Lesson 07: Customer Psychology
Why people buy what they buy — how Febreze failed by solving a problem nobody could smell, then won by selling a feeling.
Written for Axiom Pathways.
Febreze’s 1996 launch flopped because it targeted people who couldn’t perceive their own household odors — the actual breakthrough came when P&G noticed people felt satisfaction after cleaning, and repositioned the product as a reward for finishing chores rather than an odor eliminator, doubling sales within two months. The piece uses that turnaround alongside Gallup and Harvard Business School research (estimates that 70–95% of purchasing decisions are emotionally driven) to argue that customers buy feelings and rationalize afterward, and offers two questions every marketer should ask: what emotion is being solved, and how does the customer feel after using the product.