Understanding each phase of a buyer’s journey is crucial to creating better content for them. This article will provide an in-depth explanation of the “consideration phase,” the second phase of the four-step buyer’s journey. Here you will learn how to attract more traffic, create content for buyers in the consideration phase, and tips to market yourself to a sale.
What is the Consideration Phase?
The consideration phase is the point at which buyers have recognized a problem with their inbound marketing techniques. These prospects have started exploring possibilities to correct it.
Now that we have defined the term itself, it is time to decode what stage of the buyer’s journey your prospect is in. After all, you want to market to each prospect effectively!
How do I figure out what stage of the buyer’s journey my prospect is in?
When examining a prospect, keep in mind the markers and milestones of each stage in the buyer’s journey:
Stage #1: Awareness
- Buyer is becoming aware of a problem
- Buyer begins research to understand problem
Stage #2: Consideration
- Buyer is fully aware of the problem
- Buyer begins exploring options available
Stage #3: Decision
- Buyer has explored all problem solving options
- Buy has selects a provider to help
Stage #4: Delight
- Customer (formerly buyer) is hoping to be “wowed” by service
- Customer is hoping to build a long standing relationship
For more information regarding stages of the buyer’s journey, review the post written by HubSpot. You have an idea of where your prospect is in the buyer’s journey. Where do you go from here? Put yourself in your buyer’s shoes. Think like a buyer in the consideration phase.
What are the thoughts a buyer has in the consideration phase?
- How do I get more customers?
- What are some ways I can increase traffic to my site?
- How can I create better email marketing or nurturing sequences?
- What are other techniques that would convert visitors to leads?
- How do I create a growth driven website?
- What is the best way to manage my social media?
- How do I map website content?
Understanding these thoughts, concerns and needs will help you understand what your buyer is likely to be querying in the search engines and what keywords they are using. Secondly, it provides the insight you need to know what content to create and what keywords to leverage in your content.
What are buyers looking for in the consideration phase?
Potential clients in the consideration phase are comparing the different solutions that would resolve their problem. It is your job to deliver answers that are helpful and relevant to them. According to Pardot, 72% of buyers are simply searching for information during the consideration phase.
The online world is seeping with intelligence. When marketing to prospective clients, it is imperative to understand not only what they are looking FOR, but also what they are looking AT. Focus your efforts on the material that is most viewed by buyers. With a little competitive research, you can determine what your buyer is responding to.
What pages are prospects visiting when they are in the consideration phase?
These buyers are visiting the pages that include keywords they are searching for. Be sure to include key phrases in your content to attract the most attention. Keep in mind that in the consideration phase buyers are most responsive to:
- Blog posts
- Email marketing
- Downloadable information
Prospects want to make decisions based on logic, even though it is known that buyers are persuaded by emotion (the fear or something or the desire to have something because of what it means to them). Marketing Interactions uses data to explain. This is your opportunity to speak to the problem and their logic, while using quantifiable data that compels them emotionally (what they have to lose and win) to choose a particular solution.
Know and explain the strategies that will work for them and provide examples or case studies that showcase examples of real client outcomes. Use your industry intelligence and deep understanding of the applied value of your solution. Speak to the quantified value of the existing gap and its long-term cost if left uncured.
Your well-written, compelling content that addresses your buyer’s specific needs and helps them understand the various challenges and cost of the problem, as well as the value of your applied solution is your best sales tool.
You are the expert. You see these issues over and over. Depending on your product or solution, your buyer likely only experiences these particular challenges once or twice in the lifetime of their business. Give them a 30,000-foot perspective. Just be sure it’s relevant to the buyer persona you are addressing.
What offers perform best for prospects in the consideration phase?
To gain your buyer’s trust, you need to prove you understand their business and their problem. Examine your client. Ask yourself:
- What is this buyer’s user behavior?
- What are your buyer’s research and information needs?
- What keywords or relevant terms will this buyer use as they search for information?
To write excellent, searchable, conversion-driven content, you must tap into your deep understanding of how your buyer uses your product and translate it so that it speaks directly to the heart of their concerns and their goals. Here’s a quick list of topics you should speak to using their language – not your company-speak:
- The buyer’s (company) buying and approval process
- Their unique environment and processes they must follow to implement and maximize the results
- The challenges they typically encounter on their way to the successes that are possible
- The opportunities that emerge when they are achieving success as a result of your solution
- All of the unique experiences a particular buyer persona experiences from the recognition of a need, to the diagnosis of the problem, to the hiring of a vendor or the purchasing of a solution
Buyers in the consideration phase will respond best to content offers in these formats:
- Comparisons
- Pros and cons lists
- Live interaction
- Expert advice.
What is the best way to refresh or repurpose older consideration phase content?
- Inventory all content
- Edit or delete verbiage that is vague or not clear
- Update and refresh the facts with recent studies
- Use existing content to create a compelling offer
- Create a (or modify an existing) landing page to provide your new offer
A landing page (where your buyer will “land” after clicking on a link) is one of the most important marketing opportunities a business has. Well developed and effective landing pages are your businesses online gold mine. Your targeted buyer is willing to exchange a certain amount of high-value information to you in exchange for your irresistible offer. Your offer is going to help her get closer to resolving her problem.
The design and the elements that make up a successful landing page are very purposeful.
What elements should be on the landing page of a consideration phase buyer?
Relay information in an organized and engaging approach. This means including:
- A Strong Offer Title
Include keywords and phrases your buyers might be searching for (“how to,” “tips to,” etc.). Don’t forget to state specific terms pertaining to your services (“real estate,” “marketing,” etc.)
- A Short Explanatory Paragraph
Here you are describing what is being offered to your prospects. Explain why both parties will benefit from a relationship.
- Bulleted Impact Statements
These are the key points you want your buyer to focus on. They should be easy to read while breaking down the value of the offer.
- A CTA Button
This is your “call to action” for the buyer. By creating a “clickable” link, you persuade your prospects to complete a specific action. Follow instructions from Kissemtrics for a “CTA that converts”).
- Form Fields
Offer your buyer the option to fill out contact info or even ask more detailed questions. Less is more in this instance. Limit your form fields to maximize your responses and submissions.
So you’ve created the ideal landing page. Now how are you going to direct your prospects and leads there? By creating content that is relevant and informative, of course!
What key terms should we use in our content for consideration phase leads?
As discussed earlier, buyers are searching for options to solve their issue. Maximize your online traffic from prospects by including specific keywords into your phrases.
Remember to add your meta data to your new landing page. Incorporate the most likely search phrase your buyer is going to use. It’s important to know that this search phrase and meta data must be present in your page content.
Here are some various examples. You will want to personalize them to your industry.
- Solution type terms
These phrases include a solution to their problem (example: “improve,” “redesign, and fix”).
- Solution
Make sure your landing page will be a part of the results for buyers hunting for specific answers for a “solution to poor website traffic” or “solution to low survey responses.”
- Provider
Prospects want reassurance you are qualified to handle their issue appropriately. Use effective keywords while including your industry term for “Provider of…” type verbiage.
- Service
Call attention to the fact that you are a provider of a service, for instance, a “web design service” or “wealth management service.”
- Supplier
Including the word “Supplier” in keyword phrases provides effective text in the search result to compel your buyer to click through to your website.
- Tool
Whether prospects are searching for a marketing tool, a design tool, or a search tool, highlight your assets in your content.
- Device
“Device to track online traffic” or “device to track leads” are possible searches from prospects. Using the term most relevant to your solution will help optimize your content for your buyer demographic.
- Software
Call attention to your landing page by sharing your company’s “fix.”
- Appliance
“Appliance to solve…” or “appliance to incorporate” could both be relative terms to a client. Be sure to use the phrase most likely to be used by the specific buyer persona you are targeting in this content.
Landing page description? Check.
Ideas for potential key words? Check.
Where else should you place these phrases and words?
Where should these key terms appear?
These are the concepts most important to buyers in the consideration phase. They should be mentioned often and placed strategically. For SEO and buyer search purposes, placing your key words in your:
- Offer Title
The first statement your prospect will read should have an impact. Put the main keywords at the beginning of the title, if possible.
- Landing Page Copy
Incorporating these key words within your bulleted points and body paragraphs is crucial.
- Your CTA Button Copy
Your final statement to your potential clients should recap what you are offering, leveraging the main keyword or phrase.
- Email Copy
If your buyer has opted in to anything on your website, they should be receiving email from you. Repeat how you can help. Be specific to a need and use your keywords with consistency.
- Email Subject Line
State your purpose immediately using relevant, professional and emotionally compelling terms.
- URL
Placing keywords in the URL will engage search engines in your content.
- Post Title
Using keywords that speak to your buyers solution in the blog post title will increase the chances of getting email and search engine click throughs.
- Social Posting
Employ your keywords effectively and interact with prospects using one of the best platforms for marketing.
Once you have attracted traffic to your site, the next step is converting your lead. Your next assignment: guiding buyers into the decision phase of the buyer’s journey.
How do we nurture the buyer through the consideration phase and decision phase?
Building a trusting relationship with your client is key. If they are not ready to move on to the decision phase of the process, keep in touch with them. Use strategic email sequences. Monitor the open rate and page clicks.
They might need reassurance and some hand-holding! Build a reputation as the “problem solver” and build a trusting relationship. Stay connected with them in a relevant and value-based way by sending links to:
- Customer success stories
- Product comparisons
- Company news
- Provide continuous research that helps them better understand your solution
The continued interaction keeps you in the buyer’s thought process. New customer surveys and company research may change and influence their decision. Maybe they lost a significant client or gained new business. Through constant communication you will have the opportunity to be part of their next steps.
At what point does marketing need to pass the lead to the sales team or when is it time to make actual, one-to-one contact with the lead?
How do I know when to pass a marketing lead to the sales team?
The hard work is done. You have an established lead and have been providing value to them regularly. Every company has different triggers that indicate when is time to pass a lead to the sales team. This is a matter of testing, measuring and tweaking the indicators and process to determine what works best for your company.
Some of the most obvious triggers for transition may be:
- The lead has visited specific pages your company has identified as “sales- or decision-ready” content
- The content the lead is downloading is no longer consideration phase type content
- The lead has visited your pricing or plan pages
- The lead has requested contact with a sales representative
Having the tools to get started is the key to success. You now have the inside intel to effectively engage prospects in the consideration phase and to nurture them to the decision phase.
If you haven’t yet downloaded the Buyer’s Journey Template and Guide, you’ll want to get it so you can begin mapping out your buyer persona’s content journey through each of the buyer phases.
If you get stuck or need someone to do this for you, reach out to me viaFacebook,Twitter, Email, or even the old fashion way – give me a call.
FAQs
What is the consideration stage of buyer's journey? ›
In the consideration stage, the buyer will have clearly defined and given a name to their problem, and they are committed to researching and understanding all of the available approaches and/or methods to solving the defined problem or opportunity. In other words, they are considering potential solutions.
What is the consideration stage? ›For the prospective buyer, the consideration stage is where they seek specific solutions to their problem and compare the various options. They consider which solution would work best for them.
What is the buyers journey quizlet? ›buyer's journey. is defined as the active research process someone goes through leading up to a purchase. It's called a journey because each one of your prospective customers will be at different points in their journey towards a purchase.
What is buyer's journey? ›“The buyer's journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service.”
What are the 4 phases of the buyers journey? ›Here's how to conceptualize each stage: Awareness Stage: The buyer becomes aware that they have a problem. Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and considers options to solve it. Decision Stage: The buyer evaluates and decides on the right provider to administer the solution.
What are the 4 steps in the buyer's journey? ›It's split up into four stages: awareness, consideration, decision, and delight. Understanding the buyer's journey is important because it allows you to serve prospects with the information they need at each stage of the process.
What are the four 4 types of consideration? ›Types: Consideration could be a promise, performance, forbearance, or property with legal value, but the economic benefit is not required.
What are the three 3 types of consideration? ›There are three types of consideration in contract law: executory, past, and pre-existing.
What are the 3 requirements of consideration? ›In order to form a valid contract, consideration must meet the following conditions: It must be something worth bargaining for. It must benefit all the parties to the contract. It must be something of value.
What is your role during the consideration stage of the buyer's journey quizlet? ›What happens during the consideration stage? During the consideration stage, buyers have clearly defined the goal or challenge, they've given a name to it, and they've committed to addressing it. They evaluate the different approaches or methods available to solve their challenge or capitalize on their opportunity.
What are the three stages of the buyer's journey quizlet? ›
The stages are the awareness stage, the consideration stage, and the decision stage, and they portray the experiences your potential customers go through.
What are the 5 steps in the customer's buying journey? ›The 5 steps are problem recognition, information search, alternatives evaluation, purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation.
What are the 3 stages of the buyers journey? ›- Awareness.
- Consideration.
- Decision.
The buyer's journey refers to the process that consumers go through as they discover, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. There are three stages in the buyer's journey: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
Why is buying journey important? ›Benefits of understanding the buyer's journey
By providing the right resources at the right time, your brand is establishing trust with potential customers (even if you haven't spoken to them yet!). You can align your marketing activities and messages with each stage of the buyer's journey.
Broken down, the customer journey consists of 7 phases; Out of market, trigger, initial brand consideration, active evaluation, purchase decision, experience and loyalty. Let's take a look at each phase (and the customer's mindset) in more detail – starting with the out-of-market phase.
What are the 4 C's of the marketing mix from the buyer's viewpoint? ›The 4 C's of Marketing are Customer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. These 4 C's determine whether a company is likely to succeed or fail in the long run.
What is the 4th step of the personal selling process? ›The personal selling process consists of six stages: (1) prospecting, (2) preapproach, (3) approach, (4) presentation, (5) close, and (6) follow-up (Table 2).
What are the 5 rules of consideration? ›- Part payment is not good consideration.
- Consideration must move from the promisee but need not flow to the promisor.
- Consideration must be sufficient but need not be adequate.
- Consideration cannot be illusory.
- Consideration must not be past.
An offer and acceptance; Certainty of terms; Consideration; An intention to create legal relations; Capacity of the parties; and, Legality of purpose.
What are the 6 types of consideration? ›
The various types of consideration are (1) a promise, (2) an act other than a promise, (3) forbearance, (4) a change in a legal relation of the parties, (5) money, or (6) other property.
What are the main types of consideration? ›What are the types of consideration? There are two forms of consideration: Executed consideration - where promises made in a contract are delivered immediately (e.g. delivery of goods) Executory consideration - where promises made in a contract will be delivered in the future (e.g. a commercial property lease)
What is consideration and list at least 4 things you think will qualify as consideration? ›Consideration is something of value exchanged between the parties to a contract. Consideration can be many things such as money, property, service, work performance, or a promise to not do something. As long as the parties to the contract exchange something of value between each other, there is consideration.
What are the three 3 elements that a contract must be in order to be considered enforceable? ›A contract is an agreement between parties, creating mutual obligations that are enforceable by law. The basic elements required for the agreement to be a legally enforceable contract are: mutual assent, expressed by a valid offer and acceptance; adequate consideration; capacity; and legality.
What are the four elements of a contract consideration? ›There are four elements that are required for a legally valid contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, and intention to create legal relations.
What are the basic elements of consideration? ›Thus, there are two basic elements to consideration: (1) Legal Sufficiency (something of value in the eye of the law) and (2) bargained for exchange. Both must be present to satisfy the requirement of consideration.
Which of the following is the first stage of the buyer's decision process? ›Problem/Need-recognition is the first step in the buying decision. Without knowing what the customer needs, they will not be enticed to purchase the product. The need can be triggered by internal stimuli (e.g. hunger, thirst) or external stimuli (e.g. advertising).
What are the six lifecycle stages in the buyer's journey? ›Awareness, Engagement, Purchase, Retention/Loyalty, Growth, and Advocacy.
What is a part of the 3 step customer journey? ›The three stages of the customer journey are awareness, consideration and conversion. Understanding the customer journey can help you create a marketing strategy for your business.
What is Stage 3 sales process? ›There's plenty of comment on the different aspects of each stage in this blog but the headline stages are: 1 – Qualification. 2 – Collaboration. 3 – Negotiation.
What is the third phase of customer journey? ›
The third stage of the customer journey is the decision. In this stage, customers have decided that they want to purchase your product or service. This is where you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so.
Which are the 5 E's in the customer journey? ›The 5 Es is a map of the five stages that customers go through – Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit, and Extend. It's a tool that we've developed is based on the 5 Es of Customer Journey.
What is the customer journey strategy? ›A customer journey strategy is a plan of action focused in improving the experience that the customer has with your brand from start to finish. From the first encounter with your marketing strategy to the sale. The customer journey encompasses all interactions.
What is the purchase stage? ›What is the Purchase Decision Stage? At this stage, consumers are ready to buy. They have gathered information and resources, weighed up your solution with competitors, discussed the decision with their colleagues, and have decided what they want to buy and how they want to buy it.
What are the 3 stages of marketing? ›Phases of the strategic marketing process include planning, implementation, and evaluation.
How do you build a customer buying journey? ›- Step 1: Awareness. The first step is always awareness. ...
- Step 2: Interest. At this stage, the buyer has begun asking questions and performing preliminary research. ...
- Step 3: Consideration. The next stage is perhaps the most critical. ...
- Step 4: Decision. It's decision time.
The five stages of the business buying-decision process are awareness, specification, requests for proposals, evaluation and, finally, placing the order.
What are the three parts of a buyer's journey? ›- Awareness.
- Consideration.
- Decision.
Traditionally, there are three stages of the buyer's journey; awareness, consideration and decision.
What is the goal of the consideration stage of the marketing funnel? ›2. Consideration. In the consideration and intent stage, your objective should be to provide the prospect with useful information about how you can solve their problem. At the consideration stage, consumers interested in your business and its offerings are considering whether or not to buy.