How do people reach a decision to buy online?

Well, I don't really believe that there is a big difference. The only thing that is in the advantage of online buying is the convenience factor (it's a lot easier to go online, find the product and click Buy than to actually go in brick and mortar stores).
To make the user buy from you, you must show that you are reliable. I wouldn't buy from a provider that doesn't have testimonials and reviews from other buyers. Also, you must know how to address your target audience and yes, this means understanding their need. Why do they need to buy that product.

You are more likely to splurge in an online buying. There's a tendency that you buy not only the things you need but also those you want.

It's a lot easier to choose online while sitting on your couch unlike while you are shopping at the mall where you will get tired from walking and walking.

Yes buying online is so easy,visit your favorite online store check the products and prices and if these looks good then give the order and you will receive your desired product on your home. But only buy from those stores who has positive rankings and they sold lot of items already.

Good question. Emotion! When somebody has a positive emotion on the benefits and results they can get they will buy.

Thats why it is so much easier to sell a physical product versus something digital. People can feel tough and smell something physical thus making it easier to tie an emotion to it.

At the end of the day, just build a very large list of targeted subscribers, give great advice, and make sure you have a great offer. And in your emails, make sure your emails are related to what you're selling.

Different types of people make purchasing decisions differently. I suggest you look into a simple behavioral type indicator like DISC to get started.

Appealing full-on emotional will completely turn off an intellectual/intuitive like myself. Yet for the masses, this seems to be a popular way to go.

Going solely with fact-based proof will fall on deaf ears for touchy-feely types.

Some people want to buy an experience.

Others are looking for a specific solution for a specific circumstance.

Of course a combination will work; the question is, how weighted towards emotions/facts do you want to make it?

Look at your traffic sources. What kind of people will you be attracting? And from that pool, how can you best sort for the most effective kind of appeal?

Sales copy done right is about sorting, qualifying...not pushing.

Hey man,

I think all of those things are a factor. Depending on your niche, some will mean more than others. I'm in the make money online space so to me:


Is that decision different than an offline buying decision?

Yeah it's different because there is a degree of anonymity which allows them to be more hopeful that they can make something happen without the fear of being laughed at by their friends or peers.


And furthermore, what's it based on?

I think it's based on the concept that people act differently when they are alone. Much more susceptible to influence (hopefully positive).

If a prospect has his buddy standing beside him laughing at him for thinking something might work...he might be more prone not to take a chance on it.



And what would be YOUR top 3 facilitators for that decision?


1) core influence

2) pre-conditioning with free content that builds trust and authority and bonds with prospects

3) creating a buzz around the product or service that invokes elements of "herd mentality"




Hope that helps man.



Kam

Absolute fail in this thread. Not that I'm surprised though. Consumers generally follow this behavioral pattern:

Awareness
Familiarity
Consideration
Decision

This is why IMers are broke keyboard warriors...they think appealing to emotion or some other nonsense is going to close sales. It doesn't, especially in today's marketplace. It only works when you're psychologically manipulating consumers to reach a purchase decision...which is morally questionable behavior. It's also illegal. Anyway, consumers take their time and consider alternatives...they also stick with well known brands. Here's a little more of an explanation on the consumer purchase behavior.

1. The consumer considers an initial set of brands based on perception and recent exposure to recent touch points.

2. Consumers add or subtract brands based on their research. They will compare their options and figure out which brand is most congruent with their needs.

3. Consumer selects a brand at the moment of purchase.

4. After purchasing a product or service, the consumer builds expectations based on experience to inform the next decision journey.

As you can see, it's much more nuanced.

People buy cause they want or need it, but will they buy it from you or from another person depends only how you will present your product.

Very simple: Does it solve a problem and is it valuable enough. The two keys Logic + Emotion = Sales

The #1 is of course a need #2 Urgency #3 quality

MANY use online Services , i am also using
_______________________________
http://www.thecheesyanimation.com

Choice goods online is much easier but the fact is, you must be optimistic about what you intend buying. Online stores are capable of luring people to purchase not only their dire needs but also purchase both the neccesaries and the unneccesaries

They have an itch, you scratch it for them. If their pain is strong enough and you can help ease it they'll buy. Don't attempt to sell anything that a customer may need to try on like clothing. Even though I have a friend who successfully sells clothing but her return rate is phenomenal. Best advice I can give is to be honest, be yourself and give true value for money. Real testimonials help, that's why so many see their first success as Amazon Associates - Simply because reviews and testimonials are available for everything. My view is people prefer to buy offline unless the offer online is too good to resist. Good luck, Dave

Some excellent and very well thought out answers in this thread. I just want to chime in and say that price has a very big influence on their decision to buy online. In countries such as Australia where we have a lot of land, very little selection in certain areas, and not much choice-- the decision to go online pretty much comes down to whether or not it is cheaper and secondly social proofing such as testimonials, amazon reviews, etc that we can't ordinarily find on-hand walking into a physical store.

In my opinion, all three factors play an equally important role in defining the buying choices of the online visitors.

Neglecting any one of them could possibly lead to unseen potential disasters.



Chintan

people impulse to buy something online is the same impulse when that person is already in the store, they browse and see something they want, the difference is that when they are home and they decide they want to buy something it is much more convenient for them to turn on their computer and not get in their car and drive for 30 mins.

Nowdays people are getting lazy, they spend much more time on the online social networking so that's why online selling is easier than offline

Yes it is. There's a lot of factor to be considered like reputation of the seller and the quality of the products or items.

Product availability, price, reputation of the seller, quality of the product, authenticity

1. if the product is the available in your region, then buy online.
2. if online prices are cheaper

It depends.

A $1 purchase (bottled water/lighter) simply demands a different level of decision than a $10,000 transaction(car/investment) would.

It's not always dependent on price either. People have loyalty to brands and habits of shopping.

There are many effects..

Luxury Effect
One interesting story I read in a book about pricing. It goes something like this. A jewelry store owner in a popular tourist destination decides to go on her own vacation away. So she tells her manager to mark down the price of all pearl items from the store while she was away on vacation. The manager misheard and she doubled the price of the pearls instead of of taking the price down. The interesting thing is what happened to the perception and the sales as a result. The store owner returns and upon asking about what had happened, she was pleasantly but curiously surprised. The numbers just did not make sense at first. They had actually gotten a record number of sales for that time she had been gone. So not only did she sell twice as many, it was at double the cost.

So researchers actually did studies on this and found that lowering the price would have actually had the reverse effect. The reason is the tourists are in a great spending mood already being on vacation and then the price being so high automatically associated the pearls as higher value and quality. Therefore the buyers thought, these must be extremely high quality pearls and bought.

Well as a marketing PhD candidate, I should say yes, they are very much different indeed. Actually introduction of digital communication changed user purchasing behaviour quite a lot. There is no actual pattern, well you;re dealing with human beings so one is different from another, but researchers are classifying user purchasing behaviour by industry buyers, so for instant those who look for hotels online show somehow same behaviour patterns and those who look for a digital camera have the same pattern too.

Depending on the market and industry you can see very different behaviours. More to your question that what is it based on well again to be thorough you need to look for the data in your own industry and analysis of behaviour in that particular field. To be less of a researcher and to share a broader point view I can say indicators include but not limited to:
- type of product
- purchasing power
- amount of investment risk taking characteristics
- necessity of the product
these days other indicators are being added such as:
- time and location
- social validation (not necessarily social value or prestige but ratings and reviews.)

there are a ton more so read more about purchasing behaviour.

People buy things on emotion, not what they need. Once they purchase however, they use logic to justify the sale. Don't sell anything based on a need/want. You need to sell whatever it is by working on people's emotions. What pushes someone's buttons about purchasing whatever it is you're selling? It's not that they need it. It's an emotion that causes them to pull out the credit card or cash. After they purchase, then they justify it with logic. If you can tap into emotions, whether selling a product online or selling a house, you are able to get the sale.