Marketing Touchpoints: When will people start purchasing?
Marketing touchpoints refers to the time- based process a customer takes before making a purchase. By identifying different marketing touchpoints, a company can capitalize on opportunities to create value for their customers, increased sales and long-term relationships. At the end of the day, it's all about selling. You need to get people to see your service or product before they purchase it. It may seem like a long process, but the average number of touchpoints needed before a customer decides to purchase is eight so stick with your strategy!
When will your customers have their first impression of your business?
The answer to this question is heavily dependent on what type of business you own and your product or service. One thing you could do is ask yourself: Are you a business to business (B2B) company or business to customer (B2C) company?
If you're B2B, the first time someone has heard your name could be their first impression. Try Googling your competition — where do they show up in search results? If they're not showing up high enough in searches, it doesn't matter how great their products are because no one's seeing them.
If you're B2C, the people that buy from you probably know about some of your competitors so search is not as important. Most likely it will be when people see and feel something about your company for the first time that will make an impression on them. This could be at an event where they meet someone who works for your company or if they receive a direct mail piece with good packaging.
When will your customers start purchasing your service/product?
There are many factors that will influence when a customer is ready to buy. As with the “who” element of strategy, it’s important to understand the factors and prioritize them before you can determine your optimal touchpoints and messaging. Touchpoints are most successful when they align with customers who are ready to buy.
When is the right time to sell?
Key considerations that may impact when someone is ready to purchase include:
Budget - Is there money available to spend on this service or product? This is different than budgeting, where people might say they will spend but not actually do so. The more expensive a product or service, the more critical it becomes for customers to have already allocated funds for it.
Need - Does the customer need your product or service? And, if so, how strong is this need? Some needs are stronger than others. For example, someone who needs a new oil filter probably has the ability and desire to purchase one sooner than someone who wants new tires but doesn’t really need them just yet because their old ones aren’t worn out yet.
Motivation - Does the customer want what you provide enough that they will actually take action and make a purchase? Or will they talk about wanting it but not do anything about it until later? Are they motivated by price savings or convenience (or both)?
When will your customers first hear of your service/product?
Let’s face it: the majority of us aren’t living the life of Steve Jobs. We can’t simply say, “Here! Buy this! It will change your life forever!” and expect people to actually buy it. First they need some context. They might have heard a bit about your product via social media or an industry blog post that you wrote. Maybe they saw some colleagues using it at work and asked them about its features.
People have different ways of finding out about new products or services, which means you should know what the typical touchpoints are for discovering your business--this information will help you reach out to customers and future users in a better way
Selling is often a long process, so mapping out all the stages that lead up to it can help inform your whole marketing strategy.
The most typical sales funnel consists of three stages:
Awareness
Consideration
Decision
If you want to optimize your marketing, it’s important that you consider what touchpoints and channels are the most effective at transforming a prospect into a customer. What content is the most effective at each stage? Do your customers prefer certain channels over others at different stages? What is the most effective way to move a customer from one stage of the funnel to the next?
Marketing touchpoints are also limited in their ability to predict behavior and coming up with an accurate prediction of when services and products will appear on the radar of the customer can be difficult. While a certain number of touchpoints is correlated with purchase of a product or service, the exact number isn't always predictive of anything. That's why having a process and a strategy to analyze and optimize your process helps!