Why Do Customers Buy Products? 7 Basic Reasons

It would be ideal if you took the time to learn about the factors that drive your consumers’ behavior.

It is critical to have a deep understanding of your consumers in order to develop high-quality products and advertise them successfully. Our grasp of what influences people’s decisions to purchase or not to purchase our products needs to be extensive.

With that in mind, how do your products help improve someone’s life? 

This question sounds so lofty and magnanimous. But the truth is purchases do provide changes, and hands down, we want that change to be positive.

Another way of studying this puzzle is how your product diminishes pain or enhances pleasure.

Thinking about why customers buy products based on helping alleviate pain or increase happiness is the foundation of many other drivers. Buyers are triggered mainly by seven underlying factors when purchasing a new product.

Our motives include both necessity and convenience along with security, FOMO, identity and belonging, price, peer recommendations, obligation, fear, price, and happiness.

The reality is that each of these factors can fit into the pleasure or discomfort camps. Products either produce happiness or address our pain. Because of this, it is easier to understand why people buy products.

This article will talk about the various reasons people buy stuff and end with a real example of how one ecommerce startup enlisted the help of some clever influencers.

Top Reasons Why Customers Buy Products

Why do customers buy particular things has never been more vital to business success.

According to Salesforce,

76% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.

The following are the seven personal and sometimes subconscious motivations for making a purchase. We explore why do customers buy products, as well as the underlying reasons for doing so.

#1 – People Buy Products Out of Necessity

We buy things because we require them, arguably the most evident rationale for making a purchasing decision.

Let’s go back to that psychology class for a second. Remember Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs?  The hierarchy of needs established by Abraham Maslow describes human motivation. His theory states that people must first satisfy their fundamental needs to advance higher in the social, emotional, and self-actualization needs hierarchy.

How many times do students say, “Why do I need to learn this? Am I ever going to use it in real life?”

Well, in this case, the response is — absolutely!  This section in your science or psychology class is extremely useful. In fact, we would explanation that you need to learn it “because it will help you every day of your professional life!”

Asking what needs someone has can make every encounter with a prospect, a customer, a patient, a partnership, or anybody else far more relevant and productive. Because Maslow’s needs hierarchy truly makes it easier to answer the question: why do customers buy products?

Needs Are Strong Motivators (maybe the strongest)

Where do your products fit on the hierarchy of needs? Do you offer basic human needs such as food and shelter? Or are your offerings more connected to status or freedom?

Typically, necessities fit in the lower need levels. That being said, we require more than water, food, homes, and clothing. Thus, people can attach many products to a necessity.

Begin by identifying the fundamental requirements of your target audience. Next, determine how your product or service may meet those needs.

Another excellent starting point is to pick a common problem or pain point that your target audience is experiencing. Then match that with the benefits of products or services you offer.

Without a doubt, every product and service solves an issue that many of your target customers face.

Benefits of Understanding Needs

Asking what needs or pain points someone has can make every encounter with a prospect, a customer, a patient, a partnership, or anybody else far more relevant and productive.

The more closely you link products with needs, the more it will resonant with the right audiences.

Many other elements of the business, from marketing to customer service, become much more natural and relevant when you know exactly where each of your products and services fits.

Sales will occur from properly selling your items and matching them with the requirements of your target audience.

#2 – People Value Convenience 

Another big reason customers buy stuff is to decrease their hassles and make their lives more comfortable.

Many buyers acquire new goods to help them do a task more quickly, easily, or affordably. They also do so to make their lives less unpleasant.

#3 – Security and Protection

Customers purchase products to protect themselves and to provide security. These motivators correlate with the second category on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, specifically the safety requirement.

Many of the things we buy protect us. All types of insurance such as health, car, homeowners, renters, life, pet, and more protect our health and belongings. Purchases calm future pain and shield us from the unknown.

Many of the products we buy are intended to keep us safe. All forms of insurance, including health, auto, homeowners, renters, life, pet, and others, are designed to safeguard our health and possessions. Purchases in this category help us cope with the pain of future misfortune and protect us from uncertainty.

#4 – FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

1. Feeling the need to have the latest and greatest thing around is a compelling motivator. The fact is, FOMO is real. The fear of missing out is unpleasant and somewhat scary.

Many people purchase goods to get the benefits, rewards, and prestige other buyers have experienced. If they don’t follow, they miss out. And being left out is painful. Thus, FOMO is a remarkably potent motivator for consumers to buy.

Impulse buying may tie in, but FOMO focuses on current trends. During the time of a rapidly developing fad, customers tend to buy into the craze as a hedge against missing out. FOMO purchases give consumers a kind of immediate feeling of inclusion. Plus, they are able to showcase their new purchases and keep the FOMO going.

It’s smart for brands to ride trends and develop some FOMO, especially for products catering to those born between 1981 and 1996.

You are probably well acquainted with FOMO if your brand targets this age group. Millennials experience FOMO more than any other consumer segment. Fear of missing out is a significant concern for 69% of millennials. Further, when millennials endure FOMO, they react quickly. Within 24 hours, 60% of millennials make a purchase to soothe their burden of missing out. (OptionMonster)

Fear of missing out is a concern for 69% of millennials, which causes 60% of these people to a reactionary purchase within 24 hours of experiencing FOMO.