A considered purchase is characterized by a complex buying decision with a high degree of financial and/or emotional risk and reward. This process requires meaningful investigation and comparison by key decision-makers and influencers prior to a transaction.
Any retail purchase that involves research before buying or involves multiple stakeholders is a considered purchase. Consumer durables like mattresses, appliances, and large electronics are obvious categories where considered purchase marketing methodologies apply. But considered purchase marketing works even for off-the-shelf brands breaking into new audience segments, releasing new products, or trying to get consumers to see them in a different way.
A considered purchase product requires high involvement in the path to purchase from both the brand and the consumer — with both parties significantly benefiting from considered purchase marketing methodologies. Considered purchase products and services span B2C and B2B categories:
Maintaining ongoing value to subscription service customers is vital in both the pre- and post-sale experience because these services come with recurring fees that give the customer the opportunity to regularly evaluate the service. For example, we saw the evolution of Netflix from a DVD mail service to a full content creator and provider. Similarly, Hulu started creating its own content, and recently Disney+ landed on the scene, providing classics and new content that has helped shape the market.
With the typical B2B new customer sales cycle lasting 4-6 months, the industrial services category often uses considered purchase marketing methodologies. Even existing B2B customers require 1-3 months to make another purchase. The sales cycle is longer, the dollar amounts are higher investments, and decisions include multiple stakeholders, which means there is a high-touch approach needed to closing industrial service deals.
People don’t take matters of money lightly, making any decision involving financial services a considered purchase. Whether they’re choosing a personal bank to handle their checking and savings accounts, or a financial group to handle a company acquisition, the path to purchase is one made with thought and consideration. For our banking clients like Union Savings Bank and Community Services Financial Bank, we were able to apply considered purchase methodologies to extend their reach and map their purchase process to meet their customers where they are.
Whether you’re an individual in search of a new doctor or senior care service, or a B2B healthcare provider selling medical technology, a healthcare decision falls into a considered purchase category. Both B2C and B2B healthcare audiences look to online content to educate themselves before making a healthcare decision. In fact, more than 80% of Americans look for health information online. Unlike many industries, though, the healthcare industry must take into strong consideration the optics involved in marketing — balancing that fine line between selling and showing concern for the well-being of patients/customers.
Utilizing strategies from considered purchase methodology will lead to better retail activation and, in turn, better communication plans. These plans will identify your target personas, the kinds/types of content they need, the right channels for content delivery, and the metrics by which you measure success.
If you’ve ever been to a major retailer, grocery store, or even a gas station, you’ve noticed they have conveniently placed items by the check-out that are hard to resist — those are impulse buys. Other purchases take more time, research, review finding, blog reading, and planning — those are considered purchases.
Successfully navigating either type of purchase requires a great understanding of your consumers’ psychology throughout the purchase path. The differences between impulse and considered purchases can be narrowed down to three key areas:
Considered purchase buyers are sponges, always looking to soak up as much information as they can before making their final decision, which means you’ll need to have any and all information they might need readily available. People love how-to and explainer videos, rich blog content, and any other form of content that gives a better understanding of what they’re about to purchase. Your product and services pages should be robust — full of pricing, comparisons, details, and images so buyers can see exactly what they’re getting and why it’s better than the competition.
When establishing or identifying your ideal customer persona, it’s more important to establish the “why” than a specific “who.” Painting a broad and robust picture allows you to more effectively and efficiently bring buyers into your sales funnel and provide them with pertinent information that resonates with them. You need to understand how your persona views the problem, evaluates the solution, and what will ultimately make them pull the trigger to make a purchase. If you understand why buyers are looking for your product, you can speak to the solution they're seeking, rather than just push features of your product that may not directly hit home.
A successful content strategy provides context for the buyer as they move along the stages of their journey, gathering different content at different times according to their changing needs. That content should also be able to move them along to the next stage of their journey, closer to the bottom of the funnel. For example, if your buyer reads a blog post that educates them on how to identify the kind of problem they’re currently experiencing, don’t leave them there, simply validating their problem exists. Use marketing automation to suggest other content that will give you insights into both their motivations and their place in the journey. If they read another blog, they might not be ready to make a purchase and are still educating themselves. But if they go straight to a demo of how your product clearly solves their problem, you'll know they're priming themselves for a sales conversation.
By utilizing marketing automation platforms that allow you to collect data from multiple touch-points across the customer's journey, you’ll be able to serve them content as they need it and avoid frustrating wastes of time.
In many cases, a considered purchase decision requires earning the trust of more than one purchase decision-maker. Here are a few ways to gain trust across all considered purchase stakeholders:
Our considered purchase approach to marketing is a sustainable methodology that sets you up for long-term success.
By deep-diving into your target buyer’s mindset, we identify the right levers that need to be switched on (and off) to transform consumers into customers. In effect, we turn your purchase funnel upside down to connect both rationally and emotionally sooner and more effectively.
Still not sure about the considered purchase approach?
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