Terms

Buyer’s Remorse

Buyer’s remorse is the feeling of regret, anxiety, or guilt that can arise after making a purchase. While often associated with significant investments like a house or car, this feeling can also surface after smaller, everyday buys. This post-purchase anxiety is a form of cognitive dissonance, where the reality of the purchase conflicts with a person's expectations or other potential choices.

Causes of Buyer's Remorse

This post-purchase anxiety is often rooted in cognitive dissonance, where you second-guess your decision. It's frequently triggered by impulse buys or the 'paradox of choice'—worrying a better option existed. A lack of research before buying can also lead to regret.

High-commitment purchases, like cars or homes, are common culprits due to the high stakes. Social pressure and unexpected costs can further fuel these feelings of doubt. Spending more than budgeted or discovering hidden fees intensifies the post-purchase strain.

Psychological Impact

Buyer's remorse is a form of cognitive dissonance that creates significant psychological discomfort. This internal conflict between your expectations and the reality of the purchase can trigger a cascade of negative emotions, from mild regret to severe anxiety. The experience often leaves you questioning not just the purchase, but your own judgment.

  • Regret: A persistent feeling that you made the wrong choice or missed a better opportunity.
  • Anxiety: Stress over the financial impact or the finality of the decision.
  • Dissonance: The mental discomfort arising from conflicting thoughts about the purchase.
  • Self-doubt: Questioning your own judgment and ability to make good decisions.

Buyer’s Remorse vs. Cognitive Dissonance

While related, buyer's remorse and cognitive dissonance are distinct concepts with different implications for businesses.

  • Buyer’s Remorse: This is the specific feeling of regret following a purchase. While it can be a learning experience for consumers, it represents a negative outcome for companies. Enterprises work to mitigate it to reduce returns and dissatisfaction, especially after high-commitment sales, by improving the post-purchase experience.
  • Cognitive Dissonance: This is a broader psychological discomfort from any conflicting beliefs or actions, with buyer's remorse being one example. Understanding this allows companies to proactively design marketing and support that reassures customers, resolves their internal conflict favorably, and builds long-term brand loyalty.

Strategies to Overcome

This is how you can tackle feelings of post-purchase regret.

  1. Re-evaluate the purchase. Focus on the positive aspects and the reasons you originally wanted the item.
  2. Check the return policy. If the item isn't a good fit, returning it is the most straightforward solution.
  3. Stop browsing for alternatives. Continuing to look at other options will only amplify your feelings of doubt.
  4. Talk it over with someone you trust. A different perspective can help validate your decision or clarify your feelings.

Real-Life Examples

Buyer's remorse often strikes after significant life purchases, but it can also appear with smaller, everyday buys. The feeling is common across various scenarios where commitment and cost are high, leaving you to second-guess your decision.

  • Real Estate: Feeling anxious after buying a home, especially when unexpected repairs or maintenance costs arise.
  • Vehicles: Regretting a new car purchase after finding a better deal or realizing the monthly payments are too high.
  • Electronics: Second-guessing a new smartphone purchase when a newer model is announced shortly after.

Frequently Asked Questions about Buyer’s Remorse

How does buyer’s remorse impact customer lifetime value (CLV)?

It can significantly lower CLV by leading to returns, negative reviews, and brand distrust. A poor post-purchase experience discourages repeat business and erodes long-term loyalty, making it a critical metric for retention-focused teams to address.

What's the most effective way for B2B companies to prevent buyer's remorse?

Proactive onboarding and consistent communication are key. Reinforcing the value proposition post-sale with dedicated support, clear implementation roadmaps, and early success stories helps validate the customer's significant investment and builds confidence.

Is buyer’s remorse more common with online or in-store purchases?

It's more prevalent online due to the inability to physically inspect products, leading to a gap between expectation and reality. Easy returns can mitigate this, but the initial disconnect often triggers higher rates of post-purchase regret compared to in-person transactions.

Other terms

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Account-Based Everything

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Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

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Marketing Mix

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Behavioral Analytics

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Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

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Dark Funnel

The Dark Funnel describes customer buying activities that are untrackable by companies, such as private chats and word-of-mouth referrals.

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Lead List

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Gamification

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HubSpot

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Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.

Employee Engagement

Sales Acceleration

Sales acceleration refers to strategies and technologies designed to speed up the sales cycle, enabling reps to close more deals, faster.

Sales Acceleration

Sales Territory

A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.

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Buying Signal

A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.

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AI Sales Script Generator

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Talk Track

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Account Development Representative

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B2B Data

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Cold Email

A cold email is an initial outreach sent to a potential customer with whom you've had no prior contact, aiming to introduce your business.

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Account Mapping

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Account Mapping

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

Target Account List

A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.

Target Account List

Sales Enablement Technology

Sales enablement technology refers to software and tools that equip sales teams with the resources they need to close more deals efficiently.

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Data Security

Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.

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Objection Handling

Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.

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Revenue Intelligence

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Revenue Intelligence

Shipping Solutions

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Firmographics

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Predictive Lead Generation

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Expansion Revenue

Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.

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Closed Lost

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Closed Lost

Event Marketing

Event marketing is a strategy where brands engage directly with target audiences through live events like trade shows, conferences, or webinars.

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Docker

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Marketing Qualified Opportunity

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Process Builder

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Process Builder

Consultative Selling

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Product Recommendations

Product recommendations are a marketing strategy that uses customer data to suggest relevant products, boosting sales and customer engagement.

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Sales Partnerships

Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.

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Account Executive

An Account Executive (AE) is a sales professional responsible for closing new business deals and managing existing client relationships to drive revenue.

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B2C2B

Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.

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Programmatic Advertising

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Closed Won

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Contact Discovery

Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.

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De-dupe

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De-dupe

GTM

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is an action plan that outlines how a company will reach target customers and achieve a competitive advantage.

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Feature Flags

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B2B Data Erosion

Learn about B2B data erosion, including causes of B2B data decay, strategies to combat data erosion, & measuring the impact of data erosion.

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Inside Sales

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Inside Sales

Sales Prospecting Software

Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.

Sales Prospecting Software

Account-Based Sales Development

Account-Based Sales Development (ABSD) is a focused strategy where SDRs target key stakeholders within specific, high-value accounts.

Account-Based Sales Development

Applicant Tracking System

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.

Applicant Tracking System

Sales Coach

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Logo Retention

Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.

Logo Retention

Use Case

A use case is a detailed description of how a user interacts with a system to achieve a specific goal, outlining the steps from start to finish.

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Psychographics

Psychographics categorizes people by their attitudes, interests, and lifestyles, revealing the 'why' behind their purchasing decisions.

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Persona Map

A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.

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Sales Kickoff

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User-generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) refers to any form of content, like images, videos, or text, created and shared by users on online platforms.

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Intent Data

Intent data tracks a user's online behavior—like searches and site visits—to identify signals that they are ready to make a purchase.

Intent Data

Enrichment

Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.

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Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

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Retargeting Marketing

Retargeting marketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or brand online.

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Cold Emailing

Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.

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Website Visitor Tracking

Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.

Website Visitor Tracking

AI Data Enrichment

AI data enrichment uses artificial intelligence to automatically enhance and update raw data, making it more complete, accurate, and valuable.

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Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

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Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

Rollback Procedures

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Rollback Procedures

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

NoSQL

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Email Personalization

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Voice Broadcasting

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Voice Broadcasting

SAM

Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.

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Load Testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Load Testing

Sales Methodology

A sales methodology is the framework that guides how your sales team approaches the entire sales process, from prospecting to closing deals.

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GDPR Compliance

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GDPR Compliance

Programmatic Display Campaign

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Programmatic Display Campaign

System of Record

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System of Record

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a digital strategy where businesses send targeted emails to prospects and customers to build relationships and drive sales.

Email Marketing

Bottom of the Funnel

Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.

Bottom of the Funnel

Sales Automation

Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.

Sales Automation

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Integration Testing

Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.

Integration Testing

Warm Outbound

Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.

Warm Outbound

Sales Dashboard

A sales dashboard is a visual tool that centralizes and displays key sales data, metrics, and KPIs to help teams track performance and goals.

Sales Dashboard

Net New Business

Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.

Net New Business

B2B Intent Data

Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.

B2B Intent Data

Sales Metrics

Sales metrics are quantifiable data points that track and measure a sales team's performance against specific goals and objectives.

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Customer Centricity

Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.

Customer Centricity

Closed Opportunities

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Closed Opportunities

CRM Integration

CRM integration connects your CRM software with other tools, creating a unified system for all your customer data and business processes.

CRM Integration

White Label

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White Label

Average Revenue per User

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Average Revenue per User

Canary Releases

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Contact Data

Contact data is the set of details, like names, emails, and phone numbers, used to get in touch with a person or business for outreach.

Contact Data

Persona-Based Marketing

Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.

Persona-Based Marketing

Buying Committee

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Buying Committee

Account-Based Marketing

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.

Account-Based Marketing

Sales Development Representative (SDR)

A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales specialist who finds and qualifies new leads, building a pipeline for the sales team.

Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Single Page Applications

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Single Page Applications

Elevator Pitch

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Elevator Pitch

Key Accounts

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Key Accounts