Know-How Exchange : Customer Behavior

Simple stuff...

Where are you going to hang it.

What catches your eye first

Who, of your friends, will like it most and why?

Honestly, you don't really need that input...from one person...but take it if you want. You can ask people at any art gallery what they like.....about stuff that's similar to yours

Michael

Assuming you plan to conduct this kind of research across all purchasers of your work, you want to know about their other purchase habits, their lifestyle, where they take vacations, what other art (and artists) they like, what restaurants they frequent, education level, hobbies, etc.

Ideally what you'd like to gather is this kind of information not only about purchasers of YOUR work but also about non-purchasers (who seriously consider) and purchasers of other works by similar artists.

Unfortunately, you are unlikely to ever get a large enough sample to be really meaningful, unless and until you are very old and have sold hundreds or thousands of paintings. And you will need a large database of respondents (including those who have purchased other works and who have opted not to purchase yours) before you can really draw hard conclusions about your target audience.

Maybe it's better to simply collect some in-depth qualitative information and ask the obvious questions about what they like/dislike, where they're going to display the painting, what other art they have, and some very simple lifestyle questions. You can make an educated guess about what the critical factors are in targeting your advertising. That's certainly better than doing nothing at all. You're not selling toothpaste or laundry detergent, where you have a large pool of users and non-users.

Art and entertainment don't lend themselves to the same kind of quantitative analysis that we typically use in, say, consumer packaged goods. That doesn't mean you can't borrow some ideas, but don't expect the same kind of hard data on which to base your marketing plans.

Good luck. Do you have a website with images of your work? If so, would you be willing to share the URL with us?

Asking questions of one buyer will NOT give you a profile of future buyers. You could end up focusing on a niche that is not your best market. You need a much larger sample group.

To find out what motivates people to buy your art, you need to discover what motivates a large group of people to buy art in general, then focus more narrowly on similar artists and find out why people buy that particular type of art: what they will do with it, what motivates them to make that purchase (is it an investment, a way to show off their good taste, something to complement a collection, simply a piece to go on the wall?), what their demographic profile is, and what other pieces they own.

My question to you would be why you think you need this data base? To what point? To say "I have several clients who love my colors" "Most buyers hang my pieces in their offices" "Many of my pieces have sold because I use abstract images"........ The person bought your piece because it appealed to them..... Simple, no Frued involved..... what would be the point to delve deeper.

When I buy a piece of artwork, a piece of hand crafted jewelry, I don't care at all why the person before me bought something.... I am me- who bought what doesn't influence me.

Jeffrey, have faith and belief in your artwork and move from there. My sister is a photographer as well as a fine print artist, while she is loves the fact that some of her pieces hang in private collections, others in public places and a few in people's living rooms- it doesn't change her as an artist or what she does. If she told someone that one of her pieces was in the private collection of ____________ would that make her other pieces sell more?

Take pride in your art. If you find that a certain STYLE or IMAGE doesn't sell at ALL that is more important. What sells- are you happy with the sales or happy with the pieces? If you are creating art for art, for your enjoyment and others-- just keep doing it. Certainly when you have an exhibit and a local reporter covers your showing, that review would be worth sharing with people, even putting it in your album on the table in the gallery you show you........

enjoy your gift........