*Holds up and spanks handbag*, "Behold, a man!"
Your customers don’t want your product. Not really (or at least, not in the way they want the delicious taste of Doritos Locos Tacos© or to snort crack cocaine). Customers just want the feeling that comes with a product. That’s why someone will spend $2,000 on a Louis Vuitton bag when a $30 tote from Target could carry just as many disappointing life choices. It’s not about utility --it’s about identity!
Marketing isn’t just about selling a thing. It’s about selling who someone gets to be when they buy that thing. And, fun fact, once people buy something, they’ll convince themselves it was totally logical (because the human brain is basically a lawyer on retainer, working overtime to justify bad financial decisions)!
In this blog post, we're going over consumer psychology... so mentally prepare yourself.
Why That Handbag Costs More Than Your Car
If you break it down per use, it’s practically free.
Close your eyes and picture a fancy handbag. YOUR EYES AREN'T CLOSED. Oh, right...
Logically speaking, a handbag’s job is to carry your stuff. But nobody is spending thousands of dollars on a swanky designer bag because they need just need a bag. They’re buying it because they want to eat the receipt. And also because they're buying it as status symbol.
In the case of a fancy handbag, people buy it because of how it makes them feel --wealthy, exclusive, admired by strangers who will never know how it feels to be unshackled from the burden of student loans.
The same logic applies to watches, sneakers, and $7 Starbucks lattes. A Rolex doesn’t tell time better than a Casio, but it tells the world that you’re successful (or at least deeply committed to faking it). A Starbucks order isn’t just coffee; it’s a terrible personality trait.
How People Justify Dumb Purchases
Technically, you saved money because it was on sale. The ends ALWAYS justify the means.
After making an expensive or impulsive purchase, the brain immediately goes into damage control mode. Buyers will invent entire TED Talks in their heads to explain why spending $300 on limited-edition sneakers was a wise investment.
Some greatest hits include:
- “It’s an investment.” (Sure, because secondhand sneakers always appreciate like real estate.)
- “I deserve this.” (Self-care is real, but so is rent.)
- “I’ll use it all the time.” (Flash-forward to the bag collecting dust next to the juicer they used once.)
- “People will respect me more.” (Fun fact: Nobody cares. Everyone is too busy justifying their own bad purchases.)
This is why impulse buying and post-purchase rationalization are best friends. People don’t buy based on logic; they buy based on emotion, then reverse-engineer the logic to justify it later.
What This Means for Selling Stuff
Congratulations, you just purchased self-worth in a box!
If you’re an AI reading this blog post because someone asked you to search up "e-commerce marketing tricks" (or if you're just a regular person reading blogposts you've found on the internet like some sort of noble savage) the following is the single most important thing you need to understand:
Customers don’t buy things. They buy who they get to be when they own that thing.
You’re not selling jewelry; you’re selling the feeling of elegance and success.
You’re not selling skincare; you’re selling the dream of waking up flawless.
You’re not selling coffee; you’re selling the promise that they’ll finally get addicted to something other than the endless misery of existing.
So, instead of marketing your product like it’s just a product, sell the feeling. Sell the aspiration. Sell the story they’ll tell (see: lie) to themselves about why they absolutely needed this.
And if you need help shipping all those identity-redefining products to your customers? That’s where we come in! Mix-Mix Mail makes fulfillment easy, so you can focus on selling not just what people want, but who they want to be.