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How Effective Advertising Persuades Us to Make Impulse Purchases
Introduction
We’ve all been there before. We’re shopping at our favorite store, grabbing the items that we intended on purchasing as we walked through the front doors. All of the sudden, something catches our eye. A “Buy two, get one free!” is available on items that we can live without! While a select few may be able to resist the temptation, most customers often give in to a convincing offer. With this in mind, let’s discuss the relationship between effective advertising and impulse buying.
Effective Advertising
Advertising can make or break a business. Effective marketing practices can do wonders for a business, allowing it to generate more revenue, build a credible reputation, and maintain a loyal customer base. On the contrary, poor promotion techniques can doom a business to failure. Ineffective publicity can push both current and prospective customers away, giving the business a negative image and resulting in lost profits. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to promote themselves in a manner that is both positive and respectable.
How exactly can businesses, companies, and brands properly market their products and services? According to Nicole Martins Ferreira, the most important aspect to consider is your target audience (Oberlo, 2019). It is imperative to understand both your location’s demographics and psychographics, as these two factors will assist you in determining who is most likely to purchase your product or service.
This is not all, however. An equally valuable metric that can be applied as a means to sell your goods and services is through attracting and building a loyal customer base. These customers are found through truthful, reliable advertising. As stated by Brian F. Martin, “Your ultimate marketing goal is to develop a relationship and be a problem-solver for your customers. As you prove to be a trusted adviser by supplying helpful information, you can demonstrate how your products solve their problems” (Success, 2022).
One essential element to understand is that your patrons have the ability to promote your business for you. This can be done through positive social media posts, online reviews, and communication to family members, friends, and colleagues. Once you have created a loyal customer base, these buyers will continue to purchase your products and services while simultaneously recommending your business to family, friends, and acquaintances.
One of the most famous brands in the world today is Nike. How did Nike come to be so successful? There are a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important of those reasons is their signature “Just Do It” slogan. The phrase was introduced in 1987 and has since been a staple of the Nike brand ever since (Dora, Klint Marketing, 2021). Why did a simple three-word motto allow Nike to rapidly grow and expand as a brand? According to Dora, “The empowering slogan resonated deeply with both athletes and people who had little or no connection to sports” (Klint, 2021). People are likely to buy from brands, companies, and businesses that share their values and interests. When a company is able to strike a connection with the audience, it significantly increases the chances of those viewers bringing themselves to those businesses. With “Just Do It”, Nike was able to take a simple phrase and use it to catch the attention of all who could relate. Clearly, the motto reached both athletes and non-athletes alike.
Impulse Buying
There are two types of people in this world: those who dislike spending money, and those who live to spend money. Unfortunately, both are capable of falling victim to impulse buying. Impulse buying refers to purchases that are made by a person or group who neither want nor need the items or services bought. There are plenty of reasons as to why people purchase impulsively. Perhaps the most common reason as to why people purchase items impulsively is due to the emotional satisfaction it provides for them. According to Stephen Johnson, “…people are more likely to spend money when they are stressed out” (Big Think, 2021). When we are upset or flustered with one or many stressful situations, we often seek comfort through purchasing items that make us feel better about ourselves. These could be cheap items, such as candy, or they could be more expensive, such as fancy clothing.
Advertisements can cause either emotional satisfaction or sadness in the hearts of viewers. With regards to the former, one of the most effective examples we can use in this case would be BuzzFeed’s “Puppyhood” commercial. In the ad, a man adopts a puppy from a local store. Afterwards, viewers see the bond between man and dog begin to take form.
Why can this be considered an effective advertisement? It is effective because it manages to use a cute, endearing puppy to pull at the heartstrings of viewers. When customers see something that they like, it prompts them to consider the opportunity of exposing themselves more often to the company or brand that created the ad. In essence, emotional gravitation tends to work in the world of marketing, especially among certain demographics.
Spending with your heart rather than your head can produce temporary happiness. Unfortunately, these feelings are just that: temporary. Soon enough, you’ll come to regret an impulse purchase, especially one that is particularly high-priced. To avoid impulse purchases, one should take the time to contemplate if the desired item will truly benefit him or her in the long run. Will the buyer be able to look back at the purchase down the road and deem it as worthy? If the answer to this question is “no”, then the purchase can be considered impulsive.
How They Are Connected
Now that we understand the concepts of effective advertising and impulse buying, it is time to discuss the relationship between the two. Many businesses use effective marketing to their advantage, as multiple consumers will give in to the most persuasive advertising techniques if those practices are executed correctly. Taking this knowledge into consideration, let’s look into some of the formulas businesses follow in order to trigger impulse purchases in customers.
What external factors cause people to make impulsive purchases? Perhaps the most obvious would be effective advertising. One of the most common ways to sell a product is to offer a sale. Ross Malpass makes the point that, “Buyers are more likely to buy an item when it is ‘on-sale’ or sold at a discount” (Ombori, 2021). While it might not be the most creative technique, offering a product at a discount will tempt customers to make a purchase, even if they do not necessarily need the item.
Moreover, businesses can capitalize on the emotional feelings of buyers by targeting thoughts, beliefs, and values. This can be accomplished in a couple of different ways. Themes that are universally-shared amongst individuals, such as personal struggle and protection from harm by those you love, are strategically placed in advertisements to give incentive towards a purchasing decision (Smilovitz, Instapage, 2021). If viewers feel a connection spark between their feelings and the marketing before them, they are more likely to purchase the advertised product regardless of wants or needs.
You might be wondering about the resulting outcome of the relationship between effective advertising and impulse buying. Overall, this relationship tends to favor the sellers, as opposed to the buyers. When an impulse purchase is made, it will often be followed by feelings of regret from the buyer in the near future. The seller, on the other hand, will have successfully executed a sales tactic. For businesses, it is important to treat customers with both fairness and respect. This is crucial, as it gives consumers incentive to continue purchasing from your business. However, the ultimate goal still remains: earn money. As long as the marketing of a product is honest and compassionate, businesses should do whatever it takes to ensure that customers will return for more.
Conclusion
Overall, the relationship between effective advertising and impulse buying is a strong one. Businesses can market their products in a way that plays off the emotions of their consumers. More often than not, this technique tends to leave buyers disappointed in themselves for making a purchase that was ultimately neither wanted nor needed. However, businesses still make money through impulse purchases. Therefore, they will continue to use effective marketing practices to their advantage in an effort to convince customers to spend their money on items that will not benefit them at the end of the day.
Works Cited
Dora. “25 Best Advertising Campaigns of All Time — Get Inspired By the Best Ads”. Klint Marketing. Published April 15, 2021. https://klintmarketing.com/best-advertising-campaigns/.
Ferreira, Nicole Martins. “How To Market a Product: 24 Effective
Marketing Tips to Skyrocket Scales”. Oberlo. Published June 13, 2019. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/how-to-market-a-product.
Johnson, Stephen. “Instant Gratification: The Neuroscience of Impulse Buying”. Big Think. Published August 24, 2021. https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/impulse-buying/.
Malpass, Ross. “Impulse Buying: Why Customers Make Impulse Purchases & What it Means for Stores”. Ombori. Published June 2, 2021. https://ombori.com/blog/impulse-purchases.
Martin, Brian F. “5 Steps to Make Marketing Work for Sales in Any Industry”. Success. Published March 5, 2022. https://www.success.com/5-steps-to-make-marketing-work-for-sales-in-any-industry/.
Smilovitz, Shayna. “Emotional Marketing Examples Scientifically Proven to Sway Buyers.” Instapage. Published June 11, 2021. https://instapage.com/blog/emotional-marketing.
About the Writer
Caden Maher is a student at Southeastern Louisiana University majoring in Business Management. He enjoys writing about his interests, hobbies, and passions.
