Almost everybody loves to take a chance occasionally. But when it comes to shopping decisions, consumer psychology researchers find that almost everybody wants to avoid six particular types of risk. Here are those six categories and ideas to get you thinking about how you can reduce unwanted risks for your prospective customers:
Functional risk: "Will the product or service solve my problem or meet my needs effectively and efficiently?" Have at least one sign in your store announcing that product performance is guaranteed.
Financial risk: "Am I paying too much money?" Know what your competition is charging, and if you are charging more, be sure that the customer is told what you offer that the competition doesn't.
Time risk: "If I make this purchase, does it mean investing too much time for what I gain?" Make it easy to use, unless you sense the shopper wants complexity for prestige.
Physical risk: "Is my health or safety or that of those I love in danger if I use this product or service?" Provide expiration dates, safety instructions, and recall notices for all products where those are available and appropriate.
Social risk: "If the people I admire know I'm using this product or service, am I in danger of falling out of favor with them?" Make it easy for shoppers to bring along friends and family or to contact them via cell phone from inside your store.
Psychological risk: "Does using this product or service conflict with the image I want to maintain of myself?"
In personal selling, learn the shopper's values so the purchase benefits you present are compatible with those values. In self-service shopping, use ads and point-of-purchase displays to communicate a range of purchase benefits so the shopper can find at least one that resonates with their values.
For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers
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