Consumer behavior and influencer marketing

Today, the marketing world has been profoundly transformed by influencer marketing. This raises the question: what impact does influencer marketing have on consumers’ behavior and purchase decisions? 

A study by Qualibest shows that influencers are already the second largest source of information for consumers’ decision-making. No less than 49% of respondents said they had bought a product or service because they were digitally influenced. To put this in perspective, influencers are second only to recommendations from friends and family.

So, in this article, you’ll see how digital influencers are essential to consumers’ purchasing behavior, the growth of influencer marketing, and much more.

What is consumer behavior? 

Consumer behavior refers to the actions, decisions, and purchasing patterns that individuals adopt when searching for, acquiring, using, and disposing of products and services. It is a multidisciplinary field of study that analyzes the factors that influence consumer choices, including their needs, desires, values, preferences, past experiences, and social influences. 

In addition, creating personas is intrinsically linked to consumer behavior. 

Personas are fictional representations of consumer segments with similar characteristics, based on research and real data analysis. They help companies visualize and better understand the different types of consumers and their specific needs. 

By mapping consumer behavior, such as purchase motivations, communication preferences, and consumption patterns, it’s possible to create detailed personas that represent different customer profiles.

And what about Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is the name of the strategy brands use to connect with their customers, aiming to reach a targeted audience through engaged digital influencers who match their niche.

In practice, influencer marketing is a more organic way of communicating with a specific audience. It works through initiatives carried out by digital influencers with the aim of bringing the audience to your brand and persuading them. 

Why is it so important to analyze consumer behavior? 

First of all, the best way to understand the consumer’s relationship with your product, and how they were influenced before deciding to buy, is through analysis.

This can be done based on data and information gathered from the user’s interactions with your brand, social media reports, and other relevant sources. With that in mind, learn a little more about the advantages of this analysis:

It supports decision-making

Studying every stage, and what led the consumer to choose one path over another, helps the decision-making process. When we understand what visitors are looking for through their actions, we can step in and anticipate them, among other benefits. 

Moreover, consumer behavior can provide some predictions about the consumer’s next step, which lets you prepare your own next steps. Through the consumer’s positioning, you can gain insights to personalize service and offers. Invest in calls to action (CTAs) to download rich content, or invite them to read an article on your blog.

It improves customer satisfaction

If users receive better products and services, this results in greater satisfaction, which leads to customer retention and loyalty. In other words, you need to know what the prospect needs and wants. This allows you to create customized offers. On top of that, you’ll have a customer who speaks well of your company to others and shares good feedback. It’s the famous word-of-mouth marketing.

It helps improve your marketing strategy 

Studying consumer behavior will give you some clues about changes you can make to your strategy. To know whether your initiatives are succeeding, the way consumers respond will give you the answers you need. 

Your audience says a lot about when, how, and what they want. So understanding this rhythm will be essential for innovating in campaigns and initiatives. 

It helps you understand consumers’ purchase motivations 

Sometimes purchases have an emotional background. This means that behind every purchase a consumer makes, there are desires, wishes, fears, and anxieties that motivated that action. That’s why it’s extremely important to understand the reasons that led the customer to buy what you offer and what drove them to that decision. 

This makes it possible to create more precise campaigns. As soon as consumers get to know your brand, they will quickly identify with it, and this connection can even reduce costs and increase the conversion rate.

How do digital influencers affect consumer behavior? 

In this reality of influencers connected with a brand’s customers, the data shows that the impact of digital influencers on consumer behavior is undeniable. 

In addition to the Qualibest study (presented at the beginning of this article), another study by Exame shows that 77% of consumers make purchases through social media. This number is only set to grow, since in this new digital era, generations aged 18 to 24 are entering the consumer market. This means that if a brand, whatever its market, is not present on the main digital channels, it will certainly fall behind its competitors.

Part of this analysis was covered in a psychology study (Psychology of Following), which aims to show that consumers follow, listen to, and trust digital influencers, and also seeks to understand how influencers affect consumer behavior. 

Accordingly, there are two key factors through which digital influencers impact consumer behavior: 

• Authenticity: 

It is one of the most important factors when it comes to trusting and following influencers who run campaigns and post on social media. Authenticity is the main reason audiences trust an influencer. 

• Acting on influencer content 

Influencers are increasingly prompting consumers to consider buying a product or service. Audiences consider a purchase based on an influencer’s review or information, as well as on the influencer’s content, comments, or recommendations. 

Influencers directly affect consumer behavior and purchase decisions. Through social media, reviews, and recommendations, they influence their audience. 

The growth of influencer marketing

Finally, influencer marketing has had a strong presence in the digital marketing world since 2016. It has been growing exponentially and, according to data from Influencer Marketing Hub, overall investment grew from US$1.7 billion to US$13.8 billion between 2016 and 2021. 

To give you a better idea, Nielsen conducted a survey showing that Brazil is one of the leaders in the influencer market, with around 10.5 million digital influencers on social media. Brazil is second only to the United States on other platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. These numbers show the growth of influencer marketing worldwide and the strength that influencers have been gaining day after day. 

What is Inflr‘s role in the influencer marketing market?

Inflr is a pioneering adtech in campaigns with digital influencers. Its role is to enable brands to communicate with up to 100% of each influencer’s followers, while also running multi-segmented remarketing campaigns. Founded in 2019 by partners Bruno Niro, Thiago Cavalcante, and Tiago Brandão, Inflr is also known as a benchmark in smart influencer marketing.