Google did a really interesting research study back in 2020 where they looked at what triggered people to buy one product or service over another. Find out what the purchase triggers were and how they work.
Google did a really interesting research study back in 2020 where they looked at what triggered people to buy one product or service over another. This study included finding out what the participants favourite 2 brands were in a range of products and services, from beauty to insurance, and then observing them make purchase decisions and see if they could influence them with different biases on the ads they saw.
The 6 biases worked that well at swaying them towards their second favourite brands, that they repeated the experiment with completely made up brands as the second option. Once again these biases had an incredible impact on influencing them to buy the made up brand.
So what are these 6 biases or Purchase Triggers?
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Category heuristics: Short descriptions of key product specifications can simplify purchase decisions.
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Power of now: The longer you have to wait for a product, the weaker the proposition becomes.
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Social proof: Recommendations and reviews from others can be very persuasive.
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Scarcity bias: As stock or availability of a product decreases, the more desirable it becomes.
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Authority bias: Being swayed by an expert or trusted source.
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Power of free: A free gift with a purchase, even if unrelated, can be a powerful motivator.
1. Category Heuristics
This is simply emphasising the typical things people think are important with your product or service. This could be “organic” for a food product, “guaranteed on time” for a service, or “Australian Made” for any product.
2. Power of Now
With the growth of the internet and overnight shipping, we no longer want to wait for anything. Once we’ve made up our mind to buy a product or service, we want it now. Think about someone buying a new air conditioning system, they don’t want to wait a week to have it installed but want to go to sleep in air-conditioned comfort that night.
3. Social Proof
You’ve heard of the herd mentality. If everyone else thinks a product or service is great, then it must be. This is why chasing those customer reviews and showing them on your site is so important.
4. Scarcity Bias
No-one wants to miss out. If we believe that a product or service we are interested in may not be available tomorrow, we will be motivated to buy today.
5. Authority Bias
We trust someone that we feel is an authority figure. This could be an expert in a product or service we are interested in, or even just an influencer that we follow. Another way we can project authority is with industry awards and certifications etc.
6. Power of Free
We all love FREE stuff. If we have the choice of buying something that has something included for free, we are more likely to buy it. This could be related like free delivery and “2 for 1”, or unrelated like a free hat.
You may notice that 4 of these (except the “Power of Free” and “Power of Now”) are similar to the Levers of Influence. That’s because the Levers of Influence are behavioural traits psychology has identified that influence how we make decisions. Buying something is just another decision that we can be influenced into making. The main difference is that the Purchase Triggers are more specific to the point in the journey where the person is ready to buy.
So if you’ve never thought about your market message, now is the time to start thinking about it.
Sources:
Jarrod Sweetman