🧠 CHAPTER 7: The Modern Buyer Brain: THE BUYER BRAIN IN 2025

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0:31Or you can just use the code J30, J-A-Y-3-0 when you sign up. Now, if you're using another email and SMS platform and you want to switch to OmniSend, which is a great idea, they will do the migration for you. Just give them five days and then you show up with everything set, ready to go. Now, they've migrated thousands of stores from Klaviyo. And on average, they're saving 35 % on their email and SMS bills. If you're listening to this show, you clearly care about your Shopify business. If your store isn't backed up and protected, it could all be for nothing. That's why I tell every store owner I know who cares about their business, you 100 % need Rewind installed.

1:07It's a non-negotiable for me. One bad CSV import, one app that edits your store the wrong way, which has happened to basically everyone I know. One bulk edit gone wrong, and now AI making changes for you. Listen, Shopify does not have an undo button. Rewind is the undo button. Go to shopify1percent.com slash rewind for 30 days free on us. Links in the show notes too.

1:57is the buyer brain in 2026. Now it's going to be 2026, of course, and then the year's coming, but this is the modern buyer brain. Let's talk about every person that every brand is trying to win in this modern commerce era. Because if you don't understand how the buyer thinks, you'll never understand how the buyer buys. And the buyer brain today is radically different than it was just even five years ago. Not because people change, but because the world changed and faster, honestly, than people could keep up. Here's the truth. The buyers today, they're not difficult. They're just overloaded. They're impatient.

2:36They're numb by choice. And they're tired of feeling like just another transaction. And understanding the psychology is the new foundation of marketing and subscription strategy and retention and everything. So let's break down this buyer brain, this modern buyer brain, because once you see it, you'll understand why membership models are exploding. This is not just for people that sell replenishable products. This is for any e-commerce brand. So number one, the buyer brain is overloaded. Like choice has become a sort of cognitive tax. And we used to think more choice was better. Now it's the exact opposite.

3:17More choice is stress. Some of the stores we see doing the best are single SKU stores. studies from Harvard actually and Columbia both show that the average consumer makes 35 ,000 decisions per day 35 ,000 and every single additional choice increases decision fatigue it's why people like Steve Jobs and Zuckerberg and some of these execs you you've probably heard this before they wear the exact same thing every day because they want to completely eliminate choice. Like I remember Steve Jobs one time saying like his goal was to get out the door without having to make a choice. You wear the same thing.

3:58You have a consistent breakfast, the same routine every morning. You don't have to make a choice before you get out the door. Like the average person maybe makes a thousand choices, stresses about what to wear, what to eat, looks in the fridge, doesn't know what they're going to have. And by the time you get to work, your brain is tired and exhausted for the real choices that you have to make. Like you shouldn't be wearing out your brain, but what you have to wear. So that's the whole concept. And the average American consumer makes 35 ,000 decisions every single day. Like what, what podcast to listen to as you drive to work?

4:29Hopefully that's not even a choice. That's a clear decision. Shopify 1%, but you get where I'm going with this. Now there's 167 ,000 direct to consumer brands online. There's actually more, there's like 5.6 million Shopify stores. And I say brands like large brands. Now the average Shopify store is competing against tens of thousands of brands in the same vertical, in the same skew. And consumers, Forbes did a recent study, they see 10 ,000 marketing messages every day. It's actually a mind blowing stat. But if you start to think about it, like there's marketing in your email, in your phone, every, as you drive to work, you probably see a hundred signs and billboards.

5:15The average American sees 10 ,000 marketing messages a day. So the modern buyer is drowning in options. You don't need to give them more options. When people are overloaded, they default to the easiest, most familiar, most frictionless path. Not the cheapest, not the best reviewed, the easiest. And this is why Amazon wins, to be honest, not because they're better, not because they're the cheapest, because they're the default. Actually, if you compare anything on Amazon, I was buying Lego the other day for my son and it was, I think,$59 on Amazon. And I almost never price compare. This one particular Lego seemed, it was a kind of a smaller set.

6:00It just seemed more expensive than it should be. I checked out Walmart,$39,$20 less, almost 50 % off. And that was the regular price. Like Walmart wasn't even on a sale same thing happened i was buying a cordless phone for my house for my house yes i still have a house phone and it was a set of four cordless phones 199 for the set at amazon looked on best buy 129 so it's not the cheapest people just default there and but it's why they win because they're the default they're the easiest so number two i think the modern buyer is impatient. So personalization is no longer a luxury or a nice to have.

6:38It is critical. And in the interview, make sure you listen to it. I'm going to put a link to the show notes. That's what all these chapters are based off of in the full interview. We talked about this. You browse something on Amazon and you just expect it to be on your homepage when you come back. If it doesn't, you feel like something's broken. You ever notice that when you go to Amazon, it feels like your personal shopping catalog. You just expect that. But if you went to Amazon and you saw, like I look at, I look at a lot of consumer electronics and drones and microphones and cameras and stuff.

7:13And if I came to Amazon and I found like home goods and vases and house supplies, like my wife's Amazon page is completely different than my Amazon. And we just expect it. That's how expectations have become. And remember, there is a thing called the Amazon effect. When Amazon does something, they expect it other places to. When they do two-day shipping, they expect two-day shipping everywhere else. So here's the data. 76 % of consumers get frustrated when personalization is missing. They actually are frustrated. They expect it. 82 % of brands, sorry, 82 % expect brands to know something about them, their preferences, their history, their context.

7:56They just expect it. Like when I add some to the car, they expect it to be the same size I added last time. They just, they think that's going to happen. And 71 % actually expect real-time personalization. And impatience isn't going away. AI is just accelerating. It's just expecting, accelerating people's expectance of this. Once consumers know an experience can be personalized, they expect it, every experience to be personalized. So if your emails, your customer portal, your subscriptions, your recommendations aren't personalized, you're actually already behind. Okay, number three of the modern buyer brain, the buyer craves ease.

8:36The lowest friction wins. Ease beats everything. It beats product. It beats price. It beats features. It even beats options. Ease. So if your brand is 10 % better, but 20 % harder, you lose. And I experienced this the other day on the other episode, I was talking about buying a 3D printer on one site. It was so easy for me to figure out which filament, like the plastic. And I don't know a lot about 3D printers, so you're going to laugh at me here, but this is how customers are. I didn't know which filament to buy. I didn't know if I needed any other accessories. I didn't know if I needed any software.

9:21I wanted to make sure, I didn't know if it worked with Mac or Windows or both. These might sound like dumb questions to someone who knows a lot about 3D printers, but for someone who's buying their first one, I didn't know any of this. And the site that made it super easy, showed the right filaments that go with it, any other options I needed, it won. So it wasn't cheaper. and I don't even know if it was the best one to be honest. I read a bunch of reviews and it might not be, but it was easier. Yeah, it was frictionless. And so that's the one I bought. And I think it's a pretty good one. Might not be the best one, but the website was frictionless.

9:56So the modern buyer brain is built around one question. How hard is this going to be? And customers are asking that in their head every time they shop. And if the answer is anything above effortless, they're gone. And that's why all those little details matter. One click checkout, obviously outperforms multi-step generally. We do sometimes see multi-step that performs better, but removing clicks from experiences where like in 3D printer, having to go to different pages to add the ink, could I add it from the same page? Could I add a bundle? Could I use something like bold upsell, for example, to when I bought the 3D printer, recommend the ink that goes with it.

10:34Brands with intuitive onboarding, when you get a product, actually see 40 % less churn in the first 60 days. So ease isn't just a feature. It's a competitive advantage and membership and subscriptions when done right are the ultimate ease mechanism. It should feel easy. Okay. Number four, the modern buyer brain seeks recognition. Okay. Status is still the deepest human behavior. We talked about this, I think in a little bit in chapter one, if you want to go deeper on this, but people don't just want products. They want to be seen. And if you think about it, think about the products you buy. If it didn't have a logo on it, would you buy it?

11:15You know, that a hundred dollar t-shirt, if it didn't have a brand that it was, if it was a different brand, would you still buy it? They want to be seen for who they are. It's a badge. They want to feel special. They want to feel valued. They want to feel recognized like their choice means something and says something about them. This is why loyalty programs with tiers outperform flat programs 30 to 60%. It matters. And why badge systems with exclusive tiers and VIP groups and early access and any kind of status marker you can think of, they work so well. Humans will chase status. It's built into us.

11:53Always have, always will. And in that interview, we talked about this. Remember airlines, they figured this out decades. that go. They have the silver, gold, platinum elite. And none of these tiers actually do that much. I'm a member of all of them. And in some airlines, I'm on the platinum elite and some, and yes, I get maybe access to the lounge or a little bit of a priority line, but it's not like crazy better, but it's the status, you know, so you're standing in a different line than everyone else. You get to go to the lounge, which isn't the best food at the airports by any means, but you feel that status.

12:30And so you can, you can call a tier level three, or you can call it elite. It's a big difference. One creates a label, one creates an identity and identities are what's sticky. That's very true in the modern buyer brain. Okay. Number five, the buyer is values driven. Alignment will shape purchasing behavior. And here's what I mean by this. This is a massive trend, especially among young shoppers, Gen Z and younger millennials. People want their money to reflect their identity and their values. There's been a few studies on this. 64 % of consumers say they choose brands that own it with their values.

13:10That's from Accenture. And another one was 77 % say they prefer to buy from companies committed to social impact. And millennials are actually four times more loyal to brands that take a clear stance on issues they care about. You might be doing some of this, but is it coming through in your messaging? Often most brands actually do do some work with some charity and do some good in the world, but they don't bring the customer into that journey. And I actually think I go one step further, like not just making sure it's messaged on your site and in your communications and in your emails that you're sending day one, but bring the customer in as a part of it.

13:48And we see some brands using our upsell app for this, when you click checkout, a pop-up comes up and says, we, one of the charities that we support is meals for kids without at schools without meals or whatever, whatever the charity is you align with. Would you like to join us on our battle to eliminate hunger at schools and add$5 to your order,$10 to your order, whatever it, even if they don't, they still see that. And they know that you're doing some good in the world. And And just as a total side bonus on this, any donation,$20 or less, you don't have to give a tax receipt for and you get the tax, the donation receipt.

14:28So what that means is if you collect a million dollars in donations using, using our upsell app at checkout, we have brands doing this. And it's, it basically what it does is you, it actually adds a donation product to the cart and you can have, have variants on the donation saying we are aligned with this charity. This is join us in our fight. would you like to support? And you can select five, 10, 15, or$20 and they select it and it will actually add a donation product to the cart. And then at the end of the year, you go in your analytics, you run reports on that product, how many sales you did, and you make the donation to the charity.

15:02And it's, it's your customer's money who's making it and you get the receipt. So you get a write off that much of your taxes. That's why every grocery store you go to asks if you want to round up or add a couple dollars because they're getting the tax receipt. And yes, it's a good cause too, but they're getting that they're the ones getting the tax receipt. But the bottom line too, is it makes a huge impact with customers because they are value driven. It's not political. This is just psychological. Value creates emotional resonance and emotional resonance creates repeat behavior and membership and subscription every single month.

15:38And so here's one of the reasons why membership taps directly into the modern buyer brain. Let's tie this all together because this is where it gets powerful. When membership and subscriptions are built well, it's not about the auto ship. That actually is not the point. It's about membership ecosystems. They hit every modern buyer brain trigger. They remove overload. Okay. Okay. Subscriptions, membership, knowing your customer equals fewer decisions. The buyer stops choosing and they start defaulting. This is exactly what an overloaded brain wants to. They deliver personalization automatically.

16:20Recommendations every month, frequencies, upsells, but which are valuable. They're recommendations customized to each member. And if you're, you know, you can do this with, with bold upsellings and subscriptions, You can have a different recommendation every month for different customers. It's not the same for all of them. Depending, you can have a thousand different customers all subscribe to different products, getting different recommendations tailored exactly to what they're subscribed to. This amplifies your connection so much. Another thing about subscriptions and membership, they eliminate friction.

16:54So the easiest brands win, remember? and subscriptions done right. Like true membership is ease on autopilot. That's why members always spend more than one-time buyers, like four times more. Lastly, sorry, two more. They create recognition. So tiers, badges, insider perks, early access generally should be built into a good membership program. So it does that. And they do create alignment. Remember, number five, the modern buyer brain wants alignment. Well, values can very easily be baked into membership, charity, sustainability, community impact, because the subscription becomes a reflection of your customer.

17:37So who they are. So bake it in and it every month reinforces that those values. And this is why subscription brands that do this well, they see four times higher annual spend from members. They see, well, when they do all of this, they see lower churn, they see more referrals, they see multi-year higher LTV curves. It doesn't just go up in the beginning. It continues to go up and they see a fan base instead of a customer base. So subscriptions aren't just a business model. They're a psychological match for the modern buyer brain. So here's my final takeaway. And then I'm going to get into my, my, my challenges for you is design for psychology, not transactions.

18:19So if you want to understand modern commerce, here it is. The brands that win are the ones that understand how the buyer thinks, not just how the buyer buys. So the modern buyer brain, remember, is overloaded. So give them simplicity. They're impatient. So give them personalization. They crave ease. So remove all friction and make it simple. They want recognition. So build in status. They're value driven. So build alignment. Those five things. Subscriptions and membership ecosystems, they're not trends. They're the natural response to a buyer who doesn't want more choices. They want better results.

19:01So build for that brain and you build for and you will build a brand that lasts. And so now here's my challenge to you. Rewire your brand for the modern buyer brain. And I'm going to give you kind of five easy action steps to get started on this. So number one, remove one decision from your buying journey. Look at your buying journey today that a customer has to go through. Maybe there's multiple products that might go together. Maybe there's multiple steps that you can remove. Maybe finding the right product is hard for them. Maybe you can add in a quiz or a product finder and make it easier for them to find the product.

19:38But simplify the path. Can you trim steps? Can you reduce options? Actually, just make the easiest choice, the best choice. So remove one decision from your buying journey. And number two, add one layer of personalization to your, to your membership, your onboarding, your subscription, your, your customer experience, one layer of personalization. Can you recommend a personalized product? Can you tailor some education on the product they purchased through your email flows? Anything you can do, just one bit of personalization. Okay, number three, build one recognition moment. So one moment where a customer feels recognized.

20:22Do your customers feel recognized right now at all? Do they just buy from your store? Or is there anything that makes them feel recognized? If they spend$500, do they unlock something? Do they become a certain type of a customer? Do you have a name for that type of a customer? Do you call them a, it's why when you comment in a Facebook group, the little badge beside your name, most social media, it happens on Reddit, happens everywhere. They always have a badge. Like you're an up and comer. You're a top contributor. You're a rising contributor. Those badges matter. People, the people's brain are wired around them.

21:00so build in one recognition moment it could be a badge that an email that gets triggered after they spend a certain amount it could actually be a membership you can use things like our memberships app that actually unlocks products for them and you can do this automatically based on how much they spend how many times they order what they buy even so if they buy a high ticket certain high ticket items so like say you sell coffee but you want to give them this badge if they buy a coffee maker, but not just the coffee. And you can use tools like our custom pricing app that will actually give unlock VIP pricing.

21:35And it does this automatically. You don't have to do anything. It will trigger an email that goes to them, say, good news. We're so thankful you've spent a hundred dollars or more. You're now a silver customer and you've unlocked 5 % off our entire website. All you have to do is log in and the prices will change. You don't even need to, no coupon codes, nothing. Just log in and you'll get your VIP pricing. When you spend$500, you'll become a gold member. When you spend a thousand, you'll become platinum. Let them know what the next tier they have to hit is. Build in one recognition moment. It can be, like I said, a badge, some kind of a tier, or like you've unlocked this, something.

22:11Just one thing that makes the customer feel special. Number four, communicate your values clearly and authentically. So I know you have values. I know there's things you care about. I know there's probably a ton of good things you're doing. Don't bury them in the footer. Don't put them down below, like really hard, make them hard to find that you donate to some charity, align, make it big, put it, you know what, put it on your thank you page. Have a video from the founder saying, we're so thank you for your purchase. Did you know 5 % of every order actually goes to this charity? And let me tell you why we chose this charity, bring it to the front and let buyers align with you.

22:45Number five, the last one, identify the highest friction part of your experience and eliminate it. So this might involve a little bit of an audit of your buyer journey, but we have blinders on sometimes we don't see the friction and that store that was selling that 3d printer. They probably don't know all that friction that I experienced, but you need to maybe get someone with a fresh set of eyes. Maybe it's not you. Maybe you're watching a customer shop. Maybe you ask five relatives who've never been on your store or friends. Can you case who don't even know about your product. Okay. So like if you sell skincare, don't ask a skincare expert, ask someone who doesn't know anything about skincare.

23:25Like I would be a good example for that. If I'm buying skincare, I have no idea where to start. So ask people to audit your site, just write notes or voice record as they're going through it and then make it, make it easy for them and just give you the voice recording and you listen to it, but identify the highest friction point of your experience and eliminate it. This alone will increase conversions, retention, and satisfaction almost instantly. So that's it. All I want to say is if you do design for the modern buyer brain, everything gets easier. Acquisition gets easier. Retention gets easier.

24:00Referrals get easier. Long-term loyalty gets easier. So if you actually do these, everything gets easier. Okay, that's it for chapter seven. Thanks for listening. Make sure you listen to the next one. Chapter eight, it'll come out tomorrow. And if you didn't catch the earlier ones, make sure you check all that as well too. Thanks so much. We'll see you on the next episode. handle