In digital marketing the Digital Buyer Journey is a term that refers to the multiple stages of a customer finding and choosing your business online. As a small business owner, you may have a physical front door, but you definitely have an online front door and you need to be sure you are making it easy for customers to enter that door. This article will answer the question, “What is digital buyer’s journey?,” and discuss the importance of winning at every stage of the digital buyer journey.
Buyer Journey Example
Here is a visual example of the digital buyer journey. This is sometimes referred to as the buyer journey funnel…and you can see why. We’ll discuss the digital buyer journey stages in more detail below.
Digital Buyer Journey Stage 1: Awareness
The first step on the digital buyer journey is for people to be aware that your business exists. You can build awareness with online advertising and social media. One of the best ways to ensure a strong social presence is to use an active and marketable social media product like Social Marketing. Users who have this product can click Make a post to begin composing a social media message.
Call to action: Users with an active Social Marketing product can click Make a post to launch the Social Marketing composer.
Digital Buyer Journey State 2: Findability
93% of consumers find local business information online, according to BrightLocal. Complete and accurate online listings is an important part of the digital buyer journey for helping customers find you online. There are hundreds of different business listing sites and some are very industry-specific. Choosing the right ones and making sure your listing information is accurate and consistent across multiple listing sites is critical but it’s also a daunting task for business owners.
Call to action: Business Center Users with an active Reputation Management product can click Where am I found today? to view and verify the accuracy of their current business listings across the web. Alternatively, users can click Update my business information to edit their location, hours of operation, and contact information in the Business Center.
Digital Buyer Journey Stage 3: Reputation
Potential customers are using online reviews to make buying decisions, so you should monitor and respond to reviews frequently in order to rank above your competitors in search engines and improve your ratings. As part of their digital buyer journey, your customers are going to look for current and positive reviews. If your competition has more or more positive reviews, there is a possibility your customers will turn to another company and continue their journey with them.
Call to action: Users with an active Reputation Management product can click Respond to my reviews to view and respond to their most recent reviews on sites like Facebook and Google.
Digital Buyer Journey Stage 4: Conversion
Now that customers have found you and chosen to engage with you online, having a website that drives conversion is important. If your website makes it easy for customers to buy from your business or otherwise engage in a conversion activity like booking an appointment, then you will have acquired a new customer. When customers arrive on your website during their digital buyer journey, the are entering your store. Even if you don’t have an ecommerce website, your website still must be optimized to convert those visitors into customers by booking an appointment, filling out a lead form, or some mode of conversion from visitor to known contact.
Call to action: Consider adding a grōtalk AI chatbot to your website to engage visitors conversationally to drive higher conversion rates.
Digital Buyer Journey Stage 5: Advocacy
In this new era, a business’ best advocates are their happy customers. But reaching out to your previous customers for reviews won’t be enough – you must improve your overall star rating on popular review sites. You can do that by sending review requests to current customers and by requesting reviews directly by both email and text message so you can reach your advocates where they are!
Call to action: Users with an active Customer Voice product can click Email my customers to create a request for reviews that they can send to past customers.
Summary
The Digital Buyer Journey boils down to a series of stages that buyers go through to be aware of, find, trust, buy from, and advocate for your business. If you are wondering how to create a buyer journey, that’s easy…it’s already in place. To be successful, a business must win at every stage of this journey, else they risk customers going to a competitor during their online journey. B. McGuire Designs has developed the Local Business Online Toolkit to give small business owners access to world-class digital marketing tools that are simple and affordable for busy business owners to help them conquer the digital buyer journey.
