The Buyer's Journey refers to the active research process that a potential buyer will go through in the lead-up to a purchase.
Understanding where your leads are in The Buyer's Journey process can help you to interact with your lead in the 'right' way.
How?
It helps you to know what content will be useful for them and it gives you an opportunity to help them move through the different stages of the buyer's journey more efficiently.
What is The Buyer's journey?
The Buyer's Journey is the research process a lead goes through all the way from realising they have a problem to buying a product or service from a business. It includes three stages, the awareness stage, the consideration stage and the decision stage.
Knowing what stage your lead is at can help you to identify effective methods to help them move through the next stages, in the hope of them becoming a customer.
What are the three stages of The Buyer's Journey?
To figure out which stage your lead is at in The Buyer's Journey you will need to understand all three stages...
Awareness Stage
This is the start of The Buyer's Journey and you lead is currently experiencing a problem, but they might not know what their problem is - they are researching to see if they actually have a problem...
Example: 'My marketing efforts are not working for my business'
At this stage you would offer your lead helpful content that will help them identify their problem, in the form of:
- Free whitepapers
- Free guides & tip sheets
- Free ebooks
- Free checklists
- Free videos
- Free kits
Consideration Stage
In the second stage of The Buyer's Journey, your lead has figured out that they do have a problem, but they are now looking for a solution...
Example: 'Marketing agencies that can help me with my marketing strategy'
Now you can offer your lead helpful content that gives them a solution to their problem, in the form of:
- Free webinars
- Case studies
- Free samples
- Product spec sheets
- Catalogues
Decision Stage
At the final stage of The Buyer's Journey your lead has found a solution to their problem and now has to decide on the best option for them, due to their individual circumstances.
Example: 'I need help with my marketing strategy, but I don't have a big budget'
Now you should offer your lead helpful content that will show them why they should purchase your product or service, in the form of:
- Free trials
- Demos
- Free consultations
- Estimates or quotes
- Coupons
How do I identify where my leads are on The Buyer's Journey?
If your lead is in the awareness stage then they could be a website visitor, they may have downloaded an ebook or guides, so you should have their contact information, but you might not have had any direct contact with them.
When your lead is in the consideration stage, they are most likely someone who regularly visits your website, downloads your content, attends your webinars and, your sales team might have contacted them or they might have contacted you!
Leads in the decision stage have probably been a contact for some time, which has downloaded content in the past and is now looking for free trials or demos of your products and services.
Now you're aware of the three stages of The Buyer's Journey you can take not of where your leads are and use this information to help move them through The Buyer's Journey and become customers.
