The traditional take on the purchase cycle funnel has a lot of fancy words that are meant to describe the behaviors a consumer goes through when in the market for something. It goes something like this.
Awareness ⇒ Consideration ⇒ Preference ⇒ Selection ⇒ Purchase
Now for the sake of comparison, let’s see it in action.
Let’s say that a dude is in the market for a gift to reward himself for a strong year at work. He knows he wants something nice, but not too extravagant. After weighing some options and talking with his circle of friends, he decides on a fancy new timepiece. This isn’t an impulse purchase by any means. He’s been thinking about it for a while but he’s not familiar with the styles, types, brands, or why a Rolex costs more than a Seiko besides for the fact that it’s got a reputation. He’s seen some ads on TV with Tiger Woods sporting a Tag Heuer and has flipped through the pages of the Dupont Registry a few times where he’s seen plenty of watch ads but doesn’t remember much about them. He starts out by examining the choices out there, starting with increasing his awareness of the brands by walking into a couple of different stores in the mall.
He tries Mayors, a couple department stores, and finally stumbles into Tourneau and tells the sales guy he’s interested in a new watch. The guy shows him a few brands, tells him about each brand’s origins, explains the various movements and complications, and the dude asks a few basic questions and tries on a couple that fit his budget and taste. By the time he walks out he’s got an insatiable hunger for a new black-faced timepiece and has few different brands and models on his list that match what he likes.
When he gets gome he goes online and continues to read about IWC, Rolex, Breitling, and Hublot. He checks watch forums, social network groups, and shopping comparison sites. After sleeping on it, he decides on a Panerai Radiomir. Being the smart consumer he is, he checks prices online and at a couple other local shops. Eventually, he heads back to the shop and reminds the sales guy that he promised to beat the competition’s price with a 20% discount and an extra strap and hands over the credit card.
Now having gone through this scenario, ask your self a couple questions.
Does it seem like this guy went through this process and came to the purchase decision all by himself?
Can you see any opportunities you have as a marketer to engage with the potential customer to influence and guide his ultimate decision?
If you could get inside the customer’s mind it’s likely that you’d have a specific tactic you could employ between each step of the process, right?
Why, then, aren’t you doing it?
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