Why do customers do what they do?

Recently, I was reminded of a passage from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. The answer to the question of life and everything is: 42. That in itself is the source of a plethora of questions... but that is another story in itself. 

This got me thinking though about the golden question about customers... "Why do customers do what they do?". Like the age old question about "life and everything", this one also does not have a clear and finite answer. You can pick up a number or a reason from the air, so to speak, and try to explain customer situations to those numbers. I say "try", because they will not always be explainable... many times you will attribute them as "outliers" or "special conditions". 

Bottom line is that, the customer psychology is a very complex being and not something you can define in terms of mathematics or logic. There is a lot of emotion attached to any action that a customer takes. 

Customers Are Like Children... Really?

My oldest turned 3 a few months ago. I was reflecting on how she has grown and her behavior changed over the years. Well, lets say that parenting has become challenging as years go by. As I pondered over the principles of parenting that are commonly known, I came across the notion of thinking of a customer in the same light as your "child".

Before I start, let me say I am not in any way talking about customers being children and thus being treated like them. What I am indicating is that there are stark similarities between parenting strategies and what we can apply to customer management.

First, lets look at the similarities in customer behavior and children (those of you who are parents should be nodding your heads as you read on. )

Value is in the Eyes of the Customer

The Subjective Theory of Value states that value of a product or service is based on the subjective importance of it to an individual. You can read more about the details and economic theory behind this on the link here.

Lets look at this theory in the light of customer relationships. There is evidence all around us that the value of certain relationships is different from customer to customer. Where one will value a social network presence of an organization more than visiting their physical office, others will have a different opinion.