The Buyer's Journey

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

The Buyer's Journey

What is the Buyer’s Journey?

The Buyer’s Journey is a fundamental concept in marketing. But what exactly is it?

Put simply, it’s the journey that buyer goes through when deciding to purchase a product or service. It goes from initial awareness of a problem through consideration of different options for solving the problem, to eventual purchase and beyond.

The funnel

The Buyer’s Journey is often visualized as a funnel. This process can look different depending on the industry or product associated with the business, but generally the funnel has five main stages from awareness to retention. (We’ll deep dive into each of those stages shortly.)

Throughout the years, the Buyer's Journey has evolved from a more traditional funnel to a non-linear model. This reflects the more complex journeys that people undertake.

The importance of the Buyer’s Journey

The Buyer’s Journey gives businesses a way to see things from the customer’s perspective. They can see the steps that a customer goes through, from first becoming aware of a need or problem, through to evaluating options, making a decision, and buying a product or service. The journey  might also end with the customer downloading a piece of content or signing up for a trial.

The challenge

The challenge for businesses is to provide the right information to consumers at different stages of the Buyer’s Journey. As customers move further along the journey, for example, they’re likely to want more detailed information. 

Businesses need to choose the right digital channels to reach customers at different stages of the journey. For example, they might use social media content to raise awareness and spark interest. And later on, they might use carefully personalized emails to nudge the consumer towards a purchase. 

Digital tools enable businesses to monitor how customers progress through their decision-making journey. Using these insights, they can create specific Buyer’s Journeys relevant to their consumers or consumer groups. 

Digital touchpoints

Digital touchpoints are any interaction or engagement points where consumers come into digital contact with the business. These touchpoints are crucial in shaping the consumer's journey and experience with a business. They can influence perceptions, decisions, and actions. 

Common touchpoints include:

• Search engines
• Website content
• Contact forms
• Social media
• Email
• Online chat
• Product videos
• Banner ads

The stages of the Buyer’s Journey

The Buyer’s Journey funnel is usually represented with five stages: 

• Awareness
• Interest
• Consideration
• Conversion
• Retention

Let’s now look at each stage in detail.

Awareness

The Awareness stage occurs when the consumer becomes aware of a problem that they want to solve in their life. So they start looking for solutions. 

Businesses want to position their product or service as the solution to a problem or the answer to a question. They build awareness of the brand using content on websites and social media. This content might be structured as the solution to a problem. Or it could even be a paid ad that shows up when people search about the topic.

Interest

At the Interest stage, consumers are interested in finding a solution. They begin to look for options that will help solve their problem. 

Consumers are asking questions like: “What solutions are available? What factors should I consider? What are the alternatives?” Businesses respond by providing digital content that answers these questions or provides a possible solution to the problem.

Consideration

The Consideration stage occurs when consumers start considering their options. They are a bit more knowledgeable and understand what different solutions competitors are offerings. They are evaluating their options before committing to buying or converting.

At this stage, a business’s content tends to communicate key benefits, capabilities, and differentiators from competitors. 

Conversion

The Conversion stage is when the consumer is ready to convert, or take a valuable action. 

This action could be a purchase, a download, a subscription, or a form completion. Generally, it is something that will have a real commercial value to the business. 

For many businesses, this is the most important stage. It is where they can drive sales and impact the business in a commercial way.

Retention

The Retention stage is often overlooked, but it’s a key stage for driving recurring revenue and creating a group of active brand advocates. Once the buyer has used the product and is satisfied, it is crucial to retain them. After all, it is much cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. 

So the business needs to continue to engage with them, provide added value, and create a real relationship. This can then lead to repeat purchases or recommendations to others. 

Businesses focus on their customer post-sale communication, for example, through customer service or email newsletters. They may also offer discounts for further purchases. 

The B2B Buyer’s Journey

The business-to-business (B2B) Buyer’s Journey is slightly different.

These are the three main differences:

• The B2B Buyer’s Journey is typically longer and more expensive in terms of marketing cost, but also in terms of the cost of the product that the purchaser is buying.
• B2B decisions are more likely to include multiple stakeholders in a buying group or involve multiple departments and procurement agencies. 
• B2B decisions are often higher risk because they can affect many people, and the decision-maker’s job. Because of this, brand reputation, reviews, and recommendations can have a bigger impact on choice.