Your customer may not be ready to choose you yet.
They may still be figuring out what problem they’re trying to solve.
Before making a decision, customers move through a process of understanding their needs, exploring their options, choosing what feels right, and deciding whether to stick around.
The information that helps them early on may be very different from what they need when they’re ready to take action.
What they need from your marketing changes along the way.
That’s why Question Three in our Five Questions Every Growing Business Should Answer series is: How do your customers think?
Knowing Your Customer Is Only the Beginning
In Question Two: Who Are You Trying to Reach?, we looked at the importance of understanding your best-fit customer.
But knowing who you’re talking to doesn’t necessarily tell you what they need to hear right now. That depends on their stage in the decision-making process.
That’s where the Buyer’s Journey comes in.
The Buyer’s Journey: From Awareness to Retention
The Buyer’s Journey is a way to better understand how a customer’s mindset changes as they move closer to a purchase and beyond it.
Each stage comes with different questions, concerns, and information needs. Understanding those differences can help you create marketing that meets customers where they are without pushing them toward a step they aren’t ready for.
So, what might your customer be thinking at each stage?
Awareness: “I Have a Problem.”
At this stage, your customer may not be looking for a business at all. They’re recognizing a problem, need, or opportunity and trying to understand it.
Your marketing can help them make sense of what’s happening and learn more, without pushing them toward a decision too soon.
Consideration: “What Are My Options?”
At this stage, the customer understands the problem and is starting to explore possible solutions. They may be researching, asking questions, comparing options, and deciding what matters most to them.
Your marketing can help them evaluate their choices, answer common questions, and keep moving forward.
Decision: “Who Should I Choose?”
At this stage, the customer is getting closer to a decision and may be comparing businesses more closely.
They’re looking for reasons to feel confident in their choice, from reviews and testimonials to clear pricing, processes, and proof of your work.
Your marketing should build confidence and make the next step clear and easy to take.
Retention: “Why Should I Stay?”
The journey doesn’t end when someone becomes a customer.
Continued communication, helpful follow-up, and a positive experience can strengthen the relationship and give customers more reasons to return and recommend your business to others.
Your marketing should continue providing value long after the initial sale.
What Does This Mean for Your Marketing?
The same customer can need very different things from your marketing depending on where they are in the Buyer’s Journey:
- Awareness: Help them understand the problem.
- Consideration: Help them explore their options.
- Decision: Give them confidence to take the next step.
- Retention: Give them reasons to stay connected.
What works at one stage may not work at another.
The right message delivered at the wrong stage may still fail to connect.
Meet Your Customers Where They Are
Understanding how your customers think helps you create marketing that supports their journey, not just your end goal.
When you know what they need at each stage, you can be more intentional about the information you share, the messages you use, and the next steps you offer.
Next in the series, we’ll take a closer look at Question Four: What Must Your Marketing Do?