Women take the cake when it comes to buying power in a household. We control about 80% of the purchases that come into our homes, so if you are involved in marketing to women it is very important to understand how we make our decisions.
Marketing To Women: 4 Important Things You Must Understand To Effectively Market to Women
1. First, when marketing to women, you need to understand that a huge part of our purchasing decision is based on trust; if you are not taking the time to form a relationship with us and build our trust than forget it. We are much more likely to buy from someone who is personable and shows a genuine interest in us and our needs. Once we feel like we have found this, we can become some of the most loyal customers you will ever have!
2. On the subject of loyalty it is important to note that we are far more loyal than the male consumer. We can be extremely finicky as to whom we turn over our hard earned money to, but if you prove to us that we are valuable and respected as your customer, we will almost always be back. Keep this in mind when marketing to women because we talk (yes I know, a huge surprise!) and a woman who is completely satisfied will share her experience with other women, personally and online. This “word of mouth” can bring in more customers for you. Of course it works the other way to; if we are disappointed with our purchasing experience we usually tell twice as many people than if we were satisfied.
3. One of the biggest mistakes people make when marketing to women is focusing on facts and figures. We are interested in these, but the significance of them usually comes after we trust you. Unlike men, who generally follow “systems”, women follow “people.” What does this mean? It means you need to have a story for us. We want to hear how a product or service has changed your life, not all the numerical facts about it. Aside form trust, the other part of our purchasing decision is based on emotional appeal, so we need to know what it has done for you. If your story creates that emotional appeal for us, only then do we become interested in the facts and figures.
4. This last note may seem a little harsh, but it is a reality when marketing to women. We very rarely offer second chances. First, we are busy working and raising children and cleaning and taking care of everyone around us so we are very meticulous about how we spend our time. If we feel like our time has been wasted, that’s it. Second, we expect nothing but remarkable experiences when we are looking to purchase, so anything less will generally have us looking elsewhere next time (and telling everyone we know about our “not so great” experience!)
Marketing to women is not rocket science, but it does require some insight in to how we make our decisions. Many marketers on and offline overlook this fact, but with the huge buying power of women in the household it is important to use a different approach with the female consumer.
