Buyer Behavior & Buyer Personas
Consumers’ perspectives and journeys differ; there is no perfect way to market or connect with your audience. In this episode of the 301: The Redirect Podcast, Jailyn and Morgan converse about two marketing elements: consumer behavior and buyer personas, and how they will help determine how to target your company’s audience specifically.
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is “learning how one individual or a group of consumers purchase a product or a service.” Companies will understand the decision-making and buying process that appeals to their audience from each market’s many alternatives. For example, many companies make cell phones, but Apple’s iPhone remains one of the most-purchased devices over the past decade for many reasons. Some consumers can explain their decision to purchase an iPhone, while others see it as a popular choice.
It’s important to be aware that consumers consider many factors when purchasing. Buyers subconsciously prefer one brand over others, influencing buyer behavior and loyalty. This behavior is also influenced by cultural, psychological, economic, environmental, and more factors. Economic choices stem from companies offering incentives or discounts; psychological choices come from having a website and an online presence, user experience features, and perceived feelings when visiting brick-and-mortar stores.
Brands and marketing departments should consider learning how buyers purchase your products and/or services. Understanding their journeys and learning why they specifically buy from your company increases your ability to maintain loyal customers and create new repeat customers.
Companies can learn this information by sending out quick post-purchase surveys and doing other marketing research. Surveys should target a minimum of 30 buyers to remove outliers for the best results. Both of these tactics are sure ways to get information and insights directly from the buyers and increase how the company can implement additional efforts.
Buyer Personas
While buyer behavior is important in knowing your audience’s demographics, incorporating buyer personas into your marketing efforts will help you learn and continue to market accurately to your audience.
Buyer personas are fictional character profiles created to understand better the demographics, interests, hobbies, etc., of a business’ audience. Use market research, social media, website analytics, and any other relevant information your company has access to build these profiles.
Personas are important because they allow companies to truly learn and understand the type of individuals who support their brand and those who don’t. The number of personas you create depends upon your company’s size, market, geographic location, and target market – TM targets medium-to-enterprise-sized businesses; therefore, we created 5 personas based on the types of clients we do and do not want to reach.
General Persona Information
Here are some ideas of what information to include in your buyer persona profiles:
- Demographics (age, sex, location, etc.)
- Income status
- Profession and industry
- Likes and dislikes
- Pain points
- Interests
Once you’ve created your buyer personas, update them regularly to ensure your information stays up-to-date. We recommend reviewing the buyer profiles every quarter, or twice a year, to ensure all information is relevant and considers the latest trends.
Book a Consultation Today
Understanding buyer behavior is crucial to anticipate what your customers will do next. If you want to gain more insight into your current and potential customers’ purchase behavior, start a project with Perfect Afternoon today.
Photo Credits – Envato Elements:
