How Can We Capture the Unconscious Needs and Motivations of Customers?

Philip Kotler writes in Principles of Marketing: Every individual has multiple needs at any given moment, but having a need does not necessarily lead a person to seek out our product or service.

🔹 In fact, a need motivates a person to buy only when it turns into a drive. A drive is an intense need that pushes a person to find a way to satisfy it.

🔹 Psychologists have proposed various theories to explain human motivation. Two of the most influential ones are Freud’s theory and Maslow’s theory, each with different applications in marketing.

🔹 Freud believed that people are often unaware of the real motives shaping their behavior. He argued that as people grow older, they suppress more of their desires—but these desires never fully disappear. Instead, they reveal themselves through dreams, slips of the tongue, nervous or aggressive behaviors, and psychological disorders.

🔹 According to Freud’s theory, every purchasing decision is influenced by unconscious motives—motives that the individual may not even be aware of.

🔹 For example, an older person buying a sporty BMW may simply be expressing an unconscious desire to show others that they still feel young at heart.

🔹 In contrast, Maslow sought to explain why people are motivated by certain needs at specific times. He tried to answer questions such as: Why is one person focused on personal safety while another seeks social approval?

🔹 Maslow’s answer is that human needs follow a hierarchy. According to him, the main categories of needs are: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self‑actualization needs.

🔹 Based on Maslow’s theory, a person first tries to satisfy their most urgent and intense need. Once that need is fulfilled, it no longer motivates behavior, and the person moves on to the next most important need.

🔹 For example, a hungry person (with a strong physiological need) will show no interest in a great work of art (which satisfies a self‑actualization need). But once the urgent need is satisfied, the next significant need emerges.

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