Digital Marketing
While eCommerce customers make considered purchases and follow paths that involve a longer decision making process, B2B and Lead Gen customers typically have much shorter conversion windows during which they convert based on relevancy of the offering and their corresponding level of interest. Therefore, it is crucial to deliver the best content at the right time.
The Customer Journey
When creating an effective customer journey process, you should keep in mind how to get the most out of each channel (Google Ads, Linkedin, Facebook Ads) in order to optimize towards your goal. After you have finished running an awareness based digital marketing program using top of funnel prospecting efforts new users have benn introduced to and know more about your high-level topic or product. So, since they know more about the product, they are now entering the consideration and decision stages of the funnel. In these stages, customers conduct research, compare options and eventually they arrive at a decision. Giving to users the right content can make a substantial impact for customers won.
Consideration Stage
Different than top-of-funnel prospecting, the consideration stage involves a more targeted approach for specific user profiles or intent. If you have determined a list of companies, employee experience level, long-tail search terms or competitors, you can advertise to users who have more knowledge than the average person. The best materials for the consideration stage are reports, guides, whitepapers, webinars, case studies. It is important to use audience targeting relevant content because the main question that is made during this stage is “How can this company help me better than any others?”
Decision Stage
While the consideration stage is about placing ads in front of targeted users and giving them the best asset to learn about a solution or product, the decision stage is aimed at targeting uses who have gathered enough information and are ready to convert. These are likely much easier to identify, as they will fall into a select few categories, specifically Brand and Remarketing.
Measuring Success
Because the consideration and decision stages of the funnel are on high-intent action, campaigns should be evaluated and returned based on conversions or lead form completions. With the more qualified bottom-of-funnel efforts, it is likely that Brand and Remarketing will have stronger efficiency than your middle of the funnel; however, it is still important to utilize Non-Brand, Competitor, and other targeted consideration efforts, because this is how you will ensure your brand is included in more in-process searches for what you’re offering.
Conclusion
By ensuring that returning or qualified users have the best experience possible with your site, you can help build strong Brand recognition as well as convert customers at a more efficient rate. When in doubt, use the following chart as a guide to giving users the proper content depending on where they fall in the funnel.
