The AIDA model: a structured approach to customers’ acquisition

A review of Elias St. E. Lewis theories

The AIDA model represents a theoretical framework aimed to summarize the process of new customers' acquisition. It was developed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis, an advertising advocate, who dedicated his life to his advertising agency and developed theories deriving from his expertise.

His earliest, rudimentary discussion on advertising principles appeared in a column which Lewis wrote for The Inland Printer, an American trade magazine from 1883, and it stated “The first law of ad composition should be, as in the making of a picture: Have a point on which the attention is to be concentrated and render every other portion of the ad display subordinate to that”

In the following decades the market developed and the focus of his strategy changed to put emphasis on one point or another. Since 1898 the slogan that has been attributed to him was “attract attention, maintain interest, create desire”, later on the doctrine developed adding “action”.?

This model falls into the broader category of hierarchy of choice modeling and customer journey theories and it is often studies related to customer acquisition strategies. Although the titles are self-explanatory, a brief description for each follows. Attention is the step where the consumer becomes aware of the product's existence and its characteristics. Interest is raised when the consumer understands how the product can answer one or more of his needs. Desire is the will to obtain the product and action is the resulting purchase. These steps follow a strict linear hierarchy and the absence of one step precludes the next ones from happening. Consequently, with no attention there would be no interest, with no interest no desire, with no desire no action.

Although the model was introduced centuries ago, the concept is very relevant nowadays. The society where this model originated, was analogic with limited access to phones and no internet. In modern society, there’s infinite potential for online communication and widely spread social networks, but the principles of the models are the same: users still need to be aware of the existence of a product, show interest based on information obtained and express a desire to own it. This being current and relevant is supported by literature (Michaelson & Stacks, 2011; Kojima et al., 2010).

Due to recent developments of society and the extensive rise of online media and social networks, this model has been used in literature to approach topics related to social media advertising and social media marketing. In this way, the adaptation of this model makes it current and valid. Social media marketing, or social network marketing, is included in the integrated marketing communication plans of many companies (Bone & Kurtz 2007). Integrated marketing communication attempts to coordinate and control the various elements of the promotional mix – advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion (Mangold & Faulds 2009).

In a qualitative study by Hassan et al., (2014) strategic use of social media was analyzed with the use of AIDA as base methodology. Results showed that the model can indeed be applied in strategizing the use of social media for marketing purposes. In the table below are summarized some effective strategies that have been found to achieve each step of the model:

The finding shows that the model can be applied in strategizing the use of social media. This outcome is in line with the work of Lagrosen (2005) who argues that the AIDA model is practical in the context of social media usage especially for the “IDA” components.

A more recent study by Pratiwa et al. (2021) evaluates the level of AIDA stucture in influencing purchasing decision derived by a simple random sampling technique on a sample of a hundred people. It was found that the phases of “interest” and “desire” are particularly effective on buying decisions. The steps of the model overall were found significant to simultaneously influencing purchasing decisions with a determination level of 67%.

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Reference List:

Bone, L. E. & D. L. Kurtz (2007), Contemporary marketing (13th ed.), Thomson/South-Western, Mason, OH,.

Hassan, S., et al. (2015). Strategic Use of Social Media for Small Business Based on the AIDA Model. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 172. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.363.

Lagrosen, S. (2005). Effects of the internet on the marketing communication of service to companies. Journal of Services Marketing. 19(2), 63-69

Kojima, T., Kimura, T., Yamaji, M., & Amasaka, K., (2010). Proposals and development of the direct mail method "PMCI-DM" for effectively attracting customers. International Journal of Management & Information Systems, 14 (5), 15-21

Mangold, W. & D. Faulds (2009), ‘Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix’, pp. 357–365

Michaelson, D., & Stacks, W. D. (2011). Standardization inpublic relations measurement and evaluation standardization. Public Relations Journal, 5(2), Spring

Pratiwi et al. (2021):?doi:10.1109/CITSM52892.2021.9589023