Deconstructing the Consumer Decision Journey

Introduction

Welcome to the age of the customer. Today's buyers are more informed and empowered than ever before, with access to a wealth of information available at their fingertips 24/7. This has resulted in a fundamental shift in how consumers shop — the traditional linear customer journey is outdated, and a new model has emerged that reflects today's digital-first environment. The consumer decision journey (CDJ) illustrates this new reality by breaking down each stage of the modern shopping experience into distinct phases. In this article, we'll discuss what it means for marketers to embrace this model and share five actionable tips for improving your marketing strategy along each step of the way.

Trigger

As you may have guessed, triggers are the bits of information that catch your attention and cause you to take action. They can be environmental (a billboard), social (a friend talking about a product), or internal (you suddenly realize that you need to buy a new pair of shoes).

Trigger marketing is a relatively new concept compared to other forms of advertising, but it's already making its mark in consumer behavior. While traditional advertising techniques like direct mailing and radio spots are often focused on reaching as many customers as possible by bombarding them with messages, trigger marketing focuses more narrowly on individual consumers who share certain characteristics—like demographics or psychographics—with one another. The idea is that these types of people will respond better than others if their individual needs are met through unique connections between brands and individuals."

Initial consideration set

An initial consideration set is a group of products that a consumer considers when making a purchase. It's also known as an early market, prospect pool or target market. An initial consideration set is different from a purchase set because it's smaller in number and less likely to be fully qualified yet. It can consist of one product, multiple products or even all possible solutions for the problem at hand – it all depends on the situation!

A few key factors contribute to an initial consideration set:

• Consumers often use heuristics in their decision-making process; they learn about products by taking cues from other people, who are often opinion leaders within your industry. For example, if you were looking for new tennis shoes and someone told you about how much they loved their Nike Air Max sneakers (which happen to be part of Nike's brand), then that person would have become part of your potential initial consideration set when shopping around online later on down the line!

Active evaluation

The consumer is actively looking for information about the product. For example, they might be watching videos and reading reviews to learn more about the product or researching the features and benefits of a product. The consumer is looking at prices as well.

Moment of purchase

The moment of purchase is a critical part of the journey, and it represents the time when the consumer makes a final decision to buy a product or service. A number of factors can identify this, but primarily because it's when all other elements stop being important in comparison with this one factor. For example, if you're in a store looking at televisions and decide that you want one but don't have enough cash on hand, you'll likely come back later with more money so that your purchase is complete. If your decision was made primarily based on price (i.e., "I'm only going to buy this TV if it's cheaper than $500"), then nothing else matters except for finding out what that price is so that you can pay for it and take possession of your new television set as quickly as possible.

Postpurchase experience (and loyalty)

The post-purchase experience is one of the most critical touchpoints in the decision journey. Loyalty is not just about repeat purchases; it's about long-term relationships. Suppose you've ever had a favorite restaurant or clothing brand. In that case, chances are that loyalty has been cultivated through positive experiences at every stage of your relationship with them—and the same applies to your customers.

If you want loyal customers who will stay with your brand for years, focus on creating a positive experience for them throughout their entire journey with you—starting from identifying what they need and ending with creating an image of value in their mind.

The consumer decision journey is one of the most important concepts for marketers to understand about their buyers.

The consumer decision journey is one of the most important concepts for marketers to understand about their buyers.

The consumer decision journey is simply defined as "the process that consumers go through when making a buying decision" (Synthesio). It's an important concept because it helps you understand how to reach your audience and what type of content they need at each stage of their journey.

This concept is different from other marketing models, like the purchase funnel or consumer decision process, because it helps marketers understand the path that consumers take before they make a purchase—and how this path differs from person to person. For example, let's say I want to buy a new pair of jeans; my clothing brand might have me going through many stages in my purchase journey: research (I'm researching brands online), consideration (I decide which brand I want) and finally evaluation/purchase (I make my choice!).

Conclusion

While the CDJ is a simple model, it's one of the most useful for understanding how we make decisions. It lays out how buyers move from one stage to another during the decision-making process, and it provides marketers with two important insights that you can use to improve your marketing:

First, it makes clear that brand awareness isn't enough—you also need to build up brand favorability so that your company is top of mind when people are doing their research and making their final purchase decision.

Second, it makes clear that every stage of the CDJ contains opportunities to communicate with customers and build loyalty. You don't have just one chance at winning over a buyer; you have multiple chances. Make sure you make the most of them!