I have a friend who has driven a Mercedes Benz for many years now, and as much as he tells himself that it is because of the safety factor, we both know that the real reason is one of image and lifestyle. He has never owned a Porsche or a Ferrari because those marques do not represent his life style, but they are the lifestyle choices of many who wish to be considered as successful.

Benz, Lexus, Porsche, Ferrari, and there are others that we could include, have been very successful in developing their brand to communicate, among other things, that those who drive their products are discerning, successful and are among the opinion makers.

Some lifestyle buying decisions communicate the purchaser’s desire to be seen as one who is ‘exclusive’. They pay a little (or perhaps a lot) more than most of the community can afford to maintain the meaning life has for them. For many people, buying decisions influenced by lifestyle, whether in real estate, clothing, vehicles, jewelry, vacations, furnishings, restaurants etc are made to reinforce to others and them self that they belong in a certain socio-economic class, or peer group, and they want to give clear evidence of this. Lifestyle factors can extend to the writing paper they use, the food in their cupboard, their choice of pet food and many other seemingly meaningless products.

Most lifestyle choices are exercised by those with discretionary income.

Lifestyle choices are made to strengthen the meaning one gives to one’s position in life. These are very powerful buying decision motivators, and are becoming increasingly so, not just to achieve an ‘exclusive’ status, but also to strengthen one’s position in a particular group so that one is included and accepted. This need to be ‘included’ is very relevant with adolescents and influences most of what they listen to, read, see, wear and in particular the technology with which they are associated and familiar.

One of our strongest needs is for acceptance, and in the context of this brief article, that acceptance can be strengthened or weakened by the ‘things’ we buy. There are items we crave because others have them, and there are items we crave because others do not have them. The psychological factors in this issue of acceptance and lifestyle are in some cases so powerful, that people will go to illogical lengths to acquire those items that give particular meaning to their lives that reflect or support their lifestyle preferences.

So, what is the relevance of lifestyle choices for those who market and sell online? Simply this, if a merchant’s product can have appropriate lifestyle appeal for the target market, and that appeal is able to be communicated in compelling messages, then product acceptance will increase because it parallels lifestyle images. It can be a significant and unique point of differentiation, resulting in sales increase.

Please remember, that in conducting a campaign to test any lifestyle appeal that you believe your product has, you must be careful not to compromise your current traffic-customer-conversion (tcc) rate. This would be counter productive. You are looking for additional online customers, not replacement online customers.

Depending upon your in-house website design capability, you may wish to consider the involvement of an seo firm or online marketing consulting firm to assist you. The inclusion of an additional page or two, designed to facilitate a campaign and measure results, should be relatively straight forward.

Lifestyle appeal is most relevant in the purchase of consumer products, and therefore is much more influential in those purchases. However, it should be remembered that ‘lifestyle’ can be translated to mean ‘culture’ in the corporate sense, and culture is very much one way in which a corporation gives meaning to its existence. Therefore, if your product can be meaningfully linked to the culture of your corporate clients, you will have found a way to strengthen its appeal and your sales results.

How are lifestyle connections made by prospective buyers with your product? Online, the connections are best made through images and brief ‘slogan’ length statements. Of course you will firstly need to analyze your product to determine if the it, or any aspects of what it is, or what it does, can be appropriately linked to lifestyle issues. These ‘links’ should be substantial and not tenuous. You do not want to trivialize your product simply because it is possible to make associations with lifestyle. By necessity there needs to be strong plausibility too.

Start thinking today about the possibilities that could exist for increased business if your product had strong lifestyle appeal?

Today’s customers are not only looking for a good deal, they are also looking for companies that have vision and that are willing to share that vision.

Other articles in this series:

You are online, but are you on target? - by Leo Talbot
Analyzing your competition - By Leo Talbot
Why people buy - They have a compelling reason - By Leo Talbot
Designing websites that sell - By Leo Talbot
Defining Selling - By Leo Talbot
Internet Marketing - Is the best for you still to come? - By Leo Talbot
Ratio Analysis (RA) - Intelligent thinking for Ecommerce and Online marketers by Leo Talbot
Your Customer’s Customer (Productive research for Ecommerce and Online Marketers) by Leo Talbot
Unique Selling Proposition - by Leo Talbot
One Clear Compelling Message (The X factor in online selling) - by Leo Talbot
Maximizing buyer motivation for online marketers - by Leo Talbot
Ecommerce - The science of selling online Part II
Ecommerce - The science of selling online Part I

• Why People Buy (Your product fills a want) - By Leo Talbot
• Why People Buy (Your product solves a problem) - By Leo Talbot
• SEO Friendly Flash Design

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