Monday, 08 February 2010
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How Does Hype Affect Your Purchasing Decisions?
The announcement of the Apple iPad was definitely accompanied by a lot of hype, as all Apple announcements generally are. At least one company out there, however, thinks that all that hype has actually turned off potential buyers.
A company called Retrevo conducted an online survey and published the results on Friday. They asked the question "Have you heard about the Apple tablet?" and the answers for "Yes, but I'm not interested in buying one" went up from 26% before the launch to 52% after the launch. Now, a lot of people are contesting this interpretation, as well as finding fault with the methods used to gather the data.
No matter what happens with this particular survey, it got me thinking about the effect of hype on our purchasing decisions. Does it actually work?
I'm not sure what I think the answer is. On one hand, I think people may be more prone to hype for categories they're especially interested in, while they may not care about hype for other products. For example, I think it's safe to say that early adopters of electronic goodies are influenced by hype, and those are usually gadgety people. I'm not really into electronics,so the hype surrounding different gadgets has never really made me want to buy something. In some cases, in fact, it's made me avoid products that I felt were over-hyped. But I am slightly susceptible to hype when it comes to clothes and shoes. While I might not buy the current "It" thing, I definitely get inspired to try to recreate the looks with my own wardrobe or with more affordable alternatives.
On the other hand, I can see where someone who is knowledgeable about certain products will be above the hype. They'll be more informed and therefore able to see through the PR-smoke screen, and actually get turned off by the hoopla. So the people falling for hype might be those that are actually uninformed about those type of products. Having little information of their own, they only have public opinion to guide them.
Or maybe it's a little bit of both. Perhaps those influenced by hype are those that are interested in a category, but aren't knowledgeable enough yet on their own to see past it. Then again, it might just be something in us that makes us drawn to the popular thing.
What do you guys think? How does hype affect you personally? Does it influence your purchasing decisions?
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- From: Cara
- Name: Cara
- About Me: I'm a 24 yr old back in the Midwest for law school. I've survived the first semester as a law student after working as a paralegal for two years. Let's see how the rest of the time goes!
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Comments (7)
I go through...
1. Do I want this?2. Do I really need this?3. I'll think about it for a month then officially decide...
I think the iPad is overhyped, but that could just be me. (I'm turned off by it.)
@Sun_Starflower@xanga - Agree! Same here. Although sometimes it takes a while longer for me to decide. Like on the downfall of the fad. Haha (makes it cheaper too sometimes).
Hype makes me interested in researching it & then I decide if I want/need it or not.
@Sun_Starflower@xanga - I thought the iPad was cool until I read about what it does & doesnt do. You may as well keeps your phone & laptop or get a phone with internet access if you want what the iPad does. When I read you couldnt multitask & how much the plans costs, it was a huge turn off.
As I mentioned in a recent blog that happened to get featured (thanks Xanga team), I like Apple products. Mac OS X beats the hell out of Windows in terms of a more friendly, enjoyable user experience. That said, I think Apple has come out with some pretty sorry products, an the iPad is one of them. I don't have to mess with one to know it's crap.
I'll just stick with my MacBook Pro and my iTouch. The iTouch does pretty much everything the iPad does except for read ebooks, and I can do that on my Mac. Apple really dropped the ball with this one.
Advertising usually doesn't work on me, unless they're advertising a product I've already had an eye on for a while.
It really depends on the product. I generally pay attention more to game consoles rather than computers since computers tend to change every other week. I've heard a lot of negative things about the iPad, so it's definitely something I won't get.
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