What Consumer Behavior Tells You About Marketing
- MidAmerican Printing
- Feb 8, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 16, 2021
The New Coke. Pizza Hut Low-Calorie Pizza. Earring Magic Ken. What do all of these have in common? They are products that consumers said they wanted, but when the products were introduced, they flopped.
As consumer behavioral consultants know, consumers often have little true understanding of what motivates their shopping decisions. They may say one thing, but they are often unaware of the subconscious influences that influence their choices. This is why smart marketers pay less attention to what their customers say and more attention to what they do.
Philip Graves, renowned consumer behavioral consultant (Consumer.ology) gives the following examples from the wine industry:
When wine stores played classical music rather than pop, consumers spend three times as much when shopping for a bottle of wine.
When researchers switched labels to show the wine as being made in a more desirable region, consumers rated that wine more highly.
Brain scans indicated that participants genuinely experienced more pleasure when drinking the re-labeled wine, even though the wine itself was the same.
What should this tell you? That you should be using metrics on each and every piece of print marketing. You should be regularly changing up the elements to see how customers react. What will they do if you use this image instead of that one? Does it make a difference if you change the wording? What if you offer a different incentive or use different timing? Monitor the responses and see what happens.
This is how Google found out that its customers prefer smaller, faster maps over the larger ones. Its market research indicated that consumers wanted the maps to be larger, but when it followed the research and enlarged the maps, map traffic actually dropped. When Google changed its maps to smaller, faster versions, map traffic increased by 23%!
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Really enjoyed reading this post! It’s so true how understanding consumer behavior can completely change the way you approach marketing. I liked how it explained that small details—like what captures attention or motivates a click—can make a big difference in engagement. It actually reminded me of those moments when people start Googling random topics like Things to Do When Bored in Class just because something caught their curiosity. That’s the same kind of impulse marketers can tap into by knowing what triggers interest and interaction. When brands connect with people’s natural habits and reactions, their message feels more authentic and memorable. Great insight and super relatable!
I tried this game recently and it’s been alright. The controls are smooth and easy to use. I like that matches start quickly. Sometimes the game feels repetitive after playing for a while. I also noticed a few bugs. Still, it’s playable and not too bad overall.
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Online report writing solutions definitely make tasks more manageable, especially when deadlines are tight. They show how much technology can simplify complex projects. Thinking about creative work, the same idea applies to publishing having the right support can make a big difference. For instance, if you want to get your story out, it can really help to hire children book publisher who understands your vision and can guide you through the steps to reach the right audience.
What does consumer behavior tell you about marketing? As far as I know, consumers are primarily interested in price. And that goes for anything, including book summary apps. So pricing comparison article is a pretty important way to learn about consumer behavior.
Really insightful article this ties closely to a marketing book I read recently that focused on how consumer behavior is shaped by emotion, familiarity, and past experiences. It made me think about how people choose things like the best perfume for women, often influenced by memories, storytelling, or recommendations rather than logic alone. Just like books, products that resonate emotionally tend to stay memorable. Understanding these subtle triggers clearly helps marketers connect more authentically with their audience.