A Detailed Insight Into The Buyer’s Journey and How It Will Help Your Business Thrive

 

If you have a business or have come in contact with marketing in any way, you’ve probably heard that term.

The Buyers Journey, and how it can help improve your business; let’s dissect it. 

 

The buyer’s journey is something that every business should consider. Just like your buyer personas, it is unique to your company. 

According to the Inbound Methodology, your customer is the most valuable thing you have as a business. So you should aim to delight your customer and make sure they have the absolute best possible experience with your company.

This way, your clients will absolutely love your company, become raving fans of your brand and spread the word. Word of mouth is the best kind of advertising you can have.

 

Determining your Buyer’s journey will help you provide that perfect experience; let’s look into it.

 

The different stages of the buyer’s journey

 

Like every journey, it has its phases and moments of decision making. 

This journey has two sides, the buyer’s perspective and actions, and your actions in response.

 

The Journey starts with the person becoming aware that they have a problem or a need for something. It will then follow their actions and touchpoints with your business. Think about the ways they find you, and why do they choose you?

 

Let’s dissect all these stages one by one.

 

Buyer’s Journey First Stage – The Awareness Stage

 

Customer – This is where the customer is becoming aware of their wish or need and starts keeping their eyes open for a solution. This may include a few quick Google searches.

 

You – Create content that focuses on the problem and its pain points. This way, the customer will relate to your content as he/she is still thinking about the problem as well.  For the prospective customer to find you, you will need to make sure your content is relevant and out there for them to find. 

 

Awareness campaigns and a social media presence are simple ways that will help you get noticed in the awareness stage. The easiest way to be found is through search engines, so by improving your SEO you will become a strong competitor in your marketplace.
Get in touch if you think we can help you get started with any of these elements. Perhaps a website audit is a good place to start.

 

Buyer’s Journey Second Stage – The Consideration Stage

 

Customer – Now they get more interested in finding a solution. Much more active Googling is taking place. They are learning about solutions and taking note of suitable brands.

 

You – Now it’s time to focus on providing the solutions your prospective customers are looking for. Create some content that explains how your product is solving the problem and how it is the best solution. This material can present as a video, a webinar, a beautiful eBrochure, a White paper, or a product review.

 

Buyer’s Journey Third Stage – The Decision Stage

 

Customer – The prospective customer is now comparing and evaluating different products. They now become more willing to engage your sales team.

 

You – Show your prospective customer what it is like to work with you or your product and explain how the process works. Video recordings, live demos, datasheets, free trials, FAQ pages, and case studies are all great content to use in this stage. Have your sales team ready and ensure they have all the answers prepared.

Often the prospective customer will have signed up on a website for more information by this time, so an automated EDM focused on the consideration stage would work great as well. 

 

Buyer’s Journey Stage Four – Purchase

 

Customer – The prospective customer is now committing to one option. They have done enough research and feel confident in their choice.

 

You – Make the process as easy as possible; this also validates that they have made the right decision. The scenario is a bit different depending on whether you are selling a product or service, but the primary key is to show that you are trustworthy and things are in motion. 

If they bought a product, give them some peace of mind and confirm with them that the item is on the way and show how they can track it. If it’s a service, begin the onboarding process and implementation of the service phase.

 

Buyer’s Journey Stage Five – Post Purchase

 

Customer – Expects good service and product performance. May become an advocate to your brand, so this is not the time to forget about your customer.

 

You – Keep learning and building customer loyalty through advocacy programs and customer reviews. Check-in with them, using emails, phone calls, newsletters or any other suitable methods. 

 

Buyer’s Journey Stage Six – Re-Purchase 

 

Customer – May become interested in your other products or services.

 

You – Keep in touch and look for opportunities to upgrade or expand product use, or introduce new products.

 

How to make a start at optimizing your buyer’s journey?  

 

This concept can be overwhelming at first, it will make it a lot easier if you can visualise it. Use our Buyer’s Journey template to map out your company’s buyer’s journey. 

You will need to have all the stages outlined in the template or spreadsheet that you choose to use for this. Then, add in all the touchpoints you have for each step by specifying how the prospective customer comes in contact with your company in each of the stages.

Make sure you have content and strategies to address each stage, the problems, the solutions and the details on using your product.

 

Once you have done that, take a step back and analyse:

Is there something missing? 

What kind of experience is it for the potential customer? 

Where can you improve that experience or increase your exposure?

 

The next step would be to apply some conversion paths to your Journey. Think of this as giving them a little push to move from one stage to the next with ease. You are helping them along your sales funnel, increasing their chances of making it to the end and becoming your advocates.

 

Click through, If you are interested to learn about conversion paths, more about digital marketing, or working with agencies.

Who are we?

 

MMR is a Melbourne based Creative Agency, focusing on problem-solving in different areas. We specialise in graphic design, digital, marketing, SEO and Data Cleaning.

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