The purchase process for a user is the same at all times, but it can last months, years, or happen in seconds. This purchase process occurs daily, and we often don’t even see it happening; it occurs without us thinking about it.
What is the Purchase Process?
The purchase process is what the consumer does before, during, and at the time of acquiring a service or product, and the process can occur over a long period of time or in a very short period. Knowing this purchase process, identifying it, and aligning it with your sales funnel is essential to achieve a good purchasing experience and good objectives.
Consumer behavior is the understanding and analysis of the factors that influence the behavior of a market when buying a product or service. To better understand it, it’s how a person decides based on time, money, and effort factors to meet their consumption needs.
What are the stages of the purchase process?
Learning and Discovery
This stage of the purchase process begins when the user is not so sure that they have a problem, referring even to a need. At this point, they just begin to see which companies exist and which ones catch their attention more.
Problem Recognition
In the user’s purchase process, problem recognition is the basis for there being a need to buy. The recognition that there is a need to cover a need or a problem occurs at this moment, this need can be self-generated or induced by companies through marketing and that’s when the real search begins.
Solution Consideration
At this point in the purchase process, the user is reviewing and evaluating the possible brands or companies from which they can buy, starting to research and inquire more deeply into the benefits each one offers.
Purchase Decision
When the customer reaches this point, there is no turning back; the user has already decided to make the purchase of the desired product or service knowing exactly the benefit they expect to obtain.
If at the last point of the purchase process the consumer does not get what they expected, there is a great possibility of disappointment and as we know this causes us not only to lose a customer, but they spread the word, something that would be completely opposite if this customer receives more than what they expected.
It is important to highlight other instances that have to do with the purchase process or that help you speed up the same. For example, when a user wants to buy something, they look for the product they want to acquire to have validity, whether real or not, and that it really works for what they want, and to help them with this, a very good tool is to use comments or reviews.
Sell More with Comments and Reviews
Comments and reviews can help you sell many more products, thanks to the fact that even though your product looks impeccable, your site is perfect, and you promise everything, even though it is true, your word is all they see, so having comments is of utmost importance to allow users to validate if the information is true through the experience of other consumers.
Encouraging reviews is necessary and useful, to achieve it you can carry out various strategies:
Strategies to Encourage Reviews on Your Products
Discounts for Reviews
When you manage to sell a product, you can offer users discounts on their next purchases in exchange for a review on your website or in your restaurant, even if you sell through platforms like Mercado Libre or Amazon.
Unforgettable Experience
Ensure that the process of purchasing and obtaining the product provides the user with an excellent experience so that the user’s emotion is expressed in a good review.
Email Marketing for Reviews
You can directly request the review right after they have made the purchase by sending the email directly to the users and receiving the invitation to give a review.
Using comments in your purchase process is essential and understanding that this is directly related to the sales funnel and managing to link these two to understand and solve the real problems of the customers and convince them is something that will optimize your brand and your business.
Have you ever noticed these points from your purchases or do you overlook them? What do you think about these steps we live without realizing it?
Welcome to the new norm.