“82% of customers viewed five or more pieces of content from the winning vendor before making a purchase.”
The latest research reveals it takes anywhere from six to eight touch points before a person turns into a viable lead (Yup, just a lead, not a sales qualified lead). Gone are the days of the buyer’s journey being a straightforward path. Now it has twists and turns that and numerous touch points.
Consumers have built up immunity to traditional advertising methods. They themselves want to conduct research before making a purchasing decision. The various forms of Moments of Truth interconnect with one another to decide what type of purchasing decision a buyer makes. Here’s the most important thing to remember—the customer will almost always make a purchase. The brand they choose to purchase from is determined by the interactions that occur within the touch points.
Also important to remember is consumers learn about your brand via different channels. Some may come into contact your brand for the first time by reading a blog post. Others may see a sponsored post on Facebook. There’s also a lot of brand interactions that take place via word-of-mouth recommendations.
Before a person becomes a sales qualified lead, there’s a lot that must be considered. In days past, the marketing department would pass off a lead to the sales department and the person would be sales-ready. This isn’t the case anymore. Now, everything from the lead’s perception of the brand and budget determine whether they are sales-ready. Just because a person signs up for your newsletter doesn’t mean they are sales-ready. In fact, the very reason they may sign up is because they want as much information as possible for free because they know they can’t afford your product.
The Moments of Truth can be used to decide if a lead is sales-ready. This is where you can interact with the lead on an in-depth basis, such as through forms, email, social media, and more. You know the easiest way to figure out a lead’s budget? Ask them! From there, you can see what services or products are within the lead’s price range. You can also use the collected information and use analytics to determine if this is a major limitation among a large number of leads. If it is, then you know to create a product package that is lower in price. You are not only expanding your services but you are also putting forth strong efforts to meet your audience’s needs.
The best way to use the Moments of Truth concept is to focus on one touch point at a time. Once you have developed a strong touch point strategy for that exact moment of interaction, you must remember to be flexible as no two buyer’s journeys are exactly the same. After creating a solid strategy for each point, you are then ready to pass off qualified leads to the sales department. Most importantly, you can close on those sales. Do keep in mind that after the sale has been closed, the Moment of Truth still continues. You need to keep the customer up to date on the order’s status and ask for as much feedback as possible. With the right CRM system in place, you can develop your entire marketing strategy around refined Moments of Truth that increase conversions and boost customer satisfaction.
Giddyup
Note – I originally posted this article on Advantage’s website and if you’re looking for help connecting the dots more efficiently and catching prospects at potential micro-moments across channels – check out our Mobius Platform. Drop me a line or reach out to my team here…