What is the buyer’s journey and why does it matter? 

There are three stages that a customer goes through before they buy a product or service. These three stages create a system called the buyer’s journey. 

The first encounter of a company or brand called the Awareness Stage, the process of finding a company or product called the Consideration Stage, and the action of deciding on a specific product or service called the Decision Stage. 

Understanding the buyer’s journey is important because it will help you create and optimize your strategies so the customer is happy with their purchase and thinks highly of your brand. 

So let’s go through the three steps of the buyer’s journey.

1. Awareness Stage

The first stage of the buyer’s journey is the Awareness Stage. This is when the customer realizes a problem or need that they have, or just a desire for a product or service. 

(For example (EX:) the buyer’s persona of a pet grooming service would become aware that their pet needs a wash and haircut.) 

This  realization most often occurs by the customer on their own, but there are ways to push the customer to this realization by showing ads or creating content about what you want them to buy from you. 

In order to create the most relevant content for your target market you need to research about their needs, wants, and pleasures. Some questions to ask while preparing for this stage are: 

What are the buyer personas pain points?

What are the buyer personas interests? 

How important to the buyer persona is it to satisfy these? 

How would the buyer persona think to satisfy these needs? 

How is the buyer persona researching how to satisfy these needs?

2. Consideration Stage 

The next stage is the Consideration Stage. In this stage the customer finds products, services, or companies that can satisfy their needs and starts considering the best options given. 

(EX: the buyer’s persona of a pet grooming service would search on google to find a dog grooming service near them and look at the reviews of each service provider) 

The process of looking for the right business can occur anywhere from google to social media, or from other sources offline like friend recommendations and expos. 

No matter how you market, you want to make sure your brand stands out from the rest. For this you can use target market best practices and specialized strategies. 

Some questions to ask while preparing for this stage are: 

What strategies can you use to appeal to your buyer persona? 

How does your product or service satisfy the buyers needs? 

Why is your brand a better fit for the buyer than other brands? 

3. Decision Stage 

The last stage to finish up the buyer’s journey is the Decision Stage. This is the last stage before you hand your customer over to the sales process. In this stage the customer decides on a specific product or service. 

(EX: the buyer’s persona of a pet grooming service would decide that your company is the best quality with the best deals and start the process to make a purchase.) 

You want to make sure that this stage comes very easily to the customer. Make the navigation to the final purchase short and clear. Make the customer feel like they are truly making the best decision, and that their payment will be worthwhile to satisfy their needs. You can do this by creating a landing page that they will go to after making their purchase thanking them, or offering a chance to leave a review of their journey. 

This is also a time to answer the more detailed questions that the customer may have and build a personal connection to them through your social channel and other engagements and interactions. 

Some questions to ask while preparing for this stage are: 

How can you make the customer satisfied with their decision? 

How can you optimize your buyer’s experience with the decision process? 

What questions may the buyer persona have before they make a final purchase? 

You will be marketing to the customer right up until it’s time to buy a product to schedule a service. But we don’t stop there, the marketing department will continue marketing to our customers even after they have bought from us so that they can keep coming back to us and build brand loyalty. 

Now that you better understand the buyer’s journey you can use it to shape your strategies and build your conversion rate one by one. 

You’ve got this! Go out and get those customers! And thanks for reading.