Consumers make buying decisions every day. But how do they make these decisions? What is going on in their minds? How do companies understand these points? Do the people who are employed in marketing just have a good instinct for consumers’ thinking? Or are there more systematic ways to find the answers to these questions? In fact, these topics are researched in great detail by most large companies. In order to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how they buy, how much they spend, as well as when and why the buy? All those questions, marketers can look at the what, where, when and how much questions by studying actual consumer purchases. But learning about the whys of consumer buying is not so easy.
The answers are often locked deep within the consumer's head. Penetrating the dark recesses of the consumer's mind is no easy task. Often consumers themselves don't know exactly what influences their own purchases. One consumer behaviour expert Brad Whiners has claimed that 95% of the thought, emotion and learning that drives purchasing decisions occurs in the unconscious mind - that is, without our awareness.