This built-in mechanism aims to make us feel better about any poor decisions we make. It’s especially the case when we buy something expensive.
Given our emotional investment when preparing to buy something: Any research done, our pre-existing brand loyalty and any influential advertising seen, many shoppers will refuse to admit, in light of any shortcomings experienced with the product, that their decision was made in poor judgement.
Retailers and brands should embrace this bias, celebrating a shopper’s ‘good’ choice post-purchase. This could be done by popping a note in their delivery order telling customers how much others also loved the product. My own research identified significant brand growth from simply positively reaffirming to shoppers that they’d made a ‘good choice’.
Reassure and praise - In-store and online, develop ways of ‘reassuring and congratulating shoppers on the decision they are making
Remind shoppers of their successes – Communicate to shoppers all the good reasons for buying your brand, and remind them of why they bought it before
Minimise risk of purchase – Take a look at your brand and category and identify and reduce or remove what would deter shoppers from buying, what could turn into something that leads to buyers remorse?
Shoppers all want to think and believe they’ve made an excellent choice buying your brand. So tell them so. And perhaps even have shoppers question whether buying another brand would be a poorer decision. One thing is for certain, choice supportive bias is a powerful tool if utilised correctly.
