Customers these days are empowered by the emergence of search engines and other social media channels.
Buyers are now actively searching and understanding their problems first before going ahead with any purchasing decisions.
The balance has now been shifted from cold calls by sales reps to customers searching for their everyday problems hoping to find solutions along the way.
Customers now research all the possible solutions available to them before agreeing to go with a particular brand or not.
They always want to know that they’re going with the right decision every time they want to make a purchase.
As a business, meeting your buyer’s needs along these paths of their research is what makes them love & choose you over other brands.
Say you own a plant nursery business, and you make content about“plant nursery best practices”,not only do you tell the readers you are an authority in your domain, but you also provide relevant information that may help them in future purchasing decisions.
A buyer’s journey will give you an insight into your buyer’s psychology, how to meet their needs and what to do to convert them to long-lasting customers.
What is the buyer’s Journey?
The buyers’ journey is a series of stages a prospect goes through before they become a customer of your brand.
Before a customer buys something from you, they research the problem they have, compare possible solutions available, and finally go for with brand because they have accepted you can help them with their need.
In summary, Customers becomeaware of their problem,consider their options availableandfinally decide to go ahead with a purchase.
Understanding what your prospects need at what stage they are in their respective journeys will help you brainstorm and come up with content ideas that will influence their thinking, making them choose you over other brands during their decision stage.
What are the stages involved in the buyer’s Journey?
The stages involved in a customer buyer’s journey are;The Awareness Stage, the Consideration Stage, and the Decision Stage.
During each stage, a customer/ prospect may want content that has answers to that particular issue they are facing.
A business that presents the most relevant information always wins the heart of prospects and in the process becomes a long-lasting customer of that particular brand.
Awareness Stage (Customers are Actively researching)
Usually, when customers are in this stage, they have identified a problem or an issue and they don’t know how to fix it.
As a business, you don’t want to be selling solutions to customers at this stage because they have not fully identified their problems.
A business would want to position itself as a resource to customers at this stage because they do not necessarily want to buy, they want answers that will help them to fully be “aware” of the problem their facing.
What is the customer looking for at the Awareness stage?
A customer is looking for comprehensive guides that will spell out their issue and give it a name. Their search queries are usually broad because they haven’t fully given a name to their problem.
An example of a search query by a customer in the awareness stage could be:“I have annoying pimples on my face when I woke up from bed”.
Consideration Stage (Evaluating possible solutions)
A customer is usually in the consideration stage when he has given a name to his problem and is comparing possible solutions available from your brand and other businesses like yours.
What is the customer looking for at the Consideration stage?
Customers in this stage are actively comparing, reading customer testimonials & reviews, or watching videos to see which brand convinces them to take an action.
Customers can be given free eBooks, templates, webinars, and guides, to help them look at your business’s value proposition, compared to others like yours. Your main focus on customers at this stage is to build trust for future relationships.
A typical search query in this stage is“Homemade remedies to treat acne”.
Decision Stage (Decided)
At the Decision stage, the customer has settled and explored all the possible solutions available to them. They have sorted and made a small list of what they are getting from each business; the advantages and disadvantages of the products/ services they select.
They have now chosen to make a purchasing decision with your business, now it’s up to you to guide them with content that will make their decisions concrete.
What is the customer looking for at the Decision stage?
As a business, this is where you let customers in on all the goodies you have to offer. Free trials, free consultations, demo videos, flash sales, etc. are some offers you can use to influence customers’ purchasing decisions
The buyer’s search intent is more specific this time: “Lin cosmetics homemade acne remover”.
Why is it important to understand the Customer’s Buying Journey?
When you understand your business buyers’ journey you can map out customer pain points that signal intentional actions from your brand in a way to be more helpful, relevant, and targeted to your customers.
You can know your customer’s pain points by bringing solutions that will be helpful to them.
Generally, You avoid mistakes like selling to people who just discovered their problem or people who are vigorously comparing available solutions.
Conclusions
Many businesses are focusing on reaching out to customers in the decision stages of their buying journey which is a very congested space out there for businesses.
Getting into the psychology of your buyers first will not only make them choose you over other brands but will make them valuable customers for your business.
Focus on creating content around the awareness and consideration stages for your business; after all, 96% of website visitors are not even in the decision stages of their buying journey.
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