We seldom head to work or the grocery store, let alone travel out of town, without awareness and some consideration of what’s ahead: We grab our cell phone and wallet or purse, quickly plot the best route, and assemble a mental to-do list. The buyer’s journey works much the same way — and knowing the buyer’s journey stages can help you fine-tune your marketing strategies and customer service.
Here’s how.
Understanding the Buyer’s Journey
Each stage of the buyer’s journey maps how potential customers interact with your products or services. The stages are often illustrated in a marketing funnel:
Top of Funnel
At the top of funnel, in the awareness stage, a person knows they have a problem and looks for potential solutions. They might scroll through social media or click through the results of a search engine for a product or service that meets their needs.
Mid-funnel
At mid-funnel, the consideration stage has more intent. Here, the potential customer has identified possible solutions or purchases and researches these options further. They might read customer reviews, compare prices or check out incentives, such as a service warranty or no-hassle returns.
Bottom of the Funnel
At the bottom of the funnel, the conversion stage sees the customer right before making a purchase. They still might evaluate their choices during this stage, but overall, they’re confident in their research and have an approach in mind.
Online Marketing Made Easy
If you align your marketing strategies with the stages of the buyer’s journey, you can guide potential customers through the marketing funnel.
To speak to audiences at the top of the funnel, focus your marketing efforts and content strategy on being proactive. Introduce your company, product and services through strong SEO, an inviting landing page, FAQs and a variety of social media marketing. Present your brand as one to trust with the solution to the problems you visualize different buyer personas have.
In the middle of the funnel, you want to pique the audience’s interest and educate them about your product or service. You might provide case studies and testimonials on your website or link to them through social media. Promote video content of your product in action or demonstrate how you’ve resolved a defined problem.
Be sure to provide relevant content to address any possible barriers to making a decision. Highlight how your product or service differs from the competition. Point out how you provide a rewarding customer experience, whether through free product updates, in-depth guides, rewards or customer loyalty.
At the bottom of the funnel, last-minute concerns often arise. Even if someone is ready to buy, they might not be the sole person involved in decision-making, for instance, or they may be second-guessing their budget. Create content that addresses these remaining hurdles, such as an email that offers a special discount for “forgotten shopping cart” items.
If you tailor your sales and educational content to the stages of the buyer’s journey, you’ll have no shortage of ideas for addressing key challenges and building brand loyalty.
