4 Ways to Hypnotize Guests with Consumer Psychology for a Memorable Experience

Knowing how potential and current customers think when it comes to purchase choices and guest service helps your business offer a better guest experience.

Have you ever wondered why a consumer bypasses purchasing one product or brand for another? Consumer psychology is likely at the root of most buying decisions.

Consumer psychology explains why people make some purchases but skip others, taking into account “internal psychological factors” and “external social persuasion,” says inbound marketing expert HubSpot,” which lists the following examples of consumer psychology:

• How customers choose to purchase from brands
• Thoughts and emotions behind consumer decisions
• Motivations for choosing one product over another
• How consumers’ buying decisions are influenced by outside factors such as culture, media and friends and family
• How brands can utilize findings about consumer behavior to provide a better customer experience

“One area of business where consumer psychology truly shines is customer service,” says HubSpot. “When you have a solid understanding of how your customer thinks and behaves, it’s much easier to provide the service and support that wows them.”

What is customer service psychology?

“Customer service psychology is where you and your operators try to understand customer behavior or how they may react in a certain situation,” according to customer support software provider ProProfs. “This knowledge of customer behavior helps you come across various solutions and equips your business to serve them better.

“It is important for your operators to reflect on their behavior during an ongoing support process,” according to customer support software provider ProProfs. “That’s because it becomes a deciding factor to shape the customer’s behavior towards your brand and whether they’ll return or not.”

Is your brand ready to improve your customer experience by using customer psychology?

Here are four tips for putting customer psychology to use for happier customers.

1. Create an emotional investment connection

Showing consumers the “why” and “how” of what your brand offers and what’s important to your company is key to getting new customers and gaining customer loyalty, says HubSpot, which recommends keeping your brand’s “story” for customers brief and straightforward but ensuring it inspires consumers to patronize your business.

“When consumers get to know you as a brand and learn what you stand for, and when they develop trust in who you are and what you do, they’re more likely to stay loyal and tell their friends about you,” says HubSpot.

2. Understand customer needs through direct feedback

To find out your customers’ needs and expectations and attract new customers, ask for their feedback on pain points, using customer surveys and asking for online reviews, recommends HubSpot:

Most (98 percent) consumers surveyed read online reviews for local businesses, and 49 percent trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from others, according to “Local Consumer Review Survey,” a report from advertising agency BrightLocal.

“Positive testimonials will influence others to buy,” says HubSpot. “Of course, when you receive negative feedback, provide a friendly and empathetic response. One of your customer’s needs is to feel heard even if you don’t like what they’re saying.”

3. Connect through social media

“Social media has become one of the major factors of business visibility, so you shouldn’t avoid this communication channel when interacting with your customers,” says the BrightLocal report.

“Not only will you make it more convenient for them to reach out to you, but you’ll also get a chance to create a stronger bond as you’ll be interacting with them in a more relaxed way.”

4. Respond to customer concerns quickly

Customers dislike being forced to wait on hold or for a response from your brand, especially if they’re already frustrated and irritable, says HubSpot, which recommends providing enough customer service agents and channels for support.

“Proactively keeping customers satisfied with a fully staffed service department is a smarter, less expensive way to reduce churn,” says HubSpot. “Otherwise, you could shell out much more in refunds, returned products, and lost business due to poor reviews.”