The consumer decision journey explained
I recently shot a video interview with the folks at BigThink as a way to help explain the consumer decision journey (you can see the video here). For those of you who've followed me, you know that I'm not a fan of the traditional sales funnel. It's not that the funnel isn't helpful; it is, and has been. It's just that the funnel is too limiting, and not reflective of how consumers actually making buying decisions - and then experience products after buying them - these days.
What the consumer decision journey captures is the idea of an iterative process where people's consideration set usually expands as they evaluate products. They get recommendations from friends, search for different products ideas, read web sites, etc. But it's not just about the product itself. Increasingly the value of the product is closely tied to the customer experience in learning about, buying, and experiencing the product. The reason this consumer decision journey has been so helpful to clients is that it helps to clearly highlight not just where in the decision journey to focus marketing spend and energies; it also helps to understand how the hand-off process from one stage to the next needs to work to deliver a great customer experience.
How are you making your decisions about where to spend your marketing dollars?
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Head of Digital Strategy / Solutions Design presso JAKALA
8 年David Edelman Thank you for sharing this, but I cannot find the video anymore (I am writing a thesis about this topic). Could you help me out?
CEO at India Media Relations
11 年it helps to understand how the hand-off process from one stage to the next needs to work to deliver a great customer experience.
MSc in Management, CPA
11 年The topic and the findings are all about my master thesis that I wrote last year. I studied on consumer purchasing decisions in social media and used technology acceptance model combining with traditional consumer stimuli - response model. As you mentioned, friends and family opinions are one of the most influential factor on consumer decisions. In digital environment, social media tools become a trustworthy source to collect information about the products that they have intention to buy, such as blogs, review and rating sites, etc. However, consumers rely on their friends and family opinions rather than unknown people before their purchase decision as in traditional ways, so they use social media tools as a source to seek the opinion of acquaintances who are knowledgable or who are important in their lives. Thank you for the model, I can use it for my further studies in this area, if I have in the future.
Brand Strategist & Social Media Consultant
11 年I am "taking" this graphic and putting in all my materials and class lectures - its the new consumer decision making process... re-defined for today's world of digital -- GREAT STUFF!
MD/GM @ Stamen. Product strategy, business, and team leader in geospatial, interactive media, and EV industries. Fascinated with maps, data science communications, software innovation, and product development systems.
11 年I like this model. It holds up well for higher-consideration purchases (cars, IT, high-priced CE, etc.). It is also interesting to consider how the journey stages shift for products with a fast(er) consideration cycle, or where a good deal of Consideration happens after the fact of purchase alongside Experience (i.e. low price, apps, mobile commerce, freemium models). Buy also does not require as long of a journey from Consideration in these cases.