Purchase Analysis

[John Scott]

We are all Internet users. So share elements of marketing that helped to convince you to buy something, online preferably.

Today I was searching for something and the page title was :

Company Name - The Largest Selection of Blah Blah Blah

The "largest" caught my eye, and I clicked through, registered and placed an order.

It WASN'T in the #1 spot, but the sites in the #1, #2 and #3 spots had longer domains and appeared less legitimate.

[Jesse Vlasveld]

Prices, ofcourse prices. I'd like to see instantly what I am paying.
Also brandname would be nice, f.e. when buying electronics. I will never buy a socalled B brand.

I'm not really falling for lines like The cheapest you'll find, etc. It's bull**** anyway.

When shopping online, shipping cost is also nice to see.

[mmiskulin]

Do I really need product or service XYZ? Well if I do then...

If the sales page makes too many bs promises then I stay away. Also if the sales pitch and testimonials takes three or more pages before the purchase option for the product...well forget it.

I am not wasting my time reading a bunch of junk. The message has to get to the point.

[Jesse Vlasveld]

Weird text colors and fonts also make me scare away.

[lucia]

When I buy online, it's generally because I am actually hunting for something and I want that thing.

If I really, really want to buy something and it's very difficult to find, I'll deal with disorganized pages and click as many as 3 pages and still buy the item.

Sometimes, I do run across impulse buy items. But in that case, if I can't figure out the price for the item and estimate shipping before dealing with the shopping cart, I don't buy.

[GuyFromChicago]

As simple as it may sound...a real phone number with a real person that answers it. I won't do business with a company that doesn't have an easy to find support/customer service listed on their website. Before I buy I always call the number - if it goes straight to voicemail, is wrong (you'd be surprised) or is nothing more than an obvious answering service that's where I stop and look for another source.


The next thing I always look for is the return policy.

[Jesse Vlasveld]

Originally Posted by GuyFromChicago

As simple as it may sound...a real phone number with a real person that answers it. I won't do business with a company that doesn't have an easy to find support/customer service listed on their website. Before I buy I always call the number - if it goes straight to voicemail, is wrong (you'd be surprised) or is nothing more than an obvious answering service that's where I stop and look for another source.


The next thing I always look for is the return policy.

That's actually a pretty good tip, thanks

[GuyFromChicago]

Originally Posted by Jesse Vlasveld

That's actually a pretty good tip, thanks

Most of the time you'll never need the phone number, but that one time you do and you find out there isn;t one it's a hassle. A few years back I had about $5,000 tied up with a company that I didn;t have a phone number for. I ended up getting my $ back but it took 2 months of annoying e-mail exchanges to get is squared away.

In terms of refund policy - I like the "return it for any reason at anytime for a full refund".

[Mark07]

Originally Posted by GuyFromChicago

In terms of refund policy - I like the "return it for any reason at anytime for a full refund".

Sounds pretty good for online buyers but not really possible in realistic deals.

[John Scott]

I appreciate the input so far, but I was actually curious to take this in another direction. Instead of focusing on the factors that pop into mind as commonly affecting your purchasing decisions, let's analyze actual recent purchases. I think by doing so, we can find factors that we may have overlooked in the past.

[richrf]

My buying process is usually pretty straight forward:

1) Search for lowest prices on Froogle or Yahoo Shopping inncluding shipping. Froogle and Yahoo Shopping to a more than adequate job nowadays of locating merchants and merchandise, that other searches are not really necessary.
2) Attempt to determine whether the merchant is legit using a number of factors such as longevity, user ratings (if available), BBBOnline.org, etc.
3) Check whether the lowest prices from acceptable merchants are sufficiently low enough to warrant a purchased when compared to a well known merchant (e.g. Walmart) and make a decision which way to go.

I have to say though, that I am not the usual "consumer", in that I just don't go around this world nowadays looking to consume. I live a pretty quiet life and only buy and "consume", those things that I really need. Ads and other marketing gimics, pretty much roll off my back.

Rich

[GuyFromChicago]

Originally Posted by Mark07

Sounds pretty good for online buyers but not really possible in realistic deals.

Sorry, disagree. I know of a number of companies with that policy. If you have a quality product/service people won't want to return it so it works out well for the buyer and seller.

Originally Posted by John Scott

I appreciate the input so far, but I was actually curious to take this in another direction. Instead of focusing on the factors that pop into mind as commonly affecting your purchasing decisions, let's analyze actual recent purchases. I think by doing so, we can find factors that we may have overlooked in the past.

John, I think I see where you'd like to take this. The issue I have is that even if I don't want to admit it, I don't look at the Internet like a "normal" user would. That includes online shopping.

I'm sure my wife will be shopping online this weekend...I'll see what I can gather from her activities. When it comes to online shopping she's as "normal" as it gets.

[Cornbread]

Well I have been on a web marketing campaign recently and what attracted me to the V7n Directory was their advertisement of V7n as a network. It made me feel I wasn't just getting a review for the directory, but like I was joining an entire community. My theory is that is one reason why they recently got authority status, because the V7n is much more that just a directory.

v7n is so easy a cave man could do it.

[chicgeek]

May I add that I despise those commercials...

[Cornbread]

Originally Posted by chicgeek

May I add that I despise those commercials...

Is that why you wouldn't review my website......you hate cavemen? We get no respect these days

[lucia]

Cornbread-- I noticed you regressed! What happened to the old smiling Cornbread?

[chicgeek]

Originally Posted by Cornbread

Is that why you wouldn't review my website......you hate cavemen? We get no respect these days

I reviewed your site, to be sure.

[Cornbread]

Just having fun Lucia, I am really not depressed. Chicgeek, I am still waiting on an answer from the last two PMs I sent you. Now I know why, my problems started when I changed my avatar.

So to get back on topic. Another thing I look for when deciding if I want to get listed in a directory is how well organized it is. If it's hard to navigate around and find stuff then I don't want to be part of it.

When purchasing with a credit card I want to feel like the site is a legitimate business. Customer feeback areas are nice to establish customer service. Have you ever paid for something on the internet with a credit card and didn't get the product or service that you wanted and then had no way to contact them? That is a real nightmare.

[chicgeek]

Err... which PM...? The one asking me to review your site..? Which I already reviewed.

[Cornbread]

No, the two asking you to see if you could check my Google cache.............something is dreadfully wrong.