What Makes People Buy Online?

Online shopping is no longer the exception – it’s a major share of business, even for the massive discount stores with a strong retail presence. With the improvements in secure transactions for credit card information, more buyers of all ages feel safe shopping online. 

If you’re a solo marketer and not a brand name business, what makes people want to buy from you? The answer is the same regardless of the size of the business because it’s about the psychology of online shopping more than about the product or price.

The Internet is both huge and personal at the same time. Your prospects aren’t riding along the Internet the way they ride on a subway. Your prospects shape the ‘net with their interests, searches, desires and purchases.

Trends on the Internet are people-driven. Your site may be seen all over the world, but it still needs to be tightly focused to appeal to your best prospects. You can’t create a one-size-fits-all site, so make sure that you don’t confuse prospects by being too all encompassing. 

Put the virtual welcome map out for prospects by making them feel comfortable at your site. Excitement drives purchases online. If you’ve bid on an item on eBay, chances are you’ve been caught up in the online auction wars.

Just like a live auction, the online auction creates that desperation among buyers who want to get the item partly because they want it but also to win the item from other bidders. It’s envy personified. You don’t need an auction to create a buying frenzy. You can do that with a limited number of products or a limited time special offer.

That off the list stuff you toss in your grocery cart while waiting to check out are impulse buys. Retailers know that this is the last chance to get you to buy things that you don’t need just because it’s there and appears to be a bargain. 

The bonus products at the end of the sales letter are the online version of the impulse buy. You might resist the major product only to be hooked by the extra offers. When it comes down to what makes people buy online, the reasons are the same for buying a $17 information product as for buying a $17,000 painting at a local fine arts gallery.

It’s the ABCDE of buying:

• Acquire – the drive to have more, better and flashier than the neighbors or colleagues
• Better – the drive for the most trendy, new item or improved version of the item
• Convenience – the desire to have something to make your life easier, more comfortable
• Distraction – a way to check out of the mundane aspects of life and live in the fantasy
• Envy – the desire to create envy among others because you have the first, best or most exclusive product

You need to know more than “who” your product appeals to but also “why” it appeals to that market. Check the ABCDE and keep that focus on your presentation.