Customers are savvy these days. Before making a big purchase or signing a contract, they are likely to do their due diligence on search engines, social media, review sites, and YouTube channels, gathering all the information that they can. In different phases of the buying cycle, they will be looking for different things. So what can you do to make sure that your potential customer is getting the information that you want them to have? How do you build a relationship with your customer online, and what should you do to make sure that you address each phase of the buying cycle in a way that provides value and encourages sales? This infographic from IVCi talks about the visual collaboration that you should be offering customers in each phase in order to build awareness and trust. Let’s take a look.
- Awareness. This is the phase where customers are first discovering their pain points, but they may not know how to fix them – yet. Your goal for this phase is to raise awareness of your company’s solutions to their problems. You can do this through on-demand solution videos, viral videos that spread the word of your organization, and through initial discovery sales calls. If a customer hasn’t heard of you, chances are you are not going to get their business, so your goal at this stage is to get on their radar.
- Consideration. Your customers have started to figure out how to fix their problems at this stage, and they may be spending some time researching their options. This is the stage where customer reviews and testimonials can play a big role in getting their business. Customers will be looking for confirmation from other customers that your product is the right one for them, so set up an area on your website to host these reviews. On-demand product videos and live sales demos are also key – you want to really demonstrate the strengths of your solutions since customers are likely also checking out your competitors at this stage.
- Decision. This is the final stage of the buying cycle – your customer has pretty much made their choice and they are ready to take the plunge. They may be concerned about what happens after they buy, so your best bet for this stage is to provide live product or technical support, on-demand training, and live video training – your customer wants to know that there will be help for them after purchase if needed.
Providing information and interactions tailored to each stage of the buying cycle builds awareness and trust, and can help the customer feel a lot more comfortable about choosing your product or service. Is your organization providing visual resources for each phase?
