How “considered” are considered purchases, really?

Like, do people really do more research and deliberation for expensive things?

The TL;DR is, kinda, but not much. Not really. 

Take cars, f’rinstance. They’re one of the most expensive things we ever buy. And even a used car adds up with maintenance & repair costs.

And yet the facts are crazy:

+ Most people only consider 3-5 brands (per Nielsen). In the US, there are about 40 brands you could buy. 

+ 16% of car shoppers don’t test drive a single car, and another 33% only test drive ONE (Per DMEautomotive).

+ In my informal research, about 98% of car owners didn’t look under the hood while shopping. (I mean, why would we? Most of us wouldn’t even know what an alternator even looks like.)

+ And again, in my own work, about 90% of people have never even cracked open their owner’s manual.

MOSTLY what we do is take shortcuts to avoid thinking too much.

We replace hard questions like “does this model have good reliability?” with easy ones like “what’s this model’s score on Motortrend?” 

We substitute our own research with that of others, be it Kelly Blue Book or our buddy Kelly Who Knows Lots About Cars.

We go with what FEELS good, be it that new Volvo, or the color of the Subaru (they do funky colors).

And we get unduly influenced by subconscious things — like the sound the car door makes when we close it. Does it sound like a tank or a tin can? THAT influences us like crazy. 

This isn’t unique to cars, either. All this crazy-expensive stuff we buy, from college education to insurance, is often given a superficial analysis. But hey — it’s good enough. Usually.

SOME LESSONS:

🍊Assume most people are using shortcuts when shopping for your products — and give them good ones!

🍊Leave rabbit holes of deeper info for the 2% of shoppers who want it.

🍊Be ok if your customers never “crack the manual” for your product.