Consumer Buying Process – Flow

Does your site have flow? I’m not talking about the Shopping Cart. I mean do you understand the typical consumer buying process for your product or service? Do you get it, can you recite it, can you prove it?

Before we get to your website, let’s talk about something concrete that we both understand. Candy bars and BMW’s.

What is the process of buying a candy bar? How much research is done? How much risk does it involve? Does it require asking friends their opinion, checking for testimonials, reading the ingredients, calculating calories or searching for recall alerts? What does it really take to sell a candy bar to a consumer?

Now compare that to a BMW. Disregard the price difference for a moment and think about what it takes a prospective buyer to make that decision? Could you sell a BMW at the check-out in Kroger? Could you sell it without pamphlets, websites, reviews or mentions in car magazines? Could you sell it without information about gas mileage, engine size, resale value? What really is the process of buying a BMW?

Think hard about what you do. Whether you post coupons, sell tutoring services, fix copy machines, run a mastermind group or offer social media help . . . what is the process the buyer must go through to use your services. Even if it is something simple like printing coupons, what is the process a person goes through before printing?

Write all those steps down and look for the answers to those questions in your sales funnel? Do they need social proof? Do they need to know you’re legitimate? Do they need to see evidence of your expertise? Do they need to know your price and how it compares to your competitors? OrĀ  in the case of a Kings Hawaiian Bread coupon do they just need a mouth-water recipe to convince them to print the coupon?

What is the consumer buying process?

I know. You think there are 100 different ways people buy your services,right? Well pick one and perfect that funnel then move on to the second way. Who knows maybe perfecting one way will be enough income to keep you busy.