Meet Jane, a boutique skincare owner who launched her “revolutionary” serum. Jane spent countless hours and determination to guarantee the serum delivered the results. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a strategy to make her serum the go-to choice for the customers.
Instead of explaining what benefit serum offered to her customers, Jane leveraged the clinical jargon to make her product look fancy.
Jane had a great idea, and an even better product. So, what went wrong? She skipped the crucial element of targeting her customer’s 3 levels of returns.
Read on, as we explore the three level of returns your business can’t skip.
The Three Levels of Return
- Level One: Self Return – “Solve My Problem, Now!”
Humans by nature are selfish. The first level of return is all about satisfying this nature. Self-return speaks to the basic human need of addressing immediate, personal needs.
Being a business owner, it’s about offering a solution that makes your customer satisfied and feel catered to. When a business addresses the selfish needs of its customers, it becomes the go-to choice for everyday problems.
Research from Epsilon concludes that 80% of consumers prefer brands that tailor experiences directly to their personal needs. This research provides irrefutable proof that when you address an immediate need of a customer, they tend to remember you.
- The Power of Self-Return
A baker started a new bakery in Seoul with a unique approach: It remains open 24/7.
Despite constant availability, the baker couldn’t get enough sales to remain profitable and faced a dilemma: compete with cheaper chains by slashing prices or think outside the box.
Opting for the latter, the baker focused on targeting the “urgent” need of his customers. Instead of running generic ads, he plastered his ads across busy public spots with one line: “Craving warm croissants at 3 AM? We’re open.”
Soon, a business that was struggling to survive had grown it’s sales by almost 200% in just six months!
Why?
Because the baker targeted the self-interest of his customers. When he posted the 3-AM ad, he wasn’t trying to sell pastries – he was selling the solve for late-night hunger and cravings. His customers remembered his business because he answer their instinctive need: “Feed me now.”
The Science Behind Self-Interest
- 73% customers believe that feeling understood drives brand loyalty.
- According to the Journal of Consumer Psychology, immediate needs are connected to the part of the brain responsible for prioritizing them. This makes us three times more likely to remember the immediate needs and the brands that solve them.
- Level Two: Social Return – “Make Me Look Good”
The social return targets the human desire to belong and be recognized by the people around them. In simpler terms, social return means the need to feel valued and connected with others.
According to Sprout Social, approximately 70% of customers report choosing brands based on social proof and the endorsement of people they know.
When you integrate social return in your branding, it transforms each purchase your customers make into a statement of identity – a badge of honor that your customers proudly wear.
- The Power of Social Return
In 2010, a Swiss watchmaker struggled to make their watches stand out. Making the same error as Jane, this company focused on marketing it’s watches through the technical jargon by focusing on their engineering.
Determined to try a different approach, the watchmaker started showcasing their timepieces on the wrists of Nobel Prize Winners. Soon after the Nobel Prize winners endorsed the watches, the watches started selling fast.
The watchmaker triggered this torpedo effect by targeting the social status of the customers. They showcased their watches as symbol of achievement, giving every person buying them the pleasure of blending in.
The Social Currency Rule
- 68% of millennials buy brands that boost their social image.
- Brands perceived as “High status” can charge 20-50% price premiums.
- Level Three: Spiritual Return – “My Way of Giving Back by Supporting Something I Believe In”
Where self and social returns focus on addressing the selfish, immediate needs, spiritual return goes beyond the needs of daily life.
Spiritual return is about creating an emotional connection that transforms an ordinary purchase into something meaningful – a way of giving back to the society.
When a business targets the spiritual return, it convinces the customer that their purchase is about something more than themselves. It’s about developing an emotional connection that helps your customers believe that they will get a return from God or the world by paying the kindness forward.
- The Power of Social Return
In 2022, a pet food company was struggling to stay afloat. Competitors offering lower prices and less customers brought this company to the verge of close.
In their attempt to bounce back, this company decided to donate 10% of profits it made to animal shelters. Seeing this act of compassion their target audience was moved by the idea of spreading kindness.
So, when the customers shopped from this company, they weren’t just buying a kibble – they were buying their share in a rescue story.
This bounce back shows the business’s understanding of the core aspect of Spiritual return: The customer’s need to feel like heroes.
The Purpose-Driven Shift
- 63% consumers prefer buying from a purpose-driven business.
- A study by Motista suggests that emotionally connected customers have a 306% higher lifetime value.
Final Words
Think of building a business like building a house. What happens if you skip the foundation while building it? It might stand briefly, guaranteed to crumble only after a while.
The same applies to your business. These three level of returns are crucial to target the three levels of return. Addressing these level of returns gives your business the opportunity to turn ordinary interactions into powerful, memorable experiences.
Need help figuring out how you can integrate these levels of return in your business? No worries, we have you covered! Schedule a free consultation today and take the first step towards building an unforgettable brand.
