ขHow and Why Do Women Buy?ข
by: Kare Anderson
A woman wanted a cell phone that would work anywhere, not rack up high roaming fees, and be กcute,ก according to Martha Barletta, author of _Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach, and Increase Your Share of the Worldกs Largest Market Segment_.
Her husband researchs various plans and finds the one that most matched her calling and financial criteria.
กWhat kind of phone comes with it?ก the wife asked.
กWhat difference does that make?!ก replied the husband.
His wife looked at the information heกd gathered and discovered that Nokia had a model in กocean blue,ก although the nearest store carrying one in that color was an hourกs drive away.
She drove.
‘the color of the phone is the most important thing?ก asked her astounded husband.
No, said Barletta, it wasn’t the most important thing, but while this woman was buying, กshe wanted what she wanted.ก
To women, details of beauty, simplicity, and practicality matter. Says Barletta, กA woman might choose a Jeep Cherokee because itกs the only one whose hatch she can easily flip open.ก
Studies have shown, writes Barletta, that the male sees his relationship to others in terms of higher/lower, faster/slower, first/second.
A female sees her relationships in less competitive terms: similarto/ differentfrom, knowher/don’tknowher. Thus advertising that says others will be jealous if you own this product works with men but is offputting to women.
Women, says Barletta, want to be able to say, กYep, thatกs my life. If that product works for her, itกll probably work for me.ก
Thus the power of cultivating the mavens – the trusted people to whom your market of women turn for advice can be the key to increasing your profits.
When you want to learn exactly how to cultivate those mavens, read Malcolm Gladwellกs brilliant book on the topic, _The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference_ (http://www.sayitbetter.com/store/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=TTB&Category_Code=T2F).
More than half the U.S. population is female, and women purchase or influence the purchase of more than 80% of all products and services.
Women are the majority decisionmakers today, not only in the traditional areas of fashion, food, and cosmetics but also for such bigticket buys as automobiles, financial services, home improvement, computer electronics, and travel.
So you might think there would be nothing about the buying habits of women that American businesses don’t know.
However, Barletta and Mary Lou Quinlan, author of _Just Ask a Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy_, believe that many marketing and sales strategies are more likely to annoy their target audience than to attract them.
กYou might feel that you have already evolved into the most politically correct person you can be. Your ads are not offensive your products keep improving, but thatกs not enough to lure a woman to buy your product rather than a competing brand,ก warns Mary Lou Quinlan.
Both Quinlan and Barletta point out that women are especially valuable customers. More than men, they typically ask for recommendations from friends and acquaintances before they buy and, if they are happy with a product or service, will recommend it to others. Again, this highlights the powerful influence of mavens on buying decisions.
According to Quinlan and Barletta, women especially working mothers lead timepressured lives and therefore appreciate products that simplify tasks and relieve anxieties.
They prefer product warranties and service guarantees more than extra bells and whistles.
Women don’t want to be told a product is กcoolก; they want to hear specifics about how it serves their needs and their familiesก needs.
Both agree that women want marketers to be patient and helpful. กItกs frustrating to marketers of highstakes or bigticket services such as financial services or cars to be asked to meet with women several times to go through alternatives,ก writes Quinlan.
But from a womanกs point of view, itกs necessary: กWomen judge the quality of the relationship as well as the quality of a product. They ask a lot of questions and do a lot of listening before they form a trusting relationship to believe what that person is saying about the product,ก she says.
Quinlan and Barletta reach many of the same conclusions but disagree on some points.
For example, Quinlan says women today – especially working mothers are stressed out.
Barletta believes the opposite: กIn fact, women today are proud of how well they cope with stress.ก
In another point of disagreement, both authors describe a current ad for the cholesterollowering drug Lipitor, reaching opposite conclusions as to its effectiveness.
In the ad, writes Barletta, a กgracious, glamorous, silverhaired woman is coming up a red carpet as if to the Academy Awards. Suddenly, she trips and falls flat on her face.
The message: Cholesterol doesn’t care who you are; it can even bring a princess down.ก
Women don’t like the ad because they กdon’t like to see anyone get hurt, even for a good cause,ก says Barletta. กAll I can think is, กOooh that poor woman, is she okay?กก
Quinlan praises the same ad for being กclichesmashing.ก She says the way to get womens attention is to play against type. กHow often have you seen the grayhaired grandmother walking the beach and worrying about her incontinence or arthritis?ก she asks.
According to Quinlan, the Lipitor ad is an example of letting older models กbe silly and not just sentimental,ก which, she implies, appeals to women.
On this point, I agree with Barletta, not Quinlan. What do you think?
But the books differ most significantly in how they present their material. Quinlan is CEO of Just Ask a Woman, Inc. (http://www.justaskawoman.com/) a marketing research firm she founded in 1999.
Her main research method is a TVshow format in which Quinlan plays กOprahก to elicit candid views and opinions from an allfemale audience. In her book, Quinlan shares the insights from her interviews of more than 3,000 women.
They have told her that, in their stressed lives, they would appreciate having bank statements that are กunderstandableก and instructions for cell phones กwritten in Englishก (as opposed, presumably, to techie talk).
Surely, a wise bank or cell phone manufacturer would provide same. But a reader can’t help wondering, wouldn’t men like understandable bank statements and cell phone manuals too? Wouldn’t anyone?
Barletta is president of The TrendSight Group (http://www.trendsight.com/), a marketing consulting firm that also was founded four years ago.
Its patented product, the กGenderTrends Marketing Model,ก provides a process for analyzing how to mesh what you sell and how you sell it with, as Barletta puts it, กfemale gender culture.ก
Barlettaกs book not only describes what women want, it also shows many scenarios where no rule applies to 100% of either genderกs buying behavior.
Barletta notes that it is not that women want better products and better service while men don’t. Itกs that women will go to more trouble to obtain what they want.
She points out, for example, that Wyndham Hotels put magnifying mirrors in bathrooms based on suggestions from women who wanted them for applying eye makeup.
Men didn’t request the mirrors and probably never would have, according to Barletta, but they appreciated them when they appeared, because it made shaving easier.
One reason it takes women longer to make a buying decision, Barletta explains, is that women want the กperfect answer.ก
Men will buy a workable answer rather than continue to shop, while women will continue to shop in the hope of finding that perfect answer. Now that sounds familiar.
Women also relate better to กwarmerก than to กwinner.ก A Nissan print ad stating กhorsepower increased 17%, torque increased 6%, bragging rights increased 100%ก is a maleonly ad.
Women (even those who know what torque is) don’t care as much about bragging rights says Barletta. But an ad for an SUV that says ‘think of it as a 4,000 pound guardian angelก is an ad that resonates women.
Both books were helpful to me, but Barlettaกs book contains more information for marketers regardless of gender.
About The Author
Kare Anderson is publisher of the กSay it Betterก newsletter, fivetime author, Emmywinner and former Wall Street Journal reporter.
This article was posted on December 24, 2003
by Kare Anderson