How We Decide to Purchase a Product or Service

At the beginning of my career, I held sales and business development roles, and one of the things I enjoy most is bringing that holistic experience and perspective into product management. To me, a fascinating area that straddles these areas is how we decide to purchase a product or service.

When I attended Sander Sales Ambassador training, I learned about Transactional Analysis (TA), which Eric Berne developed during the 1950s. TA recognized that three 'ego states' make up our human personalities, each being a system of thought, feeling, and behavior interacting with each other within us.

These three are the Parent, Adult, and Child (PAC) ego states. The originating decision that we want to buy something comes from our Child ego - it is an emotional 'want' decision. Then, our Adult ego will justify the decision intellectually, and our Parent ego will finally approve the purchase.

Our Child ego is the five-year-old who, from a feeling of desire, says things like, "I want this," and "I want to do that," or perhaps "I don't want this," and "I don't want to do that." A feeling or emotion initiates these desires within our Child ego, such as greed, envy, curiosity, desire, and fear.

Our Adult ego is the logical, rational, and analytical arbitrator between the demands of our Parent ego and the wants of our Child ego. Our Adult ego decides if the data in our Parent ego is still currently relevant and then will accept or reject it. Our Adult ego will ask questions such as, "Do you really need this?", "Can you afford this?", "Are there better alternatives?" and "Are you sure you're not acting too impulsively?". Finally, after the proof is presented, our Parent ego will give us buying permission (or not).

We will constantly waver between our Child and Parent egos, with the Adult ego giving us needed information. But, importantly, until our Child ego emotionally wants a product or service, the Parent ego isn't going to judge whether a purchase is appropriate or not, and our Adult ego isn't going to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the purchase or supplier.

Isn't it fascinating to think about how we make, justify and finally make buying decisions? I find it useful for me to ask myself why my product would be initially connecting with my customer's Child ego and how the product then helps the customer's Adult ego to feel good about that initial emotional desire and want. I seek to keep asking myself these 'why' questions throughout the product development process. It's one reason doing research, such as prototyping and interviewing, is so beneficial to understanding your customers and where your product or service is making those connections with them (or not). Always strive to understand the emotional response your product is making with your customers, and don't just trust a long list of requirements.