No matter what you buy, whether it is complex, simple, business to consumer, or business to business, every purchase follows six steps and it is known as the Buyer Decision Process.

The 6 steps of the Buyer Decision Process are:

1. Awareness;
2. Research;
3. Evaluation;
4. Decision;
5. Purchase; and
6. Post-purchase Evaluation.

A lot of businesses simply focus at the top of the process (or sales funnel) with awareness and initial engagement tactics. That’s usually pretty naïve, however, because there is a whole bunch of stuff after awareness and initial engagement where your potential customer can be influenced to continue to move towards a purchase from you, or you can lose them.

Understanding the Buyer Decision Process helps you determine the information needs of your audience and craft marketing that can meet those needs.

It’s not all theory though. At the end of the episode, I outline how you can use the Buyer Decision process to list the information needs of your audience, at each stage, and then identify the content you’ll create and the tactics to deliver them.

The Buyer Decision placemat for the exercise is available to Patrons of the show and available at the Marketing Builder Patreon Page.