Ultimate guide to internal and external determinants of consumer buying behaviour (with examples)
When you create an actionable buyer persona, you should analyse which factors your consumers buying behaviour is influenced by, how do they come to a decision to purchase your product. Later on you can find points where to focus your efforts to bring consumers from top to bottom of your sales funnel.
Consumer buying behaviour definition
Consumer buying behaviour — it is a management theory that examines consumers’ shopping habits, from their first contact with a company through to the final purchase. It’s one of the most studied concepts in marketing and tells businesses how customers interact with their brand.
How to cluster factors that influence consumer buying behaviour
There are various triggers of purchasing behaviour. When you think about determinants which you should count, you should answer a question: How does a buyer come to a decision to buy something from you?
For example, you know, that a store’s location is an important factor which influence buying behaviour. If a consumer passes a shop each time he comes back from his job, he is more likely to purchase something from there. If there is a person of influence which tells to the customer to buy products from a certain brand, it’s for sure an important determinant of his buying behaviour.
Buying behaviour determinants classification
Factors can be classified as:
- Psychological (personal preferences and predispositions, needs, personal influence, personal perception, etc.)
- Demographic (age, sex, income, profession, income, etc.)
- Environmental (economic or social crisis, social trends, fashion, etc.)
- Power of marketing message (a message which urges to buy something)
How to understand which determinants trig consumer buying behaviour
There are different ways to find out which key determinants exist for your business niche. One option is to make interviews and surveys.
Another option is to wear your customer’s shoes. How can you imagine yourself in a role of a buyer coming to your store to make a purchase?
If you have an online resource, it’s easy to analyse leads, sometimes also demographic factors (in case of using Facebook or Google analytic tools, for example).
You should learn about your customers:
- Which needs did they have before to purchase your product?
- How does your product solve their problem?
- Which alternatives do they have to your product?
- How deeply involved are they into purchasing the product?
- Who influences their decision?
- From where do they get information about your product?
- Are they returning buyers or not?
If you combine answers to these questions, you will see some common internal and external factors influencing your consumers buying behaviour. You can use the data to create actionable buyer persona profile.
Internal and external determinants of consumer buying behaviour during buyer’s purchasing funnel journey
Let’s look at the buyer’s journey from top to bottom of the purchasing funnel and find key determinants influencing her (let call her Amy) decisions on an example of buying business shoes from an online shop.
First Step: Identifying a need of a pair new business shoes
This is the first and the most important step at any purchasing funnel. If consumers do not perceive a problem or need, they generally will not move forward with considering a product purchase.
The realisation of a need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli. For example, Amy felt that her old shoes were too tight or started to look shabby — internal stimuli. Or she saw an advertisement from a shop representing a new collection of shoes for business — external stimuli.
She also could see that her colleague bought new brandy pumps. Her friend or another person of influence could tell that it’s important to change shoes every season.
Each such event moves Amy towards the next step in the funnel.
Internal determinants examples:
- Discomfort when wearing old shoes
- Old shoes are shabby
- She’s bought a new bag which needs a new pair of shoes
External determinants examples:
- She saw an advertisement of new fashion collection
- She met a colleague wearing new nice shoes
- She read in a fashion blog that business shoes should be changed each season
Second Step: Information research
Now Amy should use internal and external search to collect information about different solutions to her problem. Internal search refers to memory, user experience, recollection of a product. External search refers to personal and public sources.
Internal determinants examples:
- Amy saw a nice pair of new shoes in a close-by store a month ago
- She liked an experience of buying boots from an online store
- She knows actually which model of shoes she likes the most
External determinants of consumer buying behaviour examples:
- Amy reads blog posts about shoes fashion
- She asks an advice about which model of shoes to choose from a salesperson in a store
- She watches an advertisement from famous shoes brand on TV
Third Step of consumer buying behaviour: evaluating alternatives
Amy evaluates alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological benefits that they offer. A time which she is going to spend for the comparative process depends on the rate of her involvement in purchasing the product.
If Amy is looking for an inexpensive and fast decision, she is more likely to buy her new shoes in a close-by shopping centre on the first day after she realised her need. But in case of choosing business shoes she probably would be involved in extensive problem solving.
She will compare several purchasing options, prices and think about benefits which she will get if she chooses one or another brand. She will try different models of shoes on, test if it fits her business dress and so on.
The more time she can spend by evaluating alternatives, the more options she will include into her consideration set and the more detailed information she will be looking for.
Internal determinants of buying behaviour examples:
- Amy has just one day for to choose new shoes
- She is not interested in fashion and just needs shoes which look new
- She wants shoes which fit the best her new business dress
External determinants examples:
- In a shop only a few shoes models are available
- Amy is under the influence of her friend, who says that Prada is the best brand ever
- She was promised to get a discount for buying shoes from a certain brand
Fourth Step: Purchasing
It’s time for Amy to purchase the chosen product. She should decide:
- From whom she buys shoes
- When she buys shoes
- Whether she buys
During this step the decision could be disrupted by:
- Negative feedback from somebody
- Unexpected factors like the shop was closed, Amy had to spend money for something else, etc.
Internal determinants of purchasing behaviour examples:
- Amy likes a salesperson from a shop close-by, so she prefers to purchase her shoes from there
- She has time on her weekend for shopping
- She is in a bad mood and doesn’t want to buy anything right now
External determinants of purchasing behaviour examples:
- The shop has good location
- Amy had her car broken, so she spent some extra money to repair it
- She got a negative review from a person of influence about the chosen seller
Fifth Step: Post-purchasing behaviour
Post-purchase behaviour is when the customer assesses whether he is satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase. During the stage the buyer can experience a cognitive dissonance.
Amy can find out that the new shoes are tight or she can get a negative feedback from a colleague. She also can be positively surprised if she finds out that the shoes are comfortable to wear during the whole working day.
Internal determinants examples:
- Shoes are comfortable to wear during a business day
- Shoes fit well to all her business suits
- Amy bought shoes with small heels, but in general she prefers pumps with high heels
External determinants examples:
- Amy got a discount for a next pair of shoes from a salesperson
- Her friend said that the shoes are perfect
- She used a 30-days money back guarantee offer to bring the shoes back to the shop
Conclusion
If you follow your buyer persona from top to bottom of purchasing funnel, you can find out key determinants of his or her buying behaviour. You can use this data to influence his or her decisions at each step of the funnel by providing relevant to consumer’s needs information about your product and offering positive user experience.
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