You might not think that a copywriter would need to know much about what motivates a person or a company to buy. But copywriters and other creatives often run their own businesses and need to know what makes potential customers decide to use their services. And we certainly work for companies who need to make an effective appeal to their markets.
Some of the best insight I’ve recently gotten into what motivates buying comes from Charles Green, a contributing editor to Rain Today. In his article “Pain, Brain, or Reframe: How Do Buyers Really Buy,” he lays out some recent thinking on the topic.
Generally, people buy—or so it is commonly thought:
- to fix a negative situation
- in response to a clear value proposition
- from those who offer a differentiated solution
Simple Models, Complex Situations
Mr. Green refers to these as the Pain, Brain, or Reframe models. The pain model is driven by emotion. The buyer wants to avoid or escape pain and is best sold to by appealing to her pain points or perhaps the prospect of a better outcome. The brain model draws its rationale from economics, which posits that people make decisions based on rational economic choices. (I’m not sure all economists go for this idea.) And finally, reframing draws its power from shaping customer thinking around the belief that your product really does it differently and better than the competition.
A Better Explanation?
What I took away from this excellent article is that one model just won’t do. Mr. Green cites the example of a company who was searching for a speaker for major corporate event. Decision makers came up with a business strategist and an economist and after much debate, decided to engage a hard-charging former football coach. In this case, the brain model was great for analyzing offerings and narrowing them down to a couple of choices. Then emotion entered the picture and drove the decision.
Look at any sales situation. You may start with one model, but you’ll probably end with emotion.
Quoting from Mr. Green:
“We all acknowledge rational analyses as important checks against the mistakes we might make if we rely solely on the emotions. At the same time, it recognizes the powerful role that emotions play in human decision making, of which the buying decision is just one.”
Leave a Comment