The mobile marketing purchase funnel

[Reyed Mia (Apprentice, DIU)]

The mobile marketing purchase funnel

I struggled, as have many, to try to illustrate in a concise way, what has been going on within the marketplace, and how consumer behavioral changes have been impacting marketing. Over the years marketers have developed a number of visual models and frameworks to help organize their strategic and tactical efforts, and to use marketing, specifically mobile marketing, to achieve their business objectives. One of the most common frameworks adopted by marketers to date, is the purchase funnel, a concept first envisioned by Saint Elmo Lewis in 1889, a time when print advertising was nascent, television did not exist, and the model of marketing as we know it today was at least 70 years in the future.

The purchase funnel has evolved over the years, but its basic flow is the same. Consumers become aware of a marketer's offering, often through advertising. They form an opinion of the offering. They consider buying the offering. They develop a preference to buy. And if the marketing has been successful, they buy. The original purchase funnel stopped at step five. Over the last 20 years, however, three new steps are often added to the purchase funnel. The new steps added include: consumers start using and adopting your product or service, they become loyal users, and they advocate for your product, either through word-of-mouth marketing or social media marketing.

Here are the steps of the purchase funnel. Awareness: In the awareness stage, the consumer is learning about your brand, or its offering for the first time. Opinion: The consumer starts to decide if they like or dislike the idea of purchasing your product or service. Consideration: in the consideration stage, the consumer begins to interact and form an impression about your brand and its offerings. And if this impression is positive the consumer may begin to develop a preference for one or more of your products, or your brand. Preference: In the preference stage the consumer's opinion starts to form, and starts to turn to like.

Transaction: in the transaction stage of the journey, the consumer purchases your good or service. Adoption: the adoption stage is the initial experience the consumer has with your good or service. And if it is positive, this may lead to repeat purchases and loyalty. Loyalty: if you are successful your customers will reach the loyalty stage. They will continue to buy your goods and services, and be less influenced by market pressures to switch from your products to your competitor's. Finally, there is the advocacy stage.

And if you've reached this stage in the customer journey, you are truly fortunate, since your customers will help you do your job. They will express their satisfaction with your goods and services. They'll like them, make positive posts, tweets and tell their friends and network about the value they're getting from your business. Keep in mind, however, there's also the potential of negative advocacy. If you're not taking care of your customers they can easily use the same channels to complain about your goods and services. So you always want to be monitoring the communication of your customers, to make sure that you're taking good care of them.

Historically, marketing was a one-way broadcast medium. There was no interactivity, so the funnel was linear in nature. This has changed in the last 20 years. With the introduction of the internet, and the adoption of mobile and social media, the purchase funnel has changed. Some people now refer to it as the purchase pretzel, given the congruence of online, offline, mobile, and related channels. It's really important, however, that marketers recognize the true impact that mobile is having now in the marketplace. And that is, mobile is shifting the marketplace power from the hands of the marketer to the hands of the consumer.

Today's consumers have choice. With a few key-taps of their smart phone, they can find the optimal product at the best price that meets their needs. In fact, they can do this while they are standing in your store. They can look at your product, play with your product, experience it, but buy it online or somewhere else. This is a phenomenon called showrooming. According to industry reports, 63 percent of people showroom, often or sometimes. It's really important for you to not fight these changes in consumer behavior, because you won't win.

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/mobile-marketing-foundations/the-mobile-marketing-purchase-funnel