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Do you expect your customers to shop in ways you wouldn’t behave yourself? You would be surprised how many marketers do.
Here is one example just from this last weekend: How many times have you seen a banner ad go straight into a credit card details page?
Have you ever purchased a reasonably expensive product, previously unknown to you, directly from a banner click? I am guessing you are saying ‘no’.
Our customers are the same. Yes, we do make impulse purchases, but in the majority of cases we need to know some facts and imagine ourselves owning and using the product. It is not enough to see the product is available and be shunted straight to the checkout.
Customers have various buying modes, from not even in the market to highly motivated to solve a problem. These modes are on a spectrum, and we can move between categories as we gain more information, get distracted or lose urgency.
Just looking at how motivated the customer is, you can see how your strategy has to adjust:
- Zero motivation - Not even shopping, unaware your product even exists, or that they have the problem your product solves. Many products sold directly work on this type of customer. They grab attention, bring the problem to the surface, then provide the solution along with an order form. This person is not shopping so Google Adwords are not going to work, but “push” advertising, such as direct mail or email list might.
- Some motivation - This person has a problem and would be open to solutions. Imagine a person who knows they have financial problems, their solution might be debt consolidation or might be blogging for cash, etc. It would depend on their own biases and the persuasiveness of your message. Awareness advertising with the right message would inspire this customer. A trusted blog or opt-in email list in the right niche would warm these people up perfectly.
- Motivated - The customer knows there are products on the market and would like to buy, but needs a good deal. They are researching and comparing prices, rather than go direct to a supplier they will use consumer guides and price comparison sites eg. Flights and Hotels, Credit Cards. Education and soft-sell are key, they will be ready to buy when convinced and not before. Affiliates make over half their commissions from this type of customer. Think also of blogs such as Engadget and magazines like Which.
- Highly motivated - Have a specific problem and need a solution, right now. These people will search on Google, to make the sale you need to appear visibly and with the right offer. They would happily take a free option but are ready to buy. This is a highly tactical requirement and involves fitting to search behavior and matching the exact need. My friends PDF to Excel converter fits this type of buyer. Solution-focused blogs and forums are a good way to attract a wide number of people with various problems, or use a well-optimized and heavily linked landing page for a specific solution product.
As you can see, a number 1 Google result is not going to capture the first category, those people are not even looking, while the last category will have highly motivated people searching frantically for your product if you would only put it where they can find it.
We have many strategies and tactics at our disposal but it always comes down to the same thing. Knowing your product and your customer!
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