Values and Lifestyles

What Attracts Your Client to a Business?

Buyer Motives - Lifestyles

It has been established that it is an individual's personal value system which directly dictates his or her motivations. Several factors shape an individual's value and belief systems the environment in which they were raised, the culture in which they were raised, the section of the country in which he or she grew up, the specific neighborhood in which he or she grew up, and certainly the most powerful influence, their parents and extended family unit.

 

Buyer Motivations: The Psychological Drivers of Behavior

As consumers, people buy products and services and seek experiences that fulfill their characteristic preferences that help give shape, substance, and satisfaction to their lives. Noodle Metrics focuses on the psychological drivers of behavior, which we call Primary Buyer Motivations. Primary buyer motivations determine what about the self is the meaningful core, the vital center that governs people's desires and the expression of these desires in the marketplace. Noodle Metrics segments consumers into one of three primary motivations: ideals, achievement, and self-expression.

Ideals Primary Motivation:

The ideals motivation is grounded in the realm of ideas, knowledge, and principles. For some people, this motivation is manifest in intellectual curiosity, aesthetic interests, or a quiet philosophical searching; for others, it is manifest in adherence to a personal or socially received code of conduct, whether religious conviction, moral or ethical system, or societal norm. In either case, the tendency is to base decisions on abstract, idealized criteria such as quality, integrity, and tradition rather than on feelings, experience, or a desire for societal approval. Actions are meaningful to people who are primarily motivated by ideals to the extent that they are shaped by, reflect, or move toward greater understanding or belief.

Achievement Primary Motivation:

In the achievement, people strive for clear social position. People primarily motivated by achievement seek explicit responsibilities and rewards conferred by a valued social group. Their focus is often on collective activities, such as work and family life, and on positive evaluation and achievement, which imply shared ideas of excellence or ethics and a reciprocal willingness to accommodate oneself to the judgments of others. Achievement-motivated buyers base their choices on the expected reactions, concerns, desires, and abilities of people in the groups to which they belong of aspire to belong. These buyers make choices that they hope will enhance their position or facilitate their recognition and acceptance by their own groups or another more desirable group.

Self-Expression Primary Motivation:

The self-expression motivation is grounded in direct experience. Actions are valuable for their impact on the physical world, for the pleasure or excitement associated with them, or for their effect on others. An emotional, vital attachment to experience and action is typical of this primary motivation, as is a resistance to social controls that threaten to rule out the experimentation and self-reliance that are central to the self-expression-motivated person's self-image. Self-expression-motivated buyers make choices that emphasize individuality. For some, such choices promise self-sufficiency; for others, the choices promise risk and excitement. In both cases, appeals to the sense of adventure are powerful.

* Stanford Research Institute