I was talking with someone yesterday about the length of time it takes to get someone to buy your product or service. This came up as part of a discussion around the best way to keep someone thinking about buying from you when that decision can take a while.
This got me thinking about the “Buyer’s Journey.” That’s the path a potential customer takes from learning about your product to actually making a purchase. This is similar to (though usually not as epic as) the Hero’s Journey, the story arc in most myths and legends as described by noted anthropologist, Joseph Campbell.
In the Hero’s Journey, the hero:
- Receives the call to adventure.
- Refuses the call.
- Meets a mentor who urges the hero to take the journey.
- Chooses to take the journey and crosses the threshold from known to unknown.
- Takes the journey and is tested several times.
- Comes to the final confrontation.
- Succeeds in overcoming a challenge.
- Seizes the treasure.
- Goes through a transformation (usually spiritual).
- Travels back to the community they left with their treasure.
This is a VERY simplified description. There’s a lot more to this cycle. But if you want an excellent example of this story arc, watch (or rewatch) the original Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas based Star Wars on Joseph Campbell’s work.
The Buyer’s Journey is a similar path. A customer:
- Has a problem and decides to solve it (call to adventure).
- Decides that the problem maybe too hard to solve (resists the call).
- Receives a gift that helps them continue their journey (finds a mentor).
- Buys a product that will solve their problem (crosses the threshold).
- Uses the product in hopes of solving their problem (takes the journey).
- Solves the problem and finds success through the product (seizes the treasure).
- Finds their new “normal” and continues to use the product (transformation and return).
So, who are you in this story?
It’s Not About You
You’re not the hero. That’s your customer. This is a mistake most companies make, positioning themselves as the hero.
No.
Everyone is the hero in their own story (or life, as it may be.) Which means if someone is coming to you for a solution to their problem, that takes you out of the hero role.
The hero’s job is to overcome the obstacles and find the treasure (solution to the problem in this case.).
If you’re the one with the solution, you are now officially the mentor. Congratulations, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You must guide your young Padawans from their beginnings as searchers and on to their final glory as heroes, returning from their journeys in triumph.
Guiding Your Buyer on Their Journey
You, as the mentor, have to guide your potential customer to that goal of seizing the treasure and going through a transformation. If left to their own devices, your customer will wander off and get eaten by the dragon of “too much information,” get overwhelmed and decide their problem isn’t worth solving.
Their first instinct will be to say that this problem is too hard to solve. They will resist the call to adventure. (This is a standard part of the plotline. And think about the last time you came up against a tough nut to crack. Did part of you want to give up? Of course, you did. This is human, which is why it shows up in so many stories.)
Your job, as the mentor, is to persuade your hero (potential customer) that their buyer’s journey is worth taking.
This means the hero needs to be able to find the promise of your solution. Have you made yourself easy to find? Or are you hiding out in the wastes of Tatooine, biding your time until the Rebel Alliance calls on you?
Sorry, but in this case, you can’t remain in hiding until it’s time for your grand entrance. You must have a presence out there somewhere so your heroes/potential customers can find you.
This can be a website, a Facebook page or basic landing/squeeze page. Or, if you prefer, a brick and mortar store where your heroes/potential customers can come in and talk to you, their mentor, directly.
And yes, you will have to make yourself easy to find, as in driving traffic to your online presence or advertising the location of your brick and mortar store.
Plus, you will have to convince your customer that it’s worth their time and effort to take this journey. You do this by showing your customer how much better their life will be, once they’ve solved their problem.
Once your customer has found you, and taken the first steps on their buyer’s journey, it’s up to you to encourage them onward.
This is when you, the mentor, give your hero, your potential customer, a gift.
Presenting Your Solution
Since I’ve been referencing Star Wars throughout this exploration, this is the point in the original Star Wars movie where Obi Wan (Ben) Kenobi gives Luke his father’s lightsaber.
You don’t need to be that fancy or dramatic.
In your case, you are going to give your hero/potential customer what is commonly referred to as a lead magnet or opt-in bribe. The point of the gift, in your case, is to get your hero/potential customer to give you their email address.
If you’re a brick and mortar store, you may choose to ask for business cards instead, though lots of physical businesses also build email lists via loyalty programs these days.
Why are you doing this?
Because this is how you will continue to guide your hero/potential customer along their journey. You want to be able to stay in contact, whether through email, social media or any other method of communication you choose.
In return, your hero/potential customer gets a taste of what you have to offer. This is what my friend Chris Davis (former Director of Education at Active Campaign and a fantastic automation specialist) refers to as giving a slice of bread so people want the whole loaf.
Lead magnets can take many forms, including:
- Free trials
- Free samples
- eBooks
- Buying guides
- Checklists
- Topic guides
- FAQ sheets
- Top 10 lists
- Coupons
- Giveaways
- Contests
- Challenges
Your goal is to give something that will appeal to your hero/potential customer enough that they’re willing to surrender their personal information for. Or at least, be interested enough in your product or service that they’ll want to buy.
Now, they need to learn to use this gift.
Educating Your Buyer to Use Your Gift to Better Their Lives
To continue our Star Wars analogy, this is when Obi-Wan Kenobi teaches Luke how to fight with his father’s lightsaber. After several failed tries (and light laser burns), Luke finally opens himself to the Force and succeeds.
This is true of any student. It takes a few tries to get it right.
You, as the mentor, can help with what podcaster and affiliate master, Pat Flynn calls a “Small, Quick Win.”
This is what your lead magnet should really be focused on. A simple action your hero/prospective customer can take, that will help them achieve an immediate success.
It doesn’t have to be a huge success. It can be as basic as giving them a large enough sample of your product that they can see the effects immediately. Or showing them an easy and repeatable way to achieve their goal, using your product or service. (This is the crucial bit. You want them to see your product or service as part of the solution.)
To encourage them to get to this Small Quick Win, you use the email address you collected from them in exchange for the lead magnet.
Write 3-5 emails that guide your heroes/potential customers through the process you outlined in your lead magnet, or to encourage them to follow the recommendations you made. (Yes, similar to this blog post you’re reading right now.)
This is how you continue to guide your heroes/potential customers on their buyer’s journey after they’ve gone off on their own and need to overcome the obstacles in front of them, (achieving that Small, Quick Win, so they can prove to themselves they’re ready for the next, biggest challenge.)
Hey, we can’t all become One with the Force and speak directly into our heroes’/potential customers’ minds. So, we use the technology available to us.
Achieving Victory and Completing the Buyers Journey
In the Star Wars saga, this greater glory, or “seizing the treasure and returning victorious” occurs twice (technically). The first time is when Luke fires the shot that blows up the Death Star. The second is when he faces Darth Vader on the second Death Star, and ultimately brings him back from the Dark Side.
Fortunately for you, your heroes/potential customers don’t have to go through such a big transformation.
Their transformation is from potential customer to paying customer.
Once that Small, Quick Win happens, you want to jump right in and say, “Hey, there’s more where that came from…”
You can do this with an email leading to a sales page, a coupon or discount, a phone call or whatever other means you have at your disposal.
When they make a purchase, your job, as the mentor, is to keep them using your product or service so they continue to be successful.
Many companies do this with onboarding emails or videos, showing how the product is used. Case studies, showing how others achieved success and inspiring your new paying customer also work, as do live workshops where new customers can ask questions about the product or service.
As your customers progress with their new success, this is the time to ask for testimonials and offer upsells of complimentary products and services, to keep the momentum going and turn them into a life-long customer and evangelist for your company.
This is all well and good for some products and services that have a learning curve and need this kind of guidance.
What if you sell handmade soap or jewelry?
How will you know whether your paying customer is using it? How will you encourage them to buy more?
This is where your email list comes in.
When your hero/potential customer becomes a paying customer, send weekly or monthly emails, reminding them of their success with your product. Show them how they can get more of that success, or how they can share it with their friends and loved ones.
You can list your upcoming art or craft shows, you can offer specials on your website or you can highlight new products in these emails.
Keeping your product or service top of mind helps incorporate that product or service into your customer’s “new normal,” now that they’ve seized the treasure (solved the problem they originally had) and returned victorious to their community (showed their friends, family, neighbors, etc. their success).
You, meanwhile, have achieved your goal as mentor and gotten a new customer who you can continue to guide and keep as a loyal customer.
And there you have it, the full cycle of buyer’s journey and your role in it.
May you all live happily ever after.
Use the Buyer’s Journey to Grow Your Customer Base
I’ve created a handy checklist for you to make sure you include each one of these 6 very important steps in your marketing. That way you’ll have the perfect path laid out for your customers as they travel along their buyer’s journey.
Click on the button below to download your copy now.