Services
TAYA

They Ask, You Answer Mastery

A coaching & training program that drives unmatched sales & marketing results.

Sales

Sales Performance Mastery

Improve the competencies and close rates of your sales organization.

Web design

Website Mastery

Web design, development & training for your team.

HubSpot

HubSpot Mastery

Everything you need to get the most from HubSpot.

AI Mastery

AI Enablement Mastery

Unlock the power of AI in all aspects of your revenue operations.

Discover how IMPACT’s services can help take your business to the next level. Book a free 30-minute coaching session Book a free 30-minute coaching session
Learning Center
Learning Center

Learning Center

Free resources to help you improve the way you market, sell and grow your business.

Discover how IMPACT’s services can help take your business to the next level. Book a free 30-minute coaching session Book a free 30-minute coaching session

Free Assessment: How does your sales & marketing measure up?

Get Started
Close

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.
Get Started
Tom DiScipio

By Tom DiScipio

Feb 5, 2016

Topics:

Inbound Marketing
Subscribe
Join 40,000+ sales and marketing pros who receive our weekly newsletter.

Get the most relevant, actionable digital sales and marketing insights you need to make smarter decisions faster... all in under five minutes.

Thanks, stay tuned for our upcoming edition.
Inbound Marketing

What Is the Buyer's Journey?

Tom DiScipio

By Tom DiScipio

Feb 5, 2016

What Is the Buyer's Journey?

I am a firm believer that a website is your best salesperson - tirelessly working all hours of the day and night, delivering that critical first impression and continuously driving value for your potential buyers.

In doing this, your website carries a megaton of responsibility.

Its single greatest objective, however, is to deliver prospects the information they need, when they need it, and provide clarity around next steps. That's why understanding the buyer's journey is so important. 

There are several buyer journey models, but for the purposes of this two-part article, we’re going to explore the model HubSpot (and IMPACT) defines as the inbound buyer’s journey.  

Rather than a cut-and-dry explanation, in part one of the article below, we’ll try to bring it to life through story and examples.

What is the Inbound Buyer’s Journey?

The-Buyers-Journey.png

The inbound buyer’s journey is the active research process a potential buyer goes through leading up to their purchase. As we dive in, let’s first personify an example of a potential buyer (or prospect) and craft a story around their journey.

Also, let’s understand and review the stages of this journey and what each represents.

Keep in mind that the actual thought and research process may be different for your buyers which is why it is imperative to go through the Buyer Persona development process.

Walking Through the Buyer’s Journey

Our Prospect:

Gary is a 34-year-old Data Analyst who is tired of continuously addressing the same database errors over and over again.

Unfortunately, he isn’t equipped with the right tools to manage his data quality. He’s stuck using expensive, cumbersome on-premise software. In order to complete any reasonable fixes, he must consult with the internal IT team and HOPE that they respond before any critical business decisions need to be made based on his data.

Gary is constantly being pressured by his manager around the quality of his data as a result of these issues. He knows that there’s a better way and tomorrow he has set aside a few hours to begin his research for a new option.

This is the start of his journey.

Stage 1: Awareness (Top-of-the-funnel)

The first stage of the buyer’s journey is truly about discovery. Gary is aware of his data problem and heads right to Google looking for some resolution. He’s anxious to find high-level, educational content that will help him to more clearly identify both his actual problem as well as some initial requirements to address it.

Below are some “Awareness” search terms he would use:

  • Improve data quality testing
  • Prevent recurring data quality issues
  • Optimize database integrations
  • Troubleshoot problem data sets

The “Awareness” stage content will typically appear in the following formats (among others):

  • Educational Blog Articles
  • eBooks, Whitepapers, Checklists, or Guides
  • Infographics
  • Industry Reports
  • Slideshares
  • Explainer Videos

After absorbing several pieces of content, Gary will begin framing his challenges as well as his opportunities to solve them. With this understanding, his next step will be to begin “considering” the different solutions available.

Stage 2: Consideration (Middle-of-the-funnel)

Entering the “Consideration” Stage of the inbound buyer’s journey means Gary can clearly articulate his exact problem.

For the purposes of our story, Gary has identified that the reason he is consistently plagued with data errors is because he does not have any automation built into his data quality process. He must continuously rediscover the same issues every time he runs a manual query or check against the database. No bueno!

Gary heads back to Google to continue his research by diving deeper into solution-oriented content. He needs to know more about and compare the available approaches he can use to solve this problem, so he’ll be using the following terms or questions in his search:

  • Best data quality automation software
  • Data quality automation services
  • How to run multiple data queries automatically
  • Automatically compare data sets
  • Setting data quality objectives

“Consideration” content will typically appear in the following formats (among others):

  • More specific and technical blog articles
  • Comparison Whitepapers or eBooks
  • Live or recorded Webinars
  • Product Feature Videos

Although Gary is still most likely not in a “buy-it-now” mindset just yet, he has educated himself enough to take the next step his buying journey where the big decision will be made.   

Stage 3: Decision (Bottom-of-the-funnel)

All of this effort will have led Gary to several solution provider’s websites.

Based on the content he’s engaged with thus far, he’s been compiling a hot-list of vendors he believes will be the best fit, not only from a solution perspective, but also from a company culture perspective.

He wants to work with a vendor that:

  • Have a proven expertise in the space
  • Is at the right price point
  • Has proven they’ve solved similar challenges in the past
  • “Gets him” - They know and understand his challenge even better than he does
  • Has a beer fridge, a dog listed as an employee in their office, and tons of group photos at local charitable events

In order to actually make a decision on a particular vendor, it means he’ll have to consume additional content that not only supports his working requirements mentioned above, but also appeases the Selectors, and Approvers, ie. his boss, and boss’ boss….

These pieces of content usually come in the following format:

  • Documented Success Stories, Case Studies, or Testimonials
  • Vendor, product, or pricing comparison documents
  • Live demonstrations or consultations
  • Free product trials
  • “About” or “Our Story” Website Pages

As we come to the end of Gary’s Buyer’s Journey, he’ll have built up enough trust and confidence in a particular vendor to make his ultimate buying decision.

Key Takeaways

  • There is a very clear and defined process for which modern buyers come to make a purchasing decision
  • The three stages of the Inbound Buyer’s Journey are Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
    • Awareness Stage: Through online research, the buyer is trying to identify their own problems in a more acute and specific way.
    • Consideration Stage: Once the buyer has identified their problem, they begin researching specific solutions for that problem, which leads them to potential solution providers, partners, or vendors.
    • Decision Stage: After engaging with enough expert, trust building content, the buyer can filter their solution provider list down and make a confident decision in who they want to work with.

Each stage of the inbound buyer’s journey requires unique content types that range from site pages and blog articles to downloadable offers and live demonstrations. 

Your website is truly your best salesperson and as such, needs to cater to the specific buying journey of your persona.

Next week, in part 2 of this article, we'll look at specific elements of the buyer’s journey that help create a website experience that speaks to your buyer’s needs, problems, and behaviors and how to embrace them on your website. Check it out here!

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.

Related Articles

The Hidden Costs of a Cheap Website

November 29, 2023
Vin Gaeta Vin Gaeta

Your Website in 2024: The Future of Trends, Tech, and Traffic

November 1, 2023
Vin Gaeta Vin Gaeta

How to Humanize Your Content While Using AI

September 11, 2023
Mandy York Mandy York

What is the Inbound Marketing Funnel? (+ Examples)

July 27, 2023
Anj Bourgeois Anj Bourgeois

Inbound Marketing vs. Content Marketing: What's the Difference? 

July 3, 2023
Brian Casey Brian Casey

Word-of-Mouth is Fragile; Here's How to Build Market Durability

May 10, 2023
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

9 Best Customer Feedback Tools for Businesses of Every Size

March 27, 2023
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

How to Ghostwrite Content for a Subject Matter Expert

March 20, 2023
John Becker John Becker

What Happens When You Don't Have Buy-in for Your Inbound Strategy?

March 9, 2023
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

How To Set Content Marketing Goals for Growth

December 29, 2022
Brian Casey Brian Casey

Inbound Marketing for Logistics Companies (Transportation and Warehousing)

December 8, 2022
John Becker John Becker

How Much Does Inbound Marketing Cost in 2023?

November 28, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

How To Grow Your Email List: 13 Savvy Tips To Try in 2023

November 22, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

Content Marketing in 2024: Principles, Platforms, and Content Distribution

November 8, 2022
Marcus Sheridan Marcus Sheridan

7 Inbound Marketing Strategy Mistakes that Will Cost You in 2024

October 19, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

Inbound Marketing for Construction Companies

June 11, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

What is the Inbound Marketing Methodology?

June 8, 2022
Allison Melnik Allison Melnik

Inbound Marketing for Staffing Agencies

May 28, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

Green Energy Inbound Marketing Strategy: The DIY Approach to Getting More Customers

May 7, 2022
John Becker John Becker

IMPACT+ for Business vs. the They Ask, You Answer Mastery Program

April 15, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

Inbound Marketing for Franchises: Attracting Your Audience

March 25, 2022
Carolyn Edgecomb Carolyn Edgecomb

3 Surefire Signs Your Content Is Hitting the Wrong Audience

March 18, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

Inbound Marketing for Higher Education

March 11, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

Starting a Business Blog? Features and Best Practices for Success in 2022

March 10, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio

11 Books Every Black Sales and Marketing Professional Should Read in 2022

March 5, 2022
Tom DiScipio Tom DiScipio