What Is The Path To Purchase?

The path to purchase is the journey your target audience takes when engaging with your brand or business, from their first touchpoint with your business to the moment they take action to make the purchase.

This journey involves multiple channels and touchpoints such as Google searches, emails, social media, forums, review sites, and brand websites that convert a prospect into a customer. The process of buying something starts when your target audience realises they need something and decides if it is worth buying. Then, they decide to make the purchase.

Stages In The Customer Path To Purchase

Path to Purchase - Awareness

Awareness is the first stage of the path to purchase, and it is when your target audience first becomes aware of a brand, product, or service.

At this stage, they are exposed to marketing messages and advertising that inform them of a particular product or service, such as its features, benefits, and pricing.

The key objectives of the awareness stage are to capture the attention of your target audience and generate interest and spark their curiosity. By using effective marketing messages and advertising, the goal is to encourage customers to learn more about the product or service, and to develop a long-term relationship as you move them further along the path to purchase.

Without awareness, the customer would never be in a position to make a purchase!

Reach, Act, Conversion And Engage Framework

The RACE customer journey framework clearly shows the path your target audience takes when buying something online. This framework, which consists of four stages (Reach, Act, Conversion & Engage), is often used in marketing to demonstrate the various touchpoints customers go through.

The RACE framework, was created by Dr Dave Chaffey in 2010, to support businesses with a well-informed digital marketing strategy right through to implementation, based on each stage of the customer journey.

Let’s look at each stage in detail:

Path to Purchase - Reach

Reach is a fundamental component of the customer path to purchase. It is the process of connecting with potential customers and getting them interested in a product or service.

This stage is when your brand or business tries to make a connection with potential customers and get them interested in your product or service. If you are a smaller brand, this is the stage where you show up and audiences are aware you exist. 

It is important for your brand to identify your target audience, and then use various marketing tactics to reach them. These tactics may include social media, digital advertising, email campaigns, search engine optimisation, and more.

The goal of reach is to create interest in the product or service and to motivate your target audience to take the next step and start researching it. Once your audience shows an interest, the next steps in the path to purchase can begin. These steps often include research, comparison shopping, and making a purchase decision. By having a strong reach strategy in place, you can ensure that your potential audience is aware of your product or service and can move forward in the path to purchase.

Path to Purchase - Act

Act is an important part of the path to purchase and refers to the action taken by your target audience in order to move closer to making a purchase.

This could include researching a product, comparing prices, and seeking validation. Act encompasses the various stages which an existing or new customer goes through when deciding on a product. For example, the customer may search for information on a product, compare prices, read reviews, or even talk to friends and family about their experience with the product.

Additionally, act is important for your brand as it helps you understand how your audience interact with your product, which then helps to craft more effective marketing plans. By understanding how customers go about researching and selecting a product, your brand can tailor campaigns and ongoing activities to better target potential customers. This helps to drive more sales and increase ROI on marketing campaigns.

Path to Purchase - Conversion

Convert is an important step in the path to purchase. It refers to when a customer is ready to make a purchase.

It is the point in the process when the customer is on your e-commerce site, and is looking for a seamless experience from finding the right product, to checkout.  This is often when promotional discounts or targeted advertising play a bigger role if a basket/checkout is abandoned.

The conversion step is closely linked to the other steps in the path to purchase.  This is because your target audience needs to become aware of a product or service before they can decide to purchase it. They may also need to explore the options available before they can make an informed decision.

Once they have gone through this process, they are ready to convert and complete the purchase. Therefore, it is important for your brand to ensure you have effective strategies in place to ensure purchase takes place, such as being clear on delivery options, payment methods and aftercare service. This includes creating compelling content, with supports trust and convenience with your audience.

Path to Purchase – Engage

Engage is the final stage of the customer journey and takes place after purchase. It involves creating a long-lasting connection with the customer and using tactics to encourage your customers to become loyal to your brand and encourages advocacy.

Engaging with your customers involves creating an emotional connection with them, building trust in your brand, and providing helpful and informative content on an ongoing basis.  

It can be done through a variety of tactics, such as providing membership/loyalty clubs and personalised experiences. Engaging customers can also involve using social media to start conversations amongst online communities, listening to customer feedback, and providing a personalised shopping experience.  This stage can often be overlooked by businesses, however, it encourages your business to create a memorable brand experience and a more meaningful connection with customers, to increase the chances of repeat purchase.

How has the online path to purchase changed over time?

In the past, the path to purchase process was much simpler, with fewer channels between online and offline interactions, customers relying on traditional advertising or word of mouth to decide which products to buy. However, nowadays we know that the customer journey is no longer linear and when researching products, often using a variety of online sources to compare different brands and find the best deals. Social media plays a key role in the early stages of path to purchase, where seeking out product information and getting advice from peers, is an essential part of the process. Using an integrated approach across different digital channels (and offline where relevant!) is required throughout the path to purchase, linking back to an effective marketing strategy and plan.

Being really clear on your path to purchase with your target audience is a useful way to strategically plan your marketing activity throughout the year.  Ensuring at key touch points the right channels are used to guide your audience through the stages of path to purchase, aligning this with relevant content.

How can The Brand Map Help?

The path to purchase is an important part of understanding your customer journey, it is an effective framework used when developing your marketing strategy for implementation.

We have a wealth of experience in this area and can assist you and your brand in making the right plan to suit your needs.