The Consumer Behavior Handbook
Marketing · Nº 47
The Consumer Behavior Handbook
Why Customers Buy (and Why They Don't)
She picked it up, turned it over, put it back, and left. Nobody asked her why.
24 tools, a spreadsheet, and one store worked through from door to register, so you know why customers buy, why they walk out, and what to change first.
You get 24 tools to see how customers decide, count who leaves without buying and why, bring your regulars back at the right time, and set up your shelves and website on purpose. Plus a 7-tab spreadsheet, already filled in with the example.
A book explains the method. This handbook puts it to work: the tool, a worked example, and a spreadsheet with your numbers.
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Saturday, mid-afternoon. A customer walks in, heads for the perfume wall, tests two, asks the price of one, and leaves with a polite smile. Then another. You redo the window, run a promotion, rearrange a shelf. Sales move a little, or they don't, and you can't say which change did what. Meanwhile the regular who came in every month has quietly stopped coming, and nobody noticed.
THE SPREADSHEET
Customer behavior spreadsheet
Use the completed example as a reference and enter your business data in the marked fields. Check the instructions and the calculations before you make a decision.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Three situations this handbook solves
A slow Tuesday, and you want to know why
Instead of guessing, you start the door count: visitors, sales, and a tally mark next to the reason each time someone leaves without buying. Two weeks later you know whether the problem is price, a product they couldn't find, or something else.
The shelf that everyone looks at and nobody buys from
You check how many options are on it, how they're grouped, and what sits at eye level. You trim it, regroup it by need, and compare the following weeks against similar ones before you call it a win.
Your customer list, and no idea who to call
You sort your customers by how recently they bought, how often, and how much. Now you know who has gone quiet, who's due for a refill, and who gets a reminder this week. Reminders go only to people who agreed to hear from you.
INSIDE
What you'll find in each tool
Five parts. How customers decide, from need to repurchase. Why they don't buy: too much choice, the pain of paying, the fear of getting it wrong. Habits, replenishment, gifts, and the people who shop with them. How the shelf, the path through the store, and the website shape the choice. And how to watch, ask, read your sales data, and test one change at a time. Every tool has a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything included in your purchase
- The Consumer Behavior Handbook in PDF: 24 tools, each with a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise
- The customer behavior spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets, with 7 tabs, filled in with the example store
- The Template kit: 16 ready-to-adapt texts, sheets, and scripts, from the register question to the message for lapsed customers
- 2 worksheets to fill in (walkout count and customer portrait) and a 30-day plan laid out week by week
- Access to your handbook on the Consylion platform
Full table of contents
The 24 tools, in the order you'll use them
Part 1 · Part 1 · How customers decide
- 01The stages of the buying decisionFrom need to repurchase, and the exact stage where your sale gets lost
- 02Planned purchases and impulse purchasesWhat customers walk in already decided on, and what they decide in the aisle
- 03How much customers think before they buyWhy perfume and soap need completely different service
- 04How customers compareThe quick rules shoppers use to cut options down to one
Part 2 · Part 2 · Why customers don't buy
- 05The reasons for not buyingCount who leaves empty-handed and find the reason that costs you the most
- 06Too much choiceWhen a packed shelf stalls the decision, and how to trim it
- 07The pain of payingHow the way people pay, and store credit, changes the decision
- 08The fear of buying the wrong thingThe risks customers see, and what the store can do about each one
Part 3 · Part 3 · Habits, repeat buying, and occasions
- 09The buying habitWhy regulars come back without thinking, and what breaks the habit
- 10The replenishment cycleWhen the product runs out, and the right day to send a reminder
- 11Life changesA wedding, a baby, a new home: the moments customers switch stores
- 12Buying a giftPeople buying for someone else decide differently, and need different help
- 13Shopping companionsHow a friend, a husband, or a daughter can help or sink the sale
Part 4 · Part 4 · Shaping the choice
- 14Choice architectureOrder, defaults, and emphasis: how you display things changes what gets picked
- 15The customer's path through the storeFrom the door to the register: where people stop, where they walk past, what to move
- 16Shelf height and adjacencyWhat goes at eye level, and what belongs next to what
- 17Try before you buyTesters and samples, and when touch is what closes the sale
- 18The website storefrontFilters, sorting, and photos that let customers find and choose without help
Part 5 · Part 5 · Listening to customers and reading the numbers
- 19Watching customers in the storeOne hour of observation shows what customers never tell you
- 20Customer interviewsAsk about the last purchase, never about what they would do
- 21Reading your sales dataOrder value, items per sale, and what sells together at your register
- 22Recency, frequency, and valueWho buys all the time, who vanished, and who should hear from you today
- 23Testing in-store changesChange one thing, compare similar weeks, and decide by the numbers
- 24The one-page customer portraitYour store's buying profiles on one page your team can actually use
Who it's for
It's for you if
- You sell to consumers, in a store or online, and too many people leave without buying
- You set up the window, the shelves, and your promotions by gut feel and want clear criteria
- You want to know who keeps coming back, who quietly disappeared, and when to remind each one
- You change things in the store and want to know whether the change actually worked
- You want a method that runs on counting, watching, and asking, with no research budget
It's not for you if
- You want the principles of influence for conversations and ads. That's The Persuasion Handbook
- You need to build your offer or set your prices. Start with The Offer Handbook or The Product Pricing Handbook
- You're looking for lab-grade neuromarketing. This is for small stores, with a tally sheet and a spreadsheet
- You want a promise of more sales. This handbook helps you understand your customers and measure each change
Frequently asked questions
I don't sell cosmetics. Will this work for my store?
Yes. The example is a cosmetics and perfume store, but every tool shows how it applies to services, retail, manufacturing and distribution, and independent professionals. The questions are the same: how customers decide, why they leave, and what brings them back.
I only sell online. Is this for me?
Yes. The buying stages, the reasons for not buying, habits, and sales data work the same way. The store layout becomes your website storefront, with its own tool for filters, sorting, and photos.
My store is small. Won't my numbers be too small to mean anything?
That's why the counts run for two weeks and a test runs for eight. The handbook shows you how to trust only the differences bigger than your store's normal ups and downs, so you don't chase noise.
Isn't this just a way to manipulate customers?
No. The point is to help customers find what's right for them, faster. The handbook draws the line: a nudge that only benefits the store breeds distrust. For more on where that line sits, it points you to The Persuasion Handbook.
How much time does this take?
About 2 hours and 24 minutes of reading, or 6 minutes per tool, plus the exercises. The day's count takes a couple of minutes at closing time; the rest goes into the spreadsheet once a week.
What do I get, and in what formats?
Each handbook is a PDF of about 100 pages with 24 to 27 tools. Every tool has step-by-step instructions and a worked example. You also get the handbook's spreadsheet in Excel (.xlsx), which opens in Google Sheets too, with the example already filled in. The message, policy, and clause templates are in the Template Kit inside the PDF, ready to copy and adapt. Read it in the member area or download the files.
How do I know if it fits my business?
Each handbook's page shows the problem it solves, who it is for and who it is not for, the full table of contents, sample pages, and the company used in the examples. The examples come from small businesses in several industries, with illustrative numbers. If it is not a fit, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days of your purchase, as described in the Refund Policy.
What is the difference between a handbook, an area set, and the Series?
A handbook solves one problem. An area set brings together every handbook and spreadsheet in one of the 6 areas, for less than the price of 5 single handbooks. The Consylion Handbook Series brings together all 100 handbooks and 100 spreadsheets, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks, and includes the next handbooks in the Series. Products outside the Series, from Consylion Life or Consylion Business, have their own price. They are sold separately and are not part of an area set or the Series.
Do I need to read everything before I start?
No. Each tool works on its own. Open the table of contents, pick the tool for today's problem, and start there. You can also read it cover to cover.
Do I need to know Excel?
The basics are enough: open the file and fill in the marked fields. The formulas are already built, and the handbook's example is filled in for reference.
How do I pay, and when do I get access?
By card or bank transfer, as a one-time payment with no subscription. Once your payment is confirmed, you get access to the member area by email. Approved card payments are confirmed right away. Bank transfers are confirmed when the funds clear. If access does not arrive within 24 hours of confirmation, check your spam folder and write to team@consylion.org.
How long do I have access, and how can I use the files?
Access does not expire, and you can download the files for offline use. The license is individual. You may read the handbooks, print them for your own use, and fill in and adapt the spreadsheet and templates with your company's data. If you are a consultant, accountant, or manager, you may apply the tools with your clients and deliver the result of your work, not the files. You may not share, resell, or distribute the files or the access.
How do support and refunds work?
Support is by email at team@consylion.org, on business days, with a reply within 5 business days. It covers questions about access, files, and payment. It does not include consulting or advice on applying the material to your case. You can cancel within 14 days of your purchase, without giving a reason, and get the full amount back through the payment method you used. Send the request to the same email. The details are in the Refund Policy.
CONSYLION HANDBOOK SERIES
The 6 departments of your business, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks.
This handbook solves today's problem. The Series solves the next one, and the one after that, with nothing more to pay.
- 100 handbooks with 2,403 ready-made tools, to read on screen and download as PDFs
- 100 spreadsheets for Excel and Google Sheets
- 6 business areas
- Lifetime access, unlocked once payment is confirmed
One-time payment of $197.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Marketing · Nº 47
Stop arranging your store by guesswork
Your customers are already telling you why they buy and why they walk out. They just aren't saying it out loud. This handbook gives you the tools, the spreadsheet, and a worked example to count it, see it, and change one thing at a time, knowing what each change did.
See all 100 handbooks · $197.00
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.