Buying Funnel- Understanding Consumer’s Buying Pattern Over Internet

Consumer’s buying pattern is just like Buying Funnel consists of seven layers. It tappers towards end connoting more and more consumers drop out as the funnel proceed towards end. More people may show interest in your product but only few them complete the purchasing process. It’s also true that a consumer visits your website multiple times before he takes the decision. However there are returning customers who are already familiar with your product and they usually jump to last stage of buying funnel.

(a) Awareness Phase- consumer 1st time acquaints with the product or services. Here search term is much generalized even “long tail”.

(b) Interest Phase- the consumer gets interest in your product. Here you introduce the consumer to the benefit your product offer.

In those two initial stages he isn’t interested in the “MODEL”. Luring customers with “Model” keyword will be futile.

© Learn Phase- customer goes deeper into the product and tries to learn as much information as he can.. He is keen to know the product level features. Here search term is more specific like “Sony Bravia” or “Sonia Bravia 41c”, “law firm specialized in IP matters” etc.

Suppose a consumer first time heard the term “HDTV”. In the awareness phrase he may search only for the term “HDTV” & in the learning phrase he may acquire information on types of HDTV, screen resolution, picture enhancement, pixel density & other features.

(d) Shop Phase- Consumer compares different products of the same company or same product different companies. This is comparing phase. “Sony Bravia vs Panasonic is very common phenomena.

(e) Purchase Phase- In this phase compare just search for price and other extra benefit he is going to get if he purchases the product. “free shipping” or “30-day money back” are common search terms.

It’s not always true that every consumer starts from initial stages. Some may jump directly to shop phase if they are already acquainted with the product. “buy sony bravia” is highly targeted search term specifically targeted to 4th or 5th layer of buying funnel.