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As buying behavior shifts from quick decisions to informed decision-making, how does your business stack up?

The way consumers shop for goods has changed drastically over the last decade. It is now commonplace to exchange money for goods and services both online and offline. There is a level of trust built into this new model of decision making that influences buyer behavior. This model, more than ever, is impacted by the decisions made outside of each purchase.

1) First, a customer would be attracted to a business or brand through an advertisement. This is the immediate stimulus that results in action.

2) Second, the customer would experience their first moment of truth as they made a purchase at a business.

3) Lastly, depending on the customer experience, the customer would share their thoughts via word of mouth. This sharing of product knowledge is known as the second moment of truth.

Now let’s consider the last time you made a purchase. How long did the purchase take? Likely under 5 minutes. How long did the decision making process take? Likely considerably longer.

..and the fact is GOOGLE is always at your fingertips.

When looking at both models they are largely the same. A consumer becomes aware of a product or service, gathers information, and eventually decides to buy or not buy based off of the information.

What has changed is the way that consumers gather information as part of the customer journey. With Google, access to information has never been easier and a customer’s ability to compare products, companies, or services allows customers to have greater purchasing power.

Google refers to the search and research aspect of the customer lifecycle as the Zero Moment of Truth or ZMOT. Google first introduced this ideology in 2011, and completely changed the way we market to consumers.

Transform the way consumers interact with your brand by guiding them along the customer journey from awareness to advocacy.

Customers travel through a series of steps – whether consciously or not – before they make a purchase at a local business. This is known as the customer journey. There is, of course, the ultimate point-of-purchase where the consumers fulfills their buying need. But there are so many steps both before and after that play an important role in the customer journey.

AWARENESS – Over time, the customer journey has changed as the discovery process adapts to new technology. One thing that has not changed is the presence of a stimulating moment in the customer journey to kick off the process. This might be a brand, product, or business that piques the interest of a consumer.

Today, digital marketing is one of the strongest stimuli in regards to the first step in the customer journey. Digital marketing budgets increase substantially year-by-year, and as major platforms like Google and Facebook continue to innovate, more businesses will adopt digital marketing in their marketing stack.

Brand awareness through the smart curation of digital marketing ads will generate demand. You need to capitalize on this moment and make sure consumers see what you want them to see.

FINDABILITY – Findability is exactly as it sounds. Local businesses need to be found online because most business searches now take place at the fingertips of consumers wherever they are. With Google and other search engines, it has never been easier or more convenient for consumers to get exactly what they want when they want it – and compare what they find with every other option – almost immediately.

Customers don’t need to look very far to search for, and find, what they are looking for. Maybe a small business cannot compete with a big brand when it comes to pricing. But a consumer will take notice in a local listings search if your brand is near-by, highly-rated, and looks active online. So make sure when customers are looking, your brand(s) are searchable, active, and accurate.

REPUTATION – Customers do not show up to the first business they see anymore, they spend time researching options beforehand. That means if your business has a negative – or nonexistent – presence online, it is likely customers will look elsewhere for a similar product or service. Local businesses must be aware of the impact that online conversation has on the performance of their business and the influence that online discussion has on the customer journey. There are two main research outlets customers turn to: Online Reviews and Social Media.

If a business is active on social media, replying to online conversations, and has a glowing 4-5 star rating on online review sites they are likely to win the business of customers searching for similar products and services.

CONVERSION – If a customer is satisfied with the amount of product research they’ve done, it is likely that they are ready to make a purchasing decision. Many businesses have moved their services to their website, including E-Commerce options that allow online purchasing to make this decision that much easier. Websites – and gateways for online information (including listings, reviews, and social) act as the virtual doorway for consumers to “visit” a local business. Without a strong online presence, a local business isn’t seen by people searching for their products and services.

As more and more customers adopt the online shopping lifestyle, the presence of websites and E-Commerce options become more significant. If a customer prefers to shop in-store, a website may list different brands or products that a customer can expect to see in the store. Whether a business’s website is equipped with e-commerce capabilities or not, it is still extremely important to have a website. This leads back to that concept of findability.

There are SO many things that a modern business has got to get right…and there are THOUSANDS of competitive choices that are just a few clicks away.

You can do AMAZING Advertising, have GREAT SEO, be listed in hundreds of directories…even work tirelessly bloging you expertise and posting to social media…BUT…

BUT…if the customer has basically made up their mind, yet struggles with the user interface of your website…or can’t quickly find the product they want in your catalog…you may not realize how much of YOUR MARKETING DOLLARS are fueling sales over at your competitor’s store.

There is an old saying, “I know that about half of my marketing budget is working…but I don’t know which half.” Those were times when it was difficult to track the effort, but you could measure the results.

Now we are flooded with Analytics…yet, for the most part Business Owners don’t know if their online business model is working as effectively and efficiently as it could. ARE THERE HOLES in your bucket?

Our Digital Diagnostic Report is designed to find those leaks. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to run a FREE diagnostic while it is being offered.