45 Reasons Why People Buy: Your Universal Marketing Plan Checklist

By Kathy, Senior Marketing Strategist

One of the unique dynamics and challenges in devising a healthcare marketing plan is to properly anticipate why people buy.

A health and medical services plan considers the future needs of an ever-present audience. As the familiar expression reminds us, the challenge is to engage consumers today for solutions they may need tomorrow.

Our regular readers understand that no one goes shopping to buy “a surgery,” or a medical treatment. We’ve given away the answer in previous articles. Prospective patients shop for some form of personal wellbeing.

The Why People Buy Checklist

A common (but generally misguided) notion is that a doctor, medical group or hospital should advertise their capabilities. Their marketing plan fails to consider the basic reason or reasons that people buy any product or service.

The following list is nearly always a sub-set of delivering happiness. And having a good understanding of a buyer’s motivation or mindset improves your targeting and sales ability. Guerrilla marketing expert and author Geoff Ayling lists dozens of reasons. These are the first 10 reasons on his list. People buy to:

make more money
be more comfortable
attract praise
increase enjoyment
have things of beauty
avoid criticism
make their work easier
speed up their work
keep up with the Joneses
feel opulent

This checklist is nearly endless...

For your awareness and planning purposes, here is a compilation of some of the most common motivations; why people buy.

to access opportunities
to attract the opposite sex
to avoid the effort
to avoid physical effort
to avoid trouble
to be accepted
to be entertained
to be excited or gain excitement
to be in style
to be informed
to be more efficient
to be organized
to be popular
to be trendy or innovative
to be unique or special or to feel significant
to become fit and healthy
to buy at a lower price and/or higher value
to conserve energy
to emulate others
to escape or avoid pain
to escape the stress
to feel connected to others
to feel safe or confident
to feel superior
to feel or look younger
to gain convenience
to gain praise from others
to gratify curiosity
to have peace of mind
to have something that’s scarce
to leave a legacy
to grow the reputation
to protect the family
to satisfy an appetite
to save time or for convenience

Consider this checklist as an idea-starter for healthcare planning and advertising. Make a direct connection to the individual’s purchase motivation. People invest in a product or service to avoid pain or a loss, or to gain something positive or pleasurable. Ultimately, the one and the only reason that people buy health care is for happiness.