Should I Return your Product or Not?
The job of good advertising does not end once a product is delivered to the door of the customer. Good advertisers know that there is a lot more to just having a sale. True enough that the major function of advertising is to influence buying, to attract people to do business with you. If you have done that without so much difficulty, you will want to keep that ad to be used over and over again.
But it happens to many of us that after a purchase, especially if it is a trial buy, we begin to have doubts about the decision. There have been occasion when we bought something that we thought we need during the time, only to find out later that those are one of the goods we have acquired that we can do without.
To cite an example, think of fashion accessories. People love to stop at a window of an accessories shop. The merchandise there has been made to be so eye catching that people respond to it. The queer thing about accessories is that many people usually equate its price to quality and so often, the higher the price the more attractive it sometimes can get. Then people buy. It was used once, maybe twice and then left in the box. After a while it is checked again only to find out that it is now out of fashion.
We love shopping and acquiring things. Often it is not only the joy of having but the experience itself of shopping that draws us into buying decisions. Decisions that sometimes make us question ourselves about the wisdom behind the decision.
A good catchphrase, a slogan a sales pitch are sometimes enough to egg us on. After that we begin to be in a state of tension then we start having anxieties and doubts about the decision. Marketers call this the post decision risk. Psychologists call it the cognitive dissonance. All of us have it in varying degrees.
As the major task of advertising is to reduce risk perception, individuals reduce post purchase uncertainties.
Customers reduce the risk of post purchase decisions by;
• The customer may revoke the purchasing decision. Customers who are uncertain about the product or the wisdom of having bought the product will soon try to find buyers whom he can sell the product that has just been purchased.
• Customers having post purchase uncertainties will try to look for affirmation. He will be showing the purchase to friends, family, anyone he trusts, and try to find affirmation so he can feel more justified at having bought the product.
• They search for confirmation. After having bought the product the customer will try to find materials that talk about his purchase. He will read materials, view an advertisement of the product again, flip flop the package to re read the labels, descriptions contents, anything to ease his uncertainty.
• He will avoid listening and reading advertisements of a competing product until he has convinced himself that the choice was a good one or not.
• He will try to defend the product just purchased by convincing him self that it is the best choice to be had among all the other alternatives.
It is beyond the scope of this article to list down all the possible reactions of people who are trying to reduce their post purchase risk. The purpose is to show that these exist and smart advertising has to consider the reaction of its targeted customers after having purchased the product. Repeat sales depend on this.
Recognizing this behavior and having it in mind when an advertising campaign is being planned can significantly improve the chances of continued business.
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