Following a conventional way of marketing will soon become futile in the business space. Earlier, the marketers used to map every buyer’s journey to know their behavioral pattern such as their interaction with the product throughout the sales cycle. And, this knowledge was enough to strengthen the customer experience in the future.
Though it is a good selling plan to grab the attention of the users, it does not give the result they are deemed to deliver in this age. So, the question is why the once proven tactics are not running well now? What are the moves marketers must consider to bring back their drowning sales?
The answer is simple.
When you are unable to gauge the overall performance of your plans, you will find it tough to conclude where your efforts are getting lost. Hence, you solely cannot rely on the old model.
The linear funnel designed by advertising pioneer St. Elmo Lewis has evolved. But it does not mean that the above-shown model has ceased working fully. It has just gradually refined and grown into a new form of marketing schemes.
The new marketing funnel (which includes – awareness, purchase, various marketing services, campaigns, sales, considerations, and much more) is not a funnel anymore. It is a journey full of twists. Hence, you need to make some changes to your current marketing process before pushing the buyers into a straight line.
Here are the key changes every marketer should consider before mapping the buyer’s journey.
- Buyers Rely On Many Channels Rather Than Sales Reps Only
A report by Forrester states that 68% of B2B users prefer to research online before making any purchases. And, 60% of buyers do not like to talk with sales reps initially. They will use every source they find online to make an informed choice. So, make your brand available in almost every corner of the internet. You can do so by publishing blog posts, whitepapers, eBooks, email sequences, and more consistently.
- Customer Experience Plays Crucial Role
A recent study from Walker says that the buyer experience will overtake price and product as the key differentiator of brands by 2020. Hence, the more you spend on customer comfort, the more it strikes your sales rate. Along with the use of automation for marketing tactics, try to sound human and learn the pain points of the clients. Fix their issue soon and offer real value. It is ample to make them happy.
- Buying is a Task and Not Journey Anymore
Customers do not think of their buying process as a journey. They always treat it as a set of tasks that provide an answer to their problem.
It covers-
- Evaluating many solutions and their features.
- Trying the demo of a solution and planning its funds.
- Testing the product with the help of their team.
- Assessing customer support.
These are just a sample of tasks they try before making a purchase decision. They perform these actions for all the solutions they require from vendors or external sources. Hence, make yourself available in every stage of their task.
It is time for a new model, which covers multiple dimensions than a plain linear funnel. This change is a motive for the marketers to focus more on customer satisfaction and drawing them back to your store again. It is crucial than any short-term customer acquisition plans. So make your buyers feel awesome while they interact with your brand.
