The term considered purchase relates to the amount of research, a potential customer engages in before buying. The amount of research undertaken is typically proportional to the size of the purchase. In other words, you would do a lot more research for a $1000 purchase than you would for the $2 purchase. Right?
Also, the amount research undertaken increases significantly as the risk associated with the purchase increases. In other words, if the buyer is betting their job, savings, health, or their relationship on a successful purchase, they are going to research and research and more research.
We know this from extensive data from Google, Hubspot and other platforms. You know this from personal experience. Just check in with your own process for educating yourself before making large purchases.
So, here are 7 essential reasons to add “considered purchase” to your marketing vocabulary and strategy:
- The day of the salesperson having all the answers is over. Consumers are their own salesperson. They can find most or all of information they need to make buying decisions online. They no longer rely on sales people like they did in the past. They do rely on businesses to provide the knowledge they need to make their decisions.
- 70% (and growing) of all purchases begin with online research. Today, it’s the marketer’s job (not the salesperson’s) is to make sure the information about your products is there when your prospect’s do their research.
- If your product or service stimulates or requires research, you need to have a well-constructed content plan. You need content marketing.
- If your product or service does not need research you may wish to invest more resources in direct and more frequent advertising or other ways to attract customers to your business. Content marketing may not be necessary.
- The concept of attracting prospects with content they need to complete purchase research is inbound marketing. With inbound marketing you attract and capture people who are looking for the products and services you offer. This is in stark contrast to advertising that interrupts and distracts the user when they’re not ready to buy.Think of it this way:
- With a product or service that lends itself to research, you use inbound marketing to create prospects via information and generating leads.
- With a product (less likely a service) that is minor, planned or impulsive, you use more advertising to capture buyers and make sales.
You can learn more about inbound marketing from HubSpot in this article.
When researching a considered purchase, a prospect goes through three different stages:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Decision
You need to deliver different content for each of these stages:
- In the awareness stage, prospects need to understand, in general, what your product or service can do.
- In the consideration stage, they need more detailed information. How does it work, how is it implemented? What are the organization benefits? What is the ROI?
- In the decision stage, they are comparing your offering to your competitor’s. They are close to becoming customers.
- You now have this information to incorporate into your marketing strategy. Chances are, your top competitors do not have it, which gives you, the reader, an advantage. In a busy online world, with competitors entering the market all the time, one idea, one concept, one head start can make or break your businesses’ bottom line. Now you have one.
Now, the million-dollar question is: Are your products and services a considered purchase? If they are, we hope these lucky 7 Essential Reasons to Add the Term “Considered Purchase” to Your Business Vocabulary give you and your team a new opportunity to rock your sales!
