use Testimonial Collection Software
Analyzing customer testimonials is where testimonial collection software gets juicy.
Quality testimonial collection software outputs more than just fancy quotes for your website. It shows you the exact words your customers use to describe their struggles, goals, and successes.
That right there is marketing gold.
Take all those testimonials and now you can use your customers’ own words in your:
- Ad copy
- Landing pages
- Email swipes
- Sales script
New visitors to your store are much more likely to buy when they read testimonials from “real” people just like them speaking the exact same language they’re speaking.
Pro tip: The best testimonial collection tools allow you to filter testimonials by category. You can quickly identify which motivators are mentioned most frequently in testimonials.
Analyze All Reviews & Customer Comments
Drop a comment on a TripAdvisor thread and people will scream at you.
Listen to your customers. Carefully.
Head over to your review section(s). And start reading between the lines.
What are the common praises? Common complaints?
Now check out your competitor’s reviews. What’s mentioned there that you aren’t mentioning?
Customer motivations will start popping out at you.
Motivations that repeat themselves? Those are the ones you want to leverage in your marketing.
Observe Customer Behavior
This one ties back to the whole “subconscious decision” thing from earlier.
“What people say doesn’t always match what they do.”
This is true when it comes to buying decisions.
So while interviewing current customers is great. Observation is equally important.
Keep an eye on:
- Pageviews: Which of your pages are getting the most traffic?
- Buyer’s funnel: Where are people dropping off on checkout?
- Product pairings: What items are most frequently bought together?
- Email engagement: Which email subject lines spark the most curiosity?
You get the idea.
Transforming Buyer Insights into Closing More Sales
Now you have all this juicy data about what makes your customers tick. How do you use it to sell more stuff?
Easy.
Rewrite Your Messaging
Go through your website copy, ads, and product descriptions.
Are you speaking about your product? Or are you speaking about the emotional payoff your customer receives after buying from you?
Change your homepage headline.
Rewrite your product descriptions.
Sell your readers on why they need your product.
Map Your Copy to The Customer’s Journey
Different people are at different stages of the buyer’s journey.
Aware. Considering. Ready.
You need to tailor your messaging to focus on what your customer is feeling at each stage of their journey.
Aware → Teach them about the problem
- This is a great content marketing opportunity. Teach your customers about the problem they don’t even know they have.
Considering → Position yourself as the best solution
Ready → Create a sense of urgency.
Test Everything
Made a change to your sales page?
A/B test it.
Why did you choose that headline? Go on, test your headline too.
Too lazy to take the A/B test? Pick a winner and roll with it. At least you tried.
Wrapping Up
The more you know about why your ideal customers buy. The easier it is to sell to them.
Knowing your customers‘ deepest desires is one of the best weapons you can have as a small business.
Big brands will throw millions at software to try and learn what customers want. You don’t have that kind of money. Or time.
But you can sit down (virtually or physically) with your customers and ask them what they want. You can leverage testimonial collection software to analyze what they’re saying. Learn why your customers buy. Implement these changes. Then watch your sales skyrocket.
PS: Start talking to your customers today. Fire up Skype, pick up the phone, or send that email. Staring down the barrel of a conversion rate click doesn’t know you took the time to ask your last 5 customers why they bought.
