Mapping the Buying Journey

A few weeks ago, I treated myself with a pair of Bose SoundSport Free wireless headphones. They’re brilliant. I love them. But even though they have been available for some time and I love Bose equipment, I only bought them just a few weeks ago. Why not sooner? Because I wasn’t finished with my buyer's journey.

You see, there are very few things and products that we buy on impulse. Water, chocolate, cake, sweets…

But for most products and services, we all go through the buyer’s journey, whether we’re aware of that or not. Let’s take my headphones as an example. I liked them from the moment I saw them available. However, I wasn’t ready to buy yet. I had my concerns and questions.

Will they fall off? Will I be able to run with them? What if I lose one? Since they’re small, will the sound quality be any good? How often do I charge them? And so on.

So the first thing I did was to visit Bose’s website to understand more. Then, I looked for reviews online. Then for specific reviews for specific uses - running, riding a bike, etc. Then I looked for testimonials. Once I had all my questions answered and objections handled, I was ready to make a purchase.

The same thing happens if you’re buying a phone, a laptop, a house, a car or when you’re finding a tradesman. Any buying journey that requires consideration means you go through a process.

The process is always the same:

1.    I become aware of a problem or a Need or a desire.

(Would be nice to have pair of wireless headphones for running, the old ones are wired.)

2.    I get a Call to Change – something happens that intensifies my need.

(My old headphones keep sliding off/out when running.)

3.    But I Resist the change.

(I could just get some overhead ones, or run without music.)

4.    I get some Proof that wireless is the way to go.

(I read about the best options for music when running.)

5.    I get to the “Threshold”. This is the point where I am accepting the change is required.

(I really should consider getting some new headphones.)

6.    I then Consider the options.

(Over ear, on ear, in ear – what works best for me? What will be the most comfortable and not slide off? Wireless is best for me, won’t catch the cable and pull them off.)

7.    I Compare makes and models.

(I compare reviews, prices and performance before making my choice.)

8.    I Buy.

(Can’t wait for them to turn up!)

 Why is this important?

The buying journey described above can be used to create a map for the content that a company needs to drive sales. The first five steps can be considered as being marketing content, and the last three, sales content. (This doesn’t mean, by the way, that there is just one piece of content for each step, the content required for each step will depend on the complexity of your customers’ needs and the complexity of your product.)

The really important point to note is that if you have the content available for your customer’s entire buying journey they are less likely to wander off to other sources to fulfil their needs or questions and will progress to the sale with you quicker.

Here is the good news, you probably already have a lot of the content that you need, the trick is that now you need to find what is missing, what doesn’t work and how to connect it all together.

Contact me to find out how to do that.