Do Customers Want the Best Price – or the Best Deal?
Consumers and B2B buyers alike interact with brands online in order to find the best deal. But the best deal doesn’t always mean the lowest price. A closer look at the study’s findings point to four marketing keys found in the best deals.
In a Lyris-sponsored white paper titled Mind the Marketing Gap, 76 percent of respondents said the biggest advantage to interacting with brands online was “to find the best deal.”
You Don’t Have to Offer the Lowest Price – Use Marketing to Show You Have the Best Deal
It’s tempting to believe that offering the lowest price is equivalent to offering customers the best deal, but competing on price inevitably leads to lower profit margins, which can hurt your business in the long run. Here are four things consumers look for when choosing the best deal.
In Mind the Marketing Gap, a white paper sponsored by Lyris and released by The Economist Intelligence Unit, consumers were asked to identify the biggest advantages companies’ use of online communications provided (to them). The top five benefits listed point out four key characteristics small business marketers can draw upon in order to convince customers and prospects to choose their products and services.
4 Ways for Marketing to Convince Customers You Offer the Best Deal
1. Marketing that Differentiates
Consumers will perceive that your business is offering the best deal when they understand the difference between competing products.
2. Marketing that Defines Advantages
Consumers will perceive your products or services as better deals than other alternatives when they understand about the features, benefits, guarantees, upgrades and other factors that provide them with advantages.
3. Marketing that is Personalized
Consumers will believe your products or services to be the best deal (for them) when your marketing demonstrates that you understand who they are as individuals, what their unique needs or wants are, and you provide a solution they perceive as one that is customized, or tailored to their unique situation.
4. Providing Better Buyer Convenience
From free, fast shipping to online ordering with in-store pick-up, local delivery or location-based offers, consumers may perceive the best deal as the one that is most convenient for them, even when that item is not the lowest-price option.
Why the Best Price isn’t Always the Best Deal for Consumers
The best price isn’t always the best deal for the customer. Product quality (or quality of service outcomes), durability (how long a product will last or how long the customer can go between services), intangibles such as the prestige a consumer equates with ownership of a given brand and other factors can all determine whether a customer feels like they are getting “the best deal.”
In fact, sometimes a low price can even lead to customer perception of low quality. A Time Magazine article titled Does a Low Price Mean Good Value or Bad Quality? included this quote by Steve Posavac, professor of marketing at Vanderbilt University:
“Most people simultaneously believe that low prices mean good value and that low prices mean low quality.
If a consumer has spent the morning struggling with finances, ‘value’ is likely to dominate that consumer’s thoughts for the rest of the day, and low priced products will be attractive because the ‘low price = good value’ belief is likely to guide decision making.
In contrast, suppose a customer has just had an experience with a product failing because of poor workmanship… For this consumer, ‘quality’ is going to be top of mind. The believe that ‘low prices = poor quality’ will guide decision making, and this consumer will spend more on the purchase.”
Since your prospects mindset could mean that a low price is perceived either as a good value (the best deal) or the lowest quality (the worst deal), it’s important to understand how you can influence perceptions about your products or services in a positive way.
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