Answering the “why” behind the buy
In its simplest form, consumer behavior is the study of consumers and the processes they use to choose a product or service. Before considering the best approach for your marketing strategy for a given product or service, you have to understand the various stages that a consumer will go through before ending in a purchase. And your marketing strategy will need to be an omni-channel approach in order to effectively reach your target consumers at different stages of the process.
So, what do the various stages of that process look like? As marketers, we refer to these stages as the ‘customer journey.’ While there are many different ways to characterize the steps of the process depending on what product or service you are dealing with, they should each be based on the mindset of the consumer for each stage. An average journey is usually comprised of the following stages: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Retention and Advocacy.
The customer journey is comprised of Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Retention and Advocacy
The journey is more of a continuum upon which a customers’ stage may fluctuate, meaning that it’s never exactly linear. And some customers may never make it to the point of advocacy for your brand or product. However, your marketing efforts need to align with the various stages in both media selection and message.
Planning Your Marketing Campaign
Your marketing campaign is all about engaging a customer’s attention and leading them through their journey to purchase and beyond. The right marketing strategy has the power to influence these purchasing decisions. For example, when it comes to the consideration stage, the right marketing message placed in the right media vehicle can persuade prospects and customers alike to change brands or even opt for a more expensive product or service. On the other hand, if your goal is customer retention, you may focus more of your effort on reminders about products and services that need to be bought more regularly. Regardless of your goal, your first step should always be to better understand and define your target customer.
Defining Your Target
Everything from cultural beliefs to social groups and even household structure are all external factors that will influence how a customer will perceive your product or service. Knowing more about these external influences will help you to better project the needs, values and beliefs that they likely hold. A young single, for example, might be less likely to need a bulk version of a product than a married mom would. Emotions are another influencing factor that affects consumer behavior. An example of this kind of psychological factor might be the desire to be accepted by peers. This desire for acceptance can greatly influence the product or service that they ultimately decide to buy.
There are many ways that you can get the information you need to build a target persona that informs your marketing strategy. Below are just a few of the secondary research tools that can be utilized to better understand and measure consumer behavior:
MRI / Simmons – This syndicated research partner surveys more than 20,000 Americans throughout the year to identify your targets, define audience segments, psychographics, attitudes and consumption habits
Neilsen – This syndicated research partner conducts surveys within all US designated market areas (DMAs) for regional environment and target audience information
Google Analytics – Google can provide detailed statistics and insights on your website from the traffic to site usability, as well as conversions and sales
Cision – Cision monitors and analyzes conversations, mentions and sentiment on more than 150 million blogs, forums, video- and image-sharing sites and forms of social media including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
In addition to secondary research tools, you likely have existing sales and marketing data that should be analyzed and considered. And there is always the option to conduct your own primary research from one-on-one interviews to focus groups to quantitative online surveys. This kind of primary research can remove the guesswork of applying existing secondary data to your brand or product.
If you’ve been basing your marketing decisions on your gut feelings about your customers and target audience, it’s time to dig deeper. You must understand their behavior, listen to them (whether through secondary research partners or your own primary research) and build a strong relationship with them before your competitors beat you to it.
The team of brand and marketing communications experts at Stratistry are always ready to work alongside you to help you develop a compelling marketing strategy that leads your target customers through the path to purchase.
