We often make assumptions about why a customer may or may not purchase a product. But this assumption may be incorrect. There are many reasons why someone doesn't purchase related to money, self-perception, emotions, and more. The catch is that a customer probably won't tell you the truth for various reasons. You'll need to figure that out and piece together a reason from metrics and more.

An excerpt from the article:
"No one can be forced to buy anything. People often will abandon a sale for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with the item being sold.

How many times have you abandoned a purchase for a reason that had nothing to do with a product?
-- You got busy with something else and simply forgot to purchase.
-- It was too difficult to buy something online so you bailed on it.
-- You couldn't get to the store in time, so you gave up.
-- You just didn't want to cut something out of your life to afford a new car or trip.
-- Your team decided to spend money to do something else.
-- You got paid three days after a sale and just didn't have the money on-hand at the time.
-- Yes - the reasons not to buy something can be THAT SIMPLE.

We never tell these reasons to a sales person, though, because it is embarrassing. We lie to make ourselve sound better. We don't want people to know we don't have the money or faulty memories or whatever. So sales tells marketing the lies and we all believe those lies to be true.

If we are real with ourselves, we know those aren't the true reasons. The true reasons have NOTHING to do with the product. They have to do with the buyer and his personal situation.

So what does it mean to paint a picture for someone about what life would be like after purchasing an object? Marketers reach to content marketing to solve that.

And yes - content marketing can influence a buyer and fill-in blanks. However, the key to selling is finding that one outlook change that will push someone over the edge to buy. This changes from person to person, company to company. It could be money, prestige, group thinking. It's up to marketing and sales to figure out what that is."