What is the buying cycle?

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No matter whether you focus on SEO or any kind of online marketing, you have to understand your customer’s buying cycle. The buying cycle is your customer’s buying journey, which varies depending on the industry, sometimes even the business itself. 

To understand what I mean by buying journey, it's the steps your customer goes through to reach the final step which is the purchase. Logically, this is the final step, but in a loop which then repeats.

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Geeks for geeks, take it as a while loop that ends after the customer just decides to go with a product you do not offer.

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It is key to understand your customer’s buying cycle because you obviously want to attract your customer at every stage to gain an advantage against your competition.

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Ever wondered why companies write blogs where they compare themselves against their competition? Because they just got the customer in the research phase and explained why they are the best compared to the competition on their website so the customer doesn't need to go through all the competitors' websites where they talk about how great they are. Long story short, you just caught a customer before any of your competitors even had the chance.

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So, what are the stages of the buying cycle?

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Sure, you can find 100 infographics with each having 10 different stages of the buying cycle. But we are not in school to nerd up for the exam, we need something simple and executable. 

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That's why I firmly believe that these three stages are enough for you to understand and execute your strategies:

1. Research phase
2. Analysis phase
3. Purchase phase

If we are talking beyond SEO and more broadly, yes, we should add a fourth phase which would be: Retain customer phase. In this phase I believe we have our own different tactics and so I will skip it for now, or if you see it marked blue, I have written a blog about it already, so go on and click it. :) 

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Research phase

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The buying process starts when a person realizes they have a problem or a need. It could be as simple as running out of coffee or as complex as choosing a software solution for an entire company.

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At this stage, customers are:

• Gathering information about possible solutions
  
  
• Browsing blogs, videos, and reviews
  
  
• Asking friends, peers, or communities for recommendations
  
  
• Searching for answers on Google or social media

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At this stage, you have to inform and educate. Compare yourself to your competition and give customers proper information on which they can decide who is the best a.k.a. you. 

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Analysis phase

Once customers are informed, they narrow down their options and evaluate them more deeply. Customers look at:

• Features, pricing, and benefits
  
  
• Customer testimonials and case studies
  
  
• Pros and cons of each option
  
  
• How well each choice aligns with their needs

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This is where you bring out the graphs and specs. Now customers understand the products more deeply and they are more interested in the details of your product. Explain to them your product in detail and it always helps to bring out some demo videos, and customer testimonials.

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Purchase phase

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After thorough research and comparison, the buyer is ready to make a decision. But even here, small barriers can derail the purchase — doubts, unclear pricing, or a poor checkout experience can all create friction and doubt in customers that could be yours.

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Your role:
Now it's time to make the purchase process as smooth as possible. Make sure you have:

• Clear pricing and guarantees
  
  
• Fast and secure checkout
  
  
• Responsive support
  
  
• Easy onboarding or setup instructions

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Now you can enjoy your Stripe notifications and figure out what to do in your Retain customer phase.

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Key considerations when applying buying cycle:

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• Target audience - Understand your customers and their needs. Ideally create your ideal customer profile
• Tailored content - Plan your content and tailor it to each different stage of the buying cycle. This includes SEO content, such as blogs.
• Analytics - Love your data. Analyse your data and figure out which stage might need improvement

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Buying cycle is a simple but very important concept to understand, especially if you are trying to compete in a highly saturated market. 

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Some people make huge sums of money just from being really good at one stage and being an affiliate to larger companies. Imagine you perfect each stage… Or create an affiliate program… There are millions of strategies but now you understand the key concept upon which you can build.

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Thank you for reading,

Damian from Visio.

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