As competition becomes fierce in the e-commerce world, store owners and marketers need to be strategic. By seeking to understand the motivations and behaviours of customers, we can identify opportunities to appeal to them and use targeted marketing strategies to draw them in at the right time. If you’re considering a career in e-commerce, you’ll need to understand what’s going on in the mind of the average customer before they decide to make a purchase. Keep reading to learn what a buyer’s journey is, why it’s so important and how you can leverage it.
What is the Buyer’s Journey?
In marketing, the buyer’s journey refers to the process buyers go through to decide what product to purchase. The process varies greatly from customer to customer. It depends on several factors, which is why it’s imperative to conduct market research to determine what matters most to a particular client base. The buyer’s journey has been divided into distinct steps that describe what a customer is thinking, their motivations, and what they want from their experience. Each stage of the buyer’s journey presents a different opportunity to position your product as the perfect solution for their unique needs and preferences. These include awareness, consideration, and decision.
Importance of The Buyer’s Journey After E-commerce Training
After ecommerce marketing training, the buyer’s journey will be an informative tool allowing you to make marketing decisions that resonate with customers. It provides a clear user experience framework that should inform the design and marketing strategies you employ for your online store. In addition, the principles of the buyer’s journey will highlight the importance of excellent website speed, navigation, and a seamless checkout process. The buyer’s journey provides an invaluable opportunity to understand the customer’s perspective.
Best Practices to Leverage at Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
To leverage the buyer’s journey after ecommerce training, it’s important to meet each potential customer where they are. Consider what each stage means and what to do to make the most of it.
In the awareness stage, prospective clients become aware that they are experiencing a problem or challenge, and their goal is to identify what it is. During this stage, they will be actively conducting research to understand their problem better. To nurture leads in this stage, focus on generating traffic with compelling content, such as blogs, social media posts, and even eBooks, that acknowledges their pain points and helps them identify their problem.
In the consideration stage, the prospective client has identified their problem and is now considering potential solutions. This is a good time to provide potential clients with information that highlights exactly how the product you sell can help them solve their problem. Here, it’s best to give prospects the information they are searching for so they can make a decision that’s right for them. This is a good time to introduce case studies and testimonials, proving to clients that your product has helped others in similar situations.
Once a potential client has reached the decision stage, they become a qualified lead. They have identified both their problem and the solution and are now actively comparing different businesses offering the said solution. At this stage, the goal should be to position your business as the one offering the very best solution to nurture prospects into making the purchase. If you have any offers, such as free trials or consultations, discounts or coupons, this is a great time to present them.
Finally, there is a fourth phase that’s often forgotten but equally as important as the others. The loyalty phase. Did you know that your best sales representatives are your existing clients? That’s why you’ll want to ensure that even after they’ve made the purchase, they remain content with their decision to buy your product. Maintain a relationship with your clients, provide great service after the sale, and keep an open line of communication with them via email marketing and newsletters so that you can send them updates about your business, special promotions and offers, and more.
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