《Escalent:2023年消费者购买路径研究指南(英文版)(12页).pdf》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《Escalent:2023年消费者购买路径研究指南(英文版)(12页).pdf(12页珍藏版)》请在三个皮匠报告上搜索。
1、Want to Win More?RESEARCH GUIDE|AUGUST 2022Your guide to boosting customer growth using our award-winning path-to-purchase approachIntroductionFor many businesses,more than half of prospective customers have already made up their mind about what they intend to buy before they even recognized the nee
2、d for a purchase,according to our experience doing path-to-purchase analyses across a range of industries.In our award-winning approach,we have found that certain markets are skewed toward Pre-selectors and Validators,consumer categories that well explain in more detail.Heres the bottom line:if your
3、e in one of these markets,youre losing the battle for new customers before you even knew it started.Unexpected Targeting and Segmentation category for outstanding use of research in advertising3WANT TO WIN MORE?In many markets,half or more of consumers are Pre-selectorsbuyers who arent shoppingtheyv
4、e already determined which brand or provider they want before the need to purchase arose.Another portion are Validatorsthese are essentially Pre-selectors who are comparison shopping to validate their choice.Only a small share makes up True Shopperscustomers who are evaluating all of their options a
5、fter having identified a need.Are You Wasting All of Your“Fight”on a Few True Shoppers?THE REAL PROFILE OF WOULD-BE CUSTOMERSWe have been studying consumer behavior and the path-to-purchase in our proprietary framework since 2016 across different industries,products and services.And,in recent years,
6、we have noticed that the percentage of Pre-selectors is climbing.This is particularly an issue for categories where the decision to buy:is considered a significant spend or decision is often made based on brand trust or loyalty is made based on high awareness of the optionsIn our research,we have fo
7、und that the share of pre-selectors and validators is growing,in certain industries.60%Pre-selectors25%True Shoppers15%Validators4WANT TO WIN MORE?When you factor in Validators,the sliver of the pie that represents True Shoppers shrinks further.Validators are shoppers who have made up their minds pr
8、e-need but are looking at comparable offerings to validate their decision.In other words,they are Pre-selectors who take an extra step in their purchase journey.Lets look at buying a car,for example.Many consumers formulate opinions about car brands and models as they encounter them in their day-to-
9、day life.When it comes time to buy a car,shoppers have a favorite option before they even begin to shop.However,they wont make such a large purchase without doing research firsttheyll look at a range of similar options and compare on features and price.But that process is just to validate their pree
10、xisting opinion.Few shoppers will change their minds along the way;they just want to be prepared for the purchase and take comfort in knowing how their choice stacks up to peers.For companies operating in markets like these,most of the pie of prospective customers is occupied by Pre-selectors and Va
11、lidators,and you may want to adjust your strategy for expanding market share.Getting prospects to consider your product or service before they have the need to buy is one of the biggest components to customer growth.The Validator ChallengeMost companies are doing some research to understand touch-po
12、ints and friction points as their customers go from awareness to consideration to conversion.But we see a common misstep:marketers and product teams tend to over-index their efforts on growing their customer base at the conversion stage,where customers may be evaluating their choices side-by-side.A
13、Common Misconception We See Among MarketersCOMMON MISCONCEPTION:“THE OPPORTUNITY FOR CUSTOMER GROWTH IS AT CONVERSION”AWARENESSCONSIDERATIONCONVERSIONOpportunities Are Up TopFor brand-oriented markets with high awareness and low consideration,the biggest opportunity today is higher up in the funnel.
14、At the conversion stage in the customers journeyat the“bottom”of the funnelyoure only vying for the True Shoppers,approximately 25%of your potential buyers.You can invest in winning more of those shoppers,changing product features,or maybe even cutting pricesbut the return on investment may be quite
15、 low.In a conversion-focused marketing strategy,you wont sway the opinions of all the could-be customers who ruled your offering out long ago.You have to think about how to attract the attention and consideration of Pre-selectors and Validatorswhich is much harder to do,but it has the potential to p
16、rovide a much higher benefit.5WANT TO WIN MORE?The top of the funnel is a complex place to compete.Its a swirling mess of perceptions,biases and misconceptions about your brand,your offering and your competitors.But the marketing teams that are willing to explore that turf stand to gain big benefits
17、.Capitalizing on the Top of the Funnel YOULL SEE HOW SHORT YOUR CUSTOMER JOURNEY REALLY ISWhen we first began our proprietary approach to path-to-purchase journey work in 2016,we were shocked to learn just how short the customer journey usually isand our clients were always shocked by that informati
18、on as well.As marketers research and construct their customers journey,they tend to think of the shopper journey as a long,multistep process.But in reality,the time between need-recognition and purchase is usually over in the blink of an eye.In todays environment,buyers are overwhelmed with choices.
19、There are many offerings to solve every need,and many tools to assess the choices.We know that cognitively,human brains love shortcuts.We use Todays buyers are overwhelmed with choices.There are many offerings to solve every need,and many tools to assess the choices.stereotypes,for instance,to help
20、judge the complexities of a whole person in a shorthand way.Otherwise,its too taxing to assess every person we meet with a full evaluation.Ultimately,modern shopping has become too complex.As the buying process takes up too much bandwidth,shoppers are more prone to cognitive shortcuts.Pre-selecting
21、and journey-shortening are ideal shortcuts.The trend toward pre-selection and shorter purchase journeys may be good for buyers,but it creates a world where its harder for marketers to make gains anywhere along the way.The true battle is to win over as many Pre-selectors as possible.16WANT TO WIN MOR
22、E?YOULL UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT“TRIGGER”GROUPS AND HOW TO WIN WITH THEMNeed help mapping out your purchase journey?If your firm is operating in a market that is facing these trends,our Path to Purchase(P2P)customized research,analyses and recommendations can provide the information and implementati
23、on tools you need to grow.Reach out to our team for more infoyou wont be disappointed.PATH TO PURCHASE TRIGGER GROUPS AND THEIR DISTINCTIVE JOURNEYSCAPITALIZING ON THE TOP OF THE FUNNEL70%Totaln=2,100Onlinesearch proximityOnlinesearch feedbackOnline research educationalShopping websiteOnline researc
24、h27%57%17%31%21%Opened account over the phoneOpened account in storeOpened account on websitePurchase paths are complex and individualized for different industries;there is not one uniform journey from awareness to consideration to conversion.While many customer journey maps start with the customer
25、and work backward to understand how they came to their final decision,thats only one of the journeysmost prospective buyers drop out somewhere along the way.To change that outcome,you have to look at consumer behavior at the beginning of the journey to understand all the different decision points th
26、at lead buyers to drop out.In our experience,we have found that journeys are best grouped according to triggersunderlying needs or events that prompt a buyer to make a choice.Some shoppers have an urgent problem to solve while others are taking a slow approach to making a decision;some are motivated
27、 by novelty or status or leisure or beauty while others just need to resolve an issue that has gotten to a breaking point.If you can look at the world through the lens of triggers,you can construct journey portraits that give you useful information about how to win over more potential customers earl
28、ier.2Purchase paths are complex and individualized for different industries.7WANT TO WIN MORE?CAPITALIZING ON THE TOP OF THE FUNNELYOULL SEE HOW FAR APART“AWARENESS”AND“CONSIDERATION”ARE3The move from awareness to consideration is not a small step its a huge leap.For one thing,awareness can take two
29、 very different forms:Ineffective awareness:This is where buyers say,“I know that your brand exists but I would never consider it for my needs.”Effective awareness:These buyers are open to your brand;they havent ruled your offering out yet.These buyers would say,“This brand may be a viable option fo
30、r me.”These two states of mind are very different and they present marketers with different challenges to solve.There are also different levels of consideration to understand:True consideration:Buyers say they are actively considering your offering or brand.Validation/false consideration:This is the
31、 scenario we discussed earlier,where a buyer is using your offering only as a data point to validate their preexisting preference,as in the case of comparison shopping for cars.Buyers are going through all the same steps as true-consideration buyers,but they are very unlikely to choose your brand at
32、 the end of the process.These interim states of mind are key to understanding your market.At each state,a different set of criteria is required to graduate to the next level.For instance,to get from“ineffective awareness”to“effective awareness,”you might need to earn a high level of trust in your br
33、and.But to get from“effective awareness”to“true consideration,”you might need to appear on a specific shopping platform.The success criteria are different for each state,but you cant address those issues until you identify and understand each state.The move from awareness to consideration is not a s
34、mall step its a huge leap.8WANT TO WIN MORE?Getting a Complicated Process RightIn a world where preselection dominates buying decisions,effective marketers must extend their focus to the top of the funnel.Its a crucial vantage pointone that enables marketers to see the true friction points in their
35、customer-acquisition process and identify strategies to win more.FOCUS ON THE BUYERS YOU LOST ALONG THE WAYFirst,a useful market assessment has to put the most emphasis on understanding who you lost,when and why.Our process is rooted in that point of view.MAKE PRESCRIPTIVE ADVICE BASED ON BEHAVIORAL
36、 SCIENCEFinally,we leave our clients with prescriptive advice based on behavioral science.Understanding the how and why of consumer behavior is tricky.We look to the latest research and identify strategies that can help our clients bring more shoppers through the cognitive stage-gates they must pass
37、 to become customers.USE THE QUALITATIVE INPUT TO CONSTRUCT NONLINEAR NETWORK-STYLE JOURNEY PORTRAITS,OR“PATH MAPS”The qualitative input we gather in our trigger-group studies gives us the information we need to construct larger,quantitative studies of the full prospective-buyer market.As we gather
38、data from each group,we are able to build nonlinear,network-style“path maps”from the model.These maps capture the iterative,nonlinear way shoppers arrive at purchase decisions.34CONDUCT IN-DEPTH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH TO REVEAL TRIGGER-GROUP PROFILESWe start by studying the trigger groups for a purcha
39、se.We have found that grouping by trigger,or need recognition,allows us to see the different buyer journeys more clearly.With this initial input,we can design broad qualitative studies to construct a portrait of each group and assemble a picture of whether and how buyers move through the cognitive s
40、tage-gates from awareness to effective awareness to true consideration to conversion.12At Escalent,we approach this work with a proprietary framework that we call Path to Purchase(P2P).In our framework,four elements drive the output:9WANT TO WIN MORE?We construct network-style path maps for differen
41、t groups of buyers,identifying the most critical inflection points for non-buyers,Pre-selectors and True Shoppers.What are the steps?All path maps capture the steps people take,how frequently the steps are taken and what patterns steps follow.What is the relative influence of each step?This differs
42、by population.To streamline a purchase process for a target population,you must understand which steps matter most to them.70%18%12%Totaln=2,100Talked tofamily/friendsOnlinesearch proximityOnlinesearch feedbackOnline research educationalCalled 1-800numberShopping websiteLocalstoreTalked to peopleOnl
43、ine researchDeepdiveSaw advertisement/received promoSaw advertisementReceived promo27%18%57%17%19%31%7%28%8%8%12%9%27%18%21%5%19%35%30%15%5%7%15%10%Opened account over the phoneOpened account in storeOpened account on websiteWhere are the“friction”points within each path?At each path step in the eva
44、luation process,brands are dropped from consideration.Knowing where and why brands fall informs what needs to change.Where are shoppers getting lost?“Drop”maps illustrate where potential customers are lost in each path group,revealing which friction points have the greatest impact on losing potentia
45、l customers.Understanding that impact is key to retaining shoppers.Our Network-Style Path Maps10WANT TO WIN MORE?Output as Unique as Your Buyer JourneysBuyer markets vary wildly.Some products or services have very competitive customer landscapes while others are dominated by preselected brand loyalt
46、y.Useful journey work must capture and address the unique characteristics of each market.As mentioned earlier,most companies over-index on the ability to grow its customer base with the side-by-side comparison stage of a buyers experience.That may be an effective approach for companies that dont hav
47、e a high level of awareness or already have Useful journey work must capture and address the unique characteristics of each market.high consideration among buyers but struggle with conversion.But most companies are not in that category.Most are struggling to make it to the true-consideration phase.I
48、n turn,the true-consideration phase is increasingly subject to the cognitive shortcuts of overwhelmed shoppers.When companies invest in more product features,or cut profitability by slashing prices,they have very limited upside.Those actions do almost nothing to win over buyers who have ruled your o
49、ffering out somewhere along the way.To win more,marketers and product teams would do well to look higher up in the funnel and invest in shopper journey work that captures the nuances of their entire prospective buyer pool.Since 2016,we have been using our award-winning Path to Purchase approach to h
50、elp companies accurately assess their markets and upgrade their competitive positioning with prescriptive insights driven by behavioral science.We believe path-to-purchase research should go way beyond what the journey looks likeit should reveal the most important interactions for your potential cus
51、tomers and your brand.Through a deep understanding of customer motivations,emotions,considerations and paths,youll know precisely where youre doing well and where you need specific interventions.The result is a well-informed strategy of how and where you can win more business.Do you want to win more
52、 customers?Contact us.Win More!REACH OUT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ESCALENTS PATH TO PURCHASEP+1 734 542 7600E INFOESCALENT.COAbout EscalentEscalent is an award-winning data analytics and advisory firm that helps clients understand human and market behaviors to navigate disruption and business transformat
53、ion.As catalysts of progress for more than 40 years,our strategies guide the worlds leading brands from insights through implementation.Visit escalent.co to see how we are helping shape the brands that are reshaping the world.TALK TO THE EXPERTChad KingVice Presidentchad.kingescalent.co+1 517 281 9293 2022 Escalent.All rights reserved.ESCALENT.CO