Igniting Customer Connections: Fire Up Your Company's Growth By Multiplying Customer Experience & Engagement

Chapter 12ROE² Hits the RoadWhat Drives Consumer Behavior When Buying a Car?

If you thought that quality and value for the money were the leading influencers fueling car buying and servicing decisions, you would be wrong. When it comes to purchasing or servicing a vehicle, the reasons behind consumer behavior can't be explained by reason alone.

Whether driven by status, need, or simply a desire to drive, consumers love their automobiles. In fact, some of us go so far as to name our vehicles and grieve over the thought of trading them in someday. While car ownership might be a practical decision born out of necessity, the decisions behind what we buy and how we choose to care for our vehicle are deep-rooted in emotion, a critical element in the experience side of Return on Experience × Engagement (ROE²).

As our research of the grocery industry demonstrated in Chapter 8, emotion is a powerful brand differentiator that has a profound impact on consumer decisions. If a mundane activity like shopping for food can be propelled by an undercurrent of feelings, then it stands to reason that an industry predicated on uniting consumers with the freedom of the road would also find success in making an emotional connection with the consumer.

What Drives Consumer Behavior?

Since car ownership is one of the costliest relationships we enter into during our lifetimes, we wanted to know if emotional factors overshadow functional considerations when choosing a brand or service location. We also ...