IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining the stages from browser to buyer

Picking apart the modern sales funnel

Fine-tuning the online buying process for a smooth ride

Information is power. There’s little debate that a well-educated buyer is a smart buyer, and the Internet has truly empowered today’s consumer online and off. Analysts estimate that as much as 70 percent of business to business (B2B) buyers have already made or narrowed their decision to buy before seeking late-stage sales assistance from your business. For business to consumer (B2C) buyers, that number jumps to as much as 90 percent! Of course, this difference in buyer behavior isn’t too surprising. A B2C purchase is often less complicated (buyers simply complete the online check-out process) compared to a B2B purchase (which might require actively engaging a salesperson to complete the sale). It’s more important than ever before for online businesses to understand where and when buyers are getting information and how that influences their final buying decisions.

In this chapter, we walk you through the stages typical online buyers go through when making a purchasing decision, how they are collecting information about your brand, and what you can do to influence the modern buyers’ journeys.

Deconstructing the Path of an Online Buyer

When talking about the pathway a buyer takes, we simply mean that there are typical stages a consumer goes through as part of the decision-making process. It’s important to understand this process so that you have a better chance of influencing the buyer at each stage — even if you cannot directly reach or engage the buyer at the earliest of these stages.

You may be wondering how can you influence buyers if you can’t actually communicate directly with them? The answer to that question is based on where buyers consume information, and from whom. Before the proliferation of the Internet, salespeople (whether B2B or B2C) primarily controlled the buying process and could guide a prospective customer through the sales process, telling the buyers what the company wanted to, when they wanted to (through product brochures, demonstrations, and advertising).

Talking to prospective customers was also a one-way communications process via advertising, with brands pushing out information to the consumers through TV commercials and magazine and newspaper ads, for example. There was little opportunity for buyers to control the flow or type of information they received from brands.

Today, the buyer may evaluate a company or brand long before the brand is aware of that buyer. The buyer gets that information from product review websites, social media conversations, online communities, competitors, peers, friends and perfect strangers — and the vast majority of this information-gathering process occurs online. Let’s take a look at each stage of the buying process and see how a consumer’s view of a brand evolves during the online discovery process:

• Awareness: In this first stage, the consumer doesn’t yet understand that he or she is starting the path to becoming someone’s buyer. The consumer doesn’t even realize he has a problem or a need that your product or service can solve. Let’s use the example of a young male who has been scratching his face more and more after he shaves. He’s mildly aware of it, and maybe irritated by it, but he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. Then, he gets on the social media forum site called Reddit and explores different conversation threads. He comes across a discussion in which others are complaining about their faces being irritated after shaving and asking for opinions about what might be causing it. The responses range from the itchiness being caused by a skin condition that requires medical treatment to reactions to certain skincare products. Several guys on the thread mention using a product called Dr. Carver’s Post Shave Cream that they bought online from DollarShaveClub.com (www.dollarshaveclub.com). They rave about how much it helped fight irritation after shaving. The young male buyer considers that this might be part of his problem, but he’s not ready to buy — yet. He’s still discovering that he might have an issue.
• Consideration: Once a buyer decides he has a problem, he is ready to start actively looking for a solution. Following our male buyer, he decides his shaving process and the lack of quality products is creating a skin condition, but he’s not yet made up his mind as to which solution is best. He’s already been introduced to one product and a site where he can buy it, but being a savvy consumer, he’s not ready to commit. Instead, he begins actively looking for other products that might work. In this stage of the buying process, he’s doing a lot of detailed research about specific products and vendors, reading online reviews, watching product videos, and comparing the different types of shaving and facial care products for men — including pre-shave products like shea butter and oils. He may also come across reviews of your online business that specializes in men’s healthcare products, and he adds that to his list to consider, in addition to Dollar Shave Club.

• Decision: Once the buyer enters the final stage, his decision is almost made. He’s already narrowed down the type of product he wants and is fairly certain where he will buy it. In our scenario, the young male buyer is leaning toward a bundle package of Dr. Carver’s Shea Butter and Post Shave Cream. He’s now spending a lot of time on the Dollar Shave Club site comparing prices and trying to understand the specifics of the buying process. He likes that this monthly subscription service delivers products to his door every month without hassle. And, he can get his facial care products plus a free first shipment of razors as part of the subscription service. He signs up for the free monthly delivery service trial and adds on the bundled facial care products.

  As part of the decision stage, buyers are actively taking sales-oriented actions. In B2B, this means buyers are requesting sales quotes and demos from sales representatives. In B2C, customers are signing up for free trials and starting to put products into their online shopping carts for consideration, or saving products to a favorites’ list or “save for later” list, which allows customers to designate products of interest within the e-commerce site. This type of feature also gives your online business a view of the specific products buyers are interested in and you can use this information to market to them later, should they abandon their shopping carts or leave the site without buying.

• Advocacy: Also referred to as the loyalty stage, this stage sometimes gets left off when discussing the buyer’s journey because the “buy” decision has already been made. We’re including it here because it is an important part of the ongoing cycle that not only represents repeat sales from existing customers, but is also an important part of boosting new sales. In this post-buying stage, our young male buyer received his first subscription box from Dollar Shave Club. The Post Shave Cream really helped reduce the irritability he had after shaving, and he was especially impressed with the Dollar Shave Club experience — receiving his subscription box, the way it was packaged, and the fun personality of the brand that seemed to mirror his lifestyle and interests. He’s so excited about his experience that he goes back to the Reddit thread where he first learned about the product and the site, and he shares his own experience. Plus, Dollar Shave Club offers a $5 credit for every referral he gets, so he posts a special code in the thread comments that incentivizes new buyers, while rewarding him. As part of the advocacy stage, your online business needs to continue talking to existing customers, keeping them excited about your brand, and providing incentives and loyalty programs that encourages sharing and recommending your brand.

Monitoring the Flipped and Fluid Digital Sales Funnel

In days of yore, the stages of the buyer’s journey that we describe in the previous section also mirrored what was considered the traditional sales funnel. Shaped like an upside-down pyramid, as shown in Figure 1-1, the flow of browser to buyer was simple and straightforward, but that’s no longer thought to be the case.

Previously, it was assumed that there were large numbers of prospective buyers in the awareness stage. As your sales and marketing efforts were realized, the number of prospects slowly filtered down as they made a linear progression through the next stages of the funnel. Your salesperson introduced the key information a prospect might need to essentially guide or pull the prospect through the funnel. Eventually the prospect becomes a buyer and then an advocate of your product or service. Just as we illustrated in our example of that young male buyer looking for shaving products, he seemed to take a direct path from discovery to purchase.

When learning about the buyer stages as they relate to the sales funnel, you hear it described based on the physical location in the funnel. The awareness stage is considered the top of the funnel (or ToFu). The consideration stage correlates to the middle of the funnel (or MoFu). And the decision and advocacy stages are considered the bottom of the funnel (or BoFu).

But the modern buyer’s journey is a bit more complicated. As we mention at the beginning of this chapter, buyers already know quite a bit about you before interacting with your website or your sales team. In addition, they have lots of sources for and types of information they receive. The modern buyer, not the brand, now controls the buying process.

There’s lots of debate around today’s sales funnel — what it looks like, how buyers move through it, and if it even exists. However you choose to describe its existence, most experts agree on the following when describing the digital sales funnel:

• Buyers no longer move in a linear progression through the stages, but move in and out of the various stages in a fluid, and sometimes repetitive, nature (as shown in Figure 1-2).
• Brands no longer control the process, but instead influence it through content, awareness, and advocates.
• Buyers may skip stages, especially in an e-commerce environment, where it’s easy to go from awareness to decision stage, especially when offered an immediate incentive to purchase (for example, having brand advocates distribute $10 off codes in social media channels for prospective buyers who are just in the awareness stage).
• Movement through the funnel no longer occurs from a single platform or device (such as from the desktop), but instead occurs in an omnichannel environment — moving between the desktop, tablet, and smartphone, and by visiting social media, websites, and bricks-and-mortar storefronts.

What does this all mean for your online business? When it comes to tracking buyers through the sales funnel, it’s important that you understand how and where buyers are converting, and making sure you have buyer-specific content that is appropriate for each stage of the funnel (which we discuss in more detail in Chapter 2 of this minibook).

Putting It All Together: The Buyer, the Conversion, the Channel

Now that you understand the buyer’s stages and how they relate to the sales funnel, you’re ready to construct the buyer’s journey for your online business. Think of this process as taking a road trip. You use a map (or GPS or Google Maps) to plan the drive from your starting point to your destination. You’ll need to also consider who else is taking the trip with you. You may want to drive your passengers straight to your destination, but depending on their personalities and desires, they may want to stop along the way. So, you’ll want find out what their goals are for stopping (eating, adventure, shopping) and plan on the places along the route to eat, take bathroom breaks, buy souvenirs, or explore a new destination. And, it may not be realistic to identify every possible stop, because along the way you might meet others who recommend a restaurant or activity not on your list; or you may see some information that convinces you to alter your travel plans and take out time for a completely different activity. You’ll eventually get to your destination, but there may be some unplanned stops along the way. Now, let’s apply this process to the online buyer’s journey.