Allow Shoppers to Ask Themselves Why

While shopping, consumers seeking convenient fulfillment are likely to be repeatedly asking themselves:

• “What are good reasons for me to buy this product?” 
• “What are good reasons I should make the purchase at this store?” 

     You’d very much like every one of those consumers to have sufficient answers to motivate all to complete transactions with you. Unfortunately, because of how much you want that to happen, research indicates you’re at risk of heading it off happening. This is because a nonstop, pressured sales presentation can interfere with the shoppers answering the questions for themselves. And whatever answers they give to themselves are probably more influential than what you’ll give.
     Pause during selling to decide what questions you should be asking next and allow shoppers to ask themselves why to buy the item and buy from you.
     This doesn’t mean you should refrain from priming the pump by asking the questions yourself. According to research at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, asking questions like these is useful for changing brand, item, and store preferences the consumer has been following without any real thought. Reason-to-buy questions make the shopper stop to consider, therefore increasing your opportunities to influence them. Most people rise to the challenge when asked a question. They might not answer aloud, but at least they’ll start thinking.
     Continue to assess if you’re probing for the right amount. Researchers at University of Arizona and University of Iowa looked at what happens when you ask for information about a product or service item from consumers who know either a little or a lot about it.
     As you might expect, they found that with consumers who have limited knowledge, asking for large amounts of information causes unpleasantness for the person, with the result that the item is evaluated less positively. As you might not expect, the researchers also found that with experts, asking for only a little information also resulted in unpleasantness for the shopper, again leading to less positive item evaluations.
     More generally, research findings from Universität Heidelberg and Universität Mannheim indicate that if you ask a consumer to generate loads of reasons to buy a particular product or to shop at your store, the task becomes more difficult for the customer, and this actually makes your preferred alternative less attractive.
     Asking the questions personalizes the selling arguments. People make purchase decisions for all sorts of different reasons. 

Click below for more: 
Ask Shoppers for Reasons to Buy 
Articulate the Reasoning Experts Use
Appeal to the Heart