Online marketing is like any other marketing, where the business invests, and expects to receive some revenue over the investment. However, besides the ROI, there are some other factors, which represent the long-term success of the business online.
In online web marketing, the selection of the keywords holds the utmost importance. The keywords selected, provide the company with revenue. However, the thing that guarantees the long-term success of the business is the knowledge of consumer behavior and their decision making process.
The lines below give a detail of consumers’ research process while reaching a purchase decision. A business needs to keep up with all these steps of the process.
1. Need Awareness:
The first step of the purchase process is the need. When buyers feel the need of something, it is then when they indulge in research. A business needs to have a good knowledge of what are the needs of its targeted market.
2. Information Search:
Once the buyer has identified its need, then he is going to search for the products or services that fulfill his need on the internet. For this purpose, the buyer will go to different resources that provide him information pertaining to the need.
At this point, a business needs to do two things:
- Firstly, the business needs to be visible to the buyer for the relevant terms.
- Secondly, the business needs to know about the places where buyer searches for information like, the search engines, and the review websites.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives:
After the research, consumer analyzes and evaluates the alternatives, and selects 3-5 products or services that fulfill the required needs.
4. Purchase Decision:
This is the stage where a web marketing company would have the expertise of converting the potential prospect into a sale. To be successful in this step of purchase, a business needs to be present for the potential buyer in the above-mentioned steps also. Without any presence in the above steps, a business cannot make a buyer purchase from its website.
5. Post Purchase:
This is the stage, where a business can convert a customer into a loyal and repeating customer. At this stage of the purchase cycle, consumers show their satisfaction of the product. A business needs to reach out to the consumer, ask them about the product, and perhaps persuade them to write a review.
Conclusion:
Most of the businesses make the mistake of only targeting the customers on the purchase decision phase, which makes it very hard to convert a potential prospect into a customer. To capture the consumers efficiently, a business needs to be there on all the phases of consumer research process.