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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Affiliate Marketing

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Operational CRM

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Data Appending

Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.

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Objection Handling in Sales

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Lead Generation

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Data Security

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

Data Security

Marketing Automation Platform

A marketing automation platform is software that automates marketing actions. It helps manage tasks like email campaigns and lead nurturing.

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Lead Generation Funnel

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End of Quarter

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Triggers

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Triggers

Headless CMS

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Headless CMS

Lookalike Audiences

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Warm Outreach

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Mobile Compatibility

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Expansion Revenue

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Sales Calls

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Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

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Generic Keywords

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Website Visitor Tracking

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Website Visitor Tracking

Lead Qualification Process

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Order Management

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Closed Lost

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Shipping Solutions

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Ideal Customer Profile

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GDPR Compliance

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Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

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De-dupe

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Demand Generation Framework

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Key Accounts

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NoSQL

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Talk Track

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End of Day

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Cold Email

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Sales Engineer

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Contact Data

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Salesforce Administrator

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Custom API integration

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Cross-Selling

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Simple Object Access Protocol Application Programming Interface

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LinkedIn Sales Navigator

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Request for Information

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Lead Enrichment Tools

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Sales Objections

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Behavioral Analytics

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Applicant Tracking System

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B2B Data Enrichment

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Microservices

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Awareness Buying Stage

The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.

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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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Video Selling

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Process Builder

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Ramp Up Time

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Account-Based Everything

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Sales Prospecting Software

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Firmographics

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Accounts Payable

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Accounts Payable

Email Verification

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Network Monitoring

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Direct Sales

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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.

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Landing Pages

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Employee Engagement

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Employee Engagement

Webhooks

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Account Executive

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Scrum

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Sales Development

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Sales Development

Consumer

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Consumer

B2B Intent Data Providers

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Lead Enrichment

Lead enrichment adds third-party data to your raw lead lists, creating fuller prospect profiles for more effective and personalized outreach.

Lead Enrichment

Account Mapping

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System of Record

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System of Record

Site Retargeting

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Account-Based Marketing

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Buying Signal

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Personalization in Sales

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Personalization in Sales

Hadoop

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Messaging Strategy

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Customer Centricity

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CRM Integration

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CRM Integration

Feature Flags

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Sales Enablement Technology

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Application Performance Management

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Point of Contact

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Point of Contact

SAM

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

SAM

Account-Based Selling

Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.

Account-Based Selling

SEO

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Firmographic Data

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Cohort Analysis

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Dark Funnel

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Predictive Lead Generation

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Copyright Compliance

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Integration Testing

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B2C2B

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

B2C2B

Buying Committee

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Audience Targeting

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Audience Targeting