Customer Acquisition & Retention
How to Push Customers through the Buying Cycle
Feel like your marketing efforts are the equivalent of shooting in the dark?
By learning more about the customer buying cycle, you'll be better equipped to market to them along the way. Hi there! Matt here, your resident ecommerce guru at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster your online success. Today we’re going to discuss the customer buying cycle, which should serve as the basis of any marketing strategy. The idea here is to deliver the right message at the right stage of the buying cycle to help move shoppers further down your funnel to make a purchase. So pay close attention as I walk you through a very common model. The first stage is what we call the Awareness stage, which is composed of two key parts. The first part is that a consumer needs to be aware that they need your product or service. The second, and more difficult part, is all about brand awareness, which is the point where a customer knows that your business actually exists. The awareness stage can be reached in a multitude of ways, including advertising and word of mouth. The second phase is known as the Consideration stage, which is where a consumer is evaluating your offering. At this stage, customers are ultimately researching and discovering what you’re selling to see whether or not it meets their needs, and to what extent. Now keep in mind that during the Consideration stage you’re not the only vendor being considered, they’re likely also considering lots of other ecommerce sites, so finding ways to stand out from the crowd is key to moving consumers to the next stage of the buying cycle. The third stage is where things get a little less scientific and a little more emotional, and this is the “Preference and Intent” stage. Once a customer realizes that you fill their need from a product or service perspective, they then have to prefer your brand over the others. This is where clever marketing and branding comes into play. You have to move beyond just explaining what your product does and tell a larger story of how it benefits your customer and/or the greater good. Once someone prefers your brand, they then create an intent to buy. The final stage of a typical buying cycle is our favorite stage, and that’s when a shopper becomes a customer by actually making a purchase. This is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll jump to the next stage, which is the “repurchasing stage.” This piece usually isn't talked about, but it's critical if you want to fulfill customer needs and create a great experience so they come back and make a future purchase by buying from you again. Understanding the buying cycle is a great way to further sharpen your marketing toolset and you'll be able to convert more shoppers into customers. Once you know how everything works, sales are just a matter of time. Have any questions? Feel free to drop me a line in the comments box below. From me to you, Happy Selling!
By learning more about the customer buying cycle, you'll be better equipped to market to them along the way. Hi everybody! My name is Matt and I’m an Online Communications Specialist here at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster your online success. Today we’re going to go through a two part series and part one is going to be about the customer buying cycle. There are a lot of marketing activities that you are probably doing whether it’s search engine marketing, social media or email, but if you’re not doing it at the right time towards the right customers, you’re really losing out on some efficiencies. To get started, we’re going to go over what the customer buying cycle is and then talk about different tactics you can use to address each of these stages. There are a lot of models of the buying cycle out there but this is the most common one and the easiest to follow. First and foremost, you have awareness. The awareness stage is when your customer does two things. First, the customer realizes that he or she has a need that needs to be fulfilled. Two, they realize that your business exists and that your online business might be able to fulfill the need they are looking to have. Next, is consideration. Now that the customer knows who you are and that you’re out there; they’re going to consider you. Consideration really means that they are evaluating your offering, evaluating your products, your services and seeing if you can fill their need. Now keep in mind too that during the consideration phase you’re not the only person that’s being considered. They are also likely considering other ecommerce sites, so separating yourself from the competition is key in this stage. Next up is the preference/intent stage of the buying cycle. This is more emotional and logical. So, logically, if your product and your services fulfill their needs, that’s great, but at the same time, if your branding pulls at emotional heart strings and they’re really tied to your brand, they’ll prefer you which will lead them to intend to buy. Stage four is our favorite stage and that is the purchasing stage. It is, quite simply, when the customer purchases from you site. Once the customer has purchased, they go into the repurchasing stage and from here, that’s when they consider you and if you are going to be able to fill their need. If they’re satisfied, they’ll go into any of the aforementioned three stages with their preference and their intent to buy. They’ll repurchase again as long as you keep your customer satisfied and fulfill their need right the first time. Hopefully this provides you with a good overview of what your customers go through when they’re purchasing form you or anyone else. Join us next week when we discuss each of these stages through your marketing. If you have any questions, we’re always happy to help. From me to you, happy selling!
If you've never considered the customer buying cycle, you might feel a bit lost. In a nutshell, the customer buying cycle is the process that shoppers go through before making a purchase. By delivering relevant information at each stage of this process, you've got a better chance of moving them closer to purchase.
In today's episode, we'll walk you through the most common model of the customer buying cycle. And if you have any further questions, our support experts are here to help!
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About Matt Winn
Matt Winn is a former Senior Brand Manager at Volusion, where he helped oversee branding & communications efforts. Matt has created hundreds of articles, videos, and seminars on all things ecommerce.
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