Las Vegas Marketing Golden Goose: Understanding Consumer Buying Behavior

By Author: Ron Henderson
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Where are your customers in the buying process? What information are they looking for at each stage of your Las Vegas marketing? No matter what your business, industry, products, services or price point, customers follow a set buying behavior or consumer buying process before making a purchase.

Customers enter the buying process at different stages. Some know exactly what they want and others may need a little more specialized attention. The goal of your Las Vegas marketing is to identify what stage of consumer buying behavior a customer has entered, and then present effective marketing, branding and customer service to move that potential customer along to the next step of buying behavior. The following six stages of the buying process truly are your golden goose that will keep laying eggs for your Nevada business.

1) Identifying A Need Or Problem - The first step of the consumer buying process involves a potential customer determining a need or problem that they need to resolve. For example, let's use buying a new computer as an example of typical buying behavior. At the first stage of the buying process, the ...
... consumer doesn't yet know they will be purchasing a new computer, but rather, they've determined their current computer starts slowly, can't handle new software, is unresponsive and appears to be failing.

2) Searching For A Solution To The Need Or Problem - In this second stage of buying behavior, the consumer begins to look for products and services as a solution to their problem. Continuing the above example of buying a computer, at this stage of consumer buyer behavior, the consumer still hasn't committed to buying the product. Instead, they'll start exploring options such as: will a larger hard drive or more memory solve my problem? Is there a software solution to speed up my slow computer? Do I have a virus that's causing my problem? Can I take my computer to an electronics store to be fixed? Do I need a new computer?

3) Evaluating Options - Now that the potential customer has completed preliminary research, they have a better understanding of what needs to be resolved and possible solutions to their problem. The consumer begins evaluating which solution is the best for their situation. Again, using a computer purchase as an example, the potential customer will start ruling out possible solutions identified in step two of consumer buying behavior. For example, the consumer might decide that software won't solve the problem of a slow computer, that their current computer is 10 years old and may need to be replaced. Adding a new hard drive or memory will only help minimally.

4) Deciding On A Product Or Service - Things are starting to come together in the buyer's mind and it's time for your Nevada business to muscle up! The consumer understands their problem or need, has completed some research, reviewed potential solutions and knows what they need to buy. In this case a new computer. At this stage of the consumer buying process, your Las Vegas marketing should be in high gear! You want to present your product or service as the buyer's solution. Branding is also critical! All of your marketing efforts at this step should be in proving to the customer that your product has the better features, will save them time and money, and anything else that will position your product as better than Joe Schmo's down the street.

5) Completing The Purchase - Hopefully at this step in the consumer buying process the customer has turned to your Nevada business for the sale. Make things easy for the customer to facilitate the purchase. And just as important as making the sale, if you don't close the deal, you need to find out why! If you can, ask the lost customer what you did wrong and what the other business did right. This is vital for refining your Las Vegas marketing to improve your control over buying behavior. But keep in mind that most people inadvertently obscure their real reasons for not buying from you. So really try to read what's going on behind their actions.

6) Reevaluating The Purchase - In this last stage of the consumer buying process, the customer will review their purchase and attempt to determine if they made the correct decision. Buyer's remorse can set in at this point. Your goal for your Las Vegas marketing and customer service is to help reaffirm that the customer made the right choice. Focus on fulfilling or exceeding expectations. Ensure that your customer support services are easily and readily available to the new customer.

Once you have a strong understanding of the thought process behind consumer buyer behavior, ramp up your Las Vegas marketing to attack each stage of the buying process. Keep in mind that the above six stages of the consumer buying process applies to every purchase, regardless if you're selling directly to consumers or businesses. And it also applies to products and services equally, whether the purchase is for something simple like a pack of gum, or complex, such as buying a house, a computer, a website, or a car.

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Founded in 2003, Formulis is a Las Vegas marketing and Las Vegas web design firm. Still confused about Consumer Buyer Behavior check out our Las Vegas marketing blog for answers.