4 Factors That Actually Influence Consumer Purchase Decisions

Most marketing and sales teams view consumer behavior as a difficult puzzle that can never be completely solved. While they understand the basics behind influencing conversions (like offering enticing sales and promotions), there’s a whole lot more to encouraging consumers to complete certain actions — apart from badgering them with advertisements.

Consumers are smarter than ever these days, and they know they have a huge number of options as global e-commerce has expanded tremendously. Therefore, converting them is getting trickier as consumers aren’t so quick to fall for gimmicky marketing ploys.

Marketers are more focused than ever on generating sales, reaching new audience segments, and boosting engagement. But how can this be done when consumer behavior is still such a mystery?

Well, the answer is understanding what matters the most to your target customers and incorporating those elements strategically into your marketing. Consumer preferences have changed, however. Therefore, here’s what really matters to consumers in the modern digital era.

1. Social Proof

Consumers are becoming less and less trusting of businesses and the media. They’re no longer easily swayed by flashy commercials and empty advertising promises. Instead, consumers are turning to each other for product advice, recommendations and brand discovery.

In fact, 91 percent of consumers said they trust random users on the internet just as much as a personal recommendation. This is why 82 percent of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase.

Therefore, establishing social proof is one of the best ways for brands to nurture leads One way to do this is to incorporate customer reviews as a marketing strategy.