The 5 Stages of a Customer's Buying Journey

Whether you are a relatively new or an established service company, ensuring you are focussing on your customers experience is critical to solidify yourself as an industry leader.

An important question to ask is have you truly considered a customer’s buying journey? Are you potentially adding roadblocks which may be hindering conversions?

You may have apprehensions allowing your customers to book online, concerns about your competitors seeing your pricing online, or perhaps for a number of other reasons. 

Let’s first take a look at the 5 stages of a customer’s buying journey and how you can increase each phase with your customer’s experience in mind.

The 5 Stages of a Customer's Buying Journey and Your Service Company.

Stage 1. Customers Recognize They Need Your Services.

A customer identifying they have a problem can manifest in several different ways.

In some cases a customer may be feeling the effects of an issue, such as their check engine light on in their car, but they are unsure what the problem is or how to fix it.

In other cases, the problem is more obvious. A customer is going to work and they have a flat battery in their car. They immediately know they have a problem and know something needs to be immediately done to fix it. 

There may be times when a customer discovers a problem they didn’t know they had. This occurs when marketing cleverly displays what they are missing out on, such as that they are wasting half of their day driving to a dealership to get their vehicle repaired when driving past a mobile van offering the same services.

As a business owner and often also the marketer, you need to understand when customers identify they have a problem and have a need for your services.

Stage 2. The Customer Starts Looking for Information to Help Fix Their Problem.

Very simple to explain, the customer seeks out solutions for their problem.

Their search can consist of word of mouth searching, online search and social media searches.

The majority of consumers turn to Google when looking for information. To that end, you need to ensure that you are investing in the right resources to ensure your keywords and SEO are ranking as well as optimizing your website accordingly. 

Another key information source is word of mouth. Even though this is harder to find, referrals are a great source of information for customers which influence their decision making.

Tip: Rather than waiting for a customer to identify their problem, send a solution to the customer they never knew they needed. By using a share code marketing tool you give your customers the power to send share codes to their friends and family, business owners can increase sales by 30% with the use of share codes. 

Stage 3. The Evaluation of Solutions.

Customers usually make a shortlist between companies for their needs.

For instance, someone who’s got a flat battery is likely to be looking for an emergency solution. They want all the information easy to find and quickly available. 

The objective is to position your product as the best choice for the shopper. Here are some of the top things a customer will consciously and subconsciously look for when making their decision:

  1. Aesthetics.
  2. Reliability.
  3. The cost.
  4. When the solution is available.
  5. Ease of use.
  6. Communication.

Stage 4. Purchase Phase.

All of your marketing, testimonials and pricing led customers to choose your service to fix their problem. This is when your customers are ready to throw their money at the problem and get things moving. 

It’s important here to note that you should not be complacent that the above is always going to be enough. You can still lose them if you don’t offer a smooth booking experience.

Always strive to make the process as quick and painless as possible. Think of your favourite websites, such as Amazon. Their checkout is a one click process, your card is stored, you can reorder previous orders, and you get a confirmed delivery date. Easy!

Now take that Amazon experience and add in some additional steps that many service companies add, let’s add a hidden price, a quote request form or required phone call and throw in a service date window between the hours of 8am-5pm…

Here customers will usually keep shopping until they find an instant confirmation.

The key is to minimize the number of hoops that people have to jump through in order to complete the purchase.

Stage 5. The Post Purchase Phase.

Congratulations, you did it! 

Now it’s time to gather your customers’ feedback. You also want to ensure customers remain repeat customers. Retention is a critical component to your service companies success and hitting your growth goals. 

Here are a few things to consider if you are gathering essential feedback:

Do you have a rate or review system attached to each order?
Do your customers have your Google and Facebook site for quick review?

How about the referral of friends and family, do they have the power to share their experience and add a new revenue stream for your service company? 

Conclusion

Ensuring you understand the 5 stages in a customer’s buying journey you ensure you offer the most attractive, efficient and accurate services on the market, ensuring your position as a industry leader, and increasing your sales conversions time after time.

Give Your Customers The Experience They Want Today!

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