Does our income level really feed happiness? According to a study by Princeton University researchers, the answer is yes, up until a point. Researchers found that the benchmark for happiness, in regard to day-to-day contentment with life, tends to sit at an average 75K (give or take a few thousand based on where you live). While many can rest assured that life’s daily struggles become less burdensome at that income level, for many, that range just isn’t the reality.
While financial and economic stability continues to be a hot topic of conversation, a recent article in The Atlantic, titled “The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans” shed a startling spotlight on a pervasive, but less talked about issue. According to the article, nearly half of Americans’ wouldn’t be able to come up with $400 in an emergency. In fact, 47% of respondents said that they would cover the expenses by borrowing or selling something or they would either not be able to come up with $400 at all. That statistic is worthy of pause.
While it’s nice to dream of that 75K benchmark, the median income of the average American household is about 52K per year. If we put ourselves in our shoppers’ shoes, how do we ensure that our product is the one they choose? How do we convince them that ours is the one they should buy, each and every time? We need to be empathetic. We need to be cognizant to the fact that money is tight and in order to be worth the buy, we need to not just be value-driven, but provide an added value.
We need to be worth the price.
ImageSource: TheAtlantic
