See what buyers really do offstage
Do you know what buyers feel, think and do as they decide on your product or a competitor’s?
Buyer persona research gives you a backstage pass
To marketers and salespeople, most of the buyer’s journey is invisible, unseen. Let’s face it: most of the drama of a buyer’s journey takes place out of sight, backstage or offstage.
To see what buyers do when they’re offstage and out of sight takes research. Buyer persona research analyzes buyers’ behavior as they go through the 4 steps in a carefully considered purchase:
- Recognize a need to change or stick with the status quo
- Evaluate the options to address a problem or need
- Resolve concerns about sellers with third-party opinions and social proof
- Set terms and conditions they can accept on a purchase.
What if you had the power to pull back the curtain and see what buyers do?
What if you could hear:
- What buyers say about their problems?
- Which steps they take in the purchase process?
- Where they get stuck, and how they get unstuck?
- What they feel and think about you and your competitors?
Buyer persona research gives you a backstage pass
Buyer persona research is valuable to marketing, sales and companies because it lets you see what buyers do behind the scenes.
You need buyer persona research to get the answers to key questions:
- Which information sources and people do buyers consult?
- Which past events or present obstacles do buyers need to overcome?
- Which attributes of your offering do buyers care about most?
- Why are buyers bogging down, taking so long to make decisions?
- Who is in on making the final decisions, and who are merely bystanders?
To learn the answers, use buyer persona research.
Marketers often have abundant market research – segmentation, demographics, firmographics and more. This research shows you what happens onstage.
But it simply can’t capture what’s happens offstage, behind the scenes, where the real action takes place. That’s why buyer persona insights are so valuable.
How to create buyer personas?
As a marketer in my workshop asked: “How do we create buyer personas? How do we convince management this is necessary?”
Buyer persona research involves interviewing 10 to 12 buyers one-on-one within 6 months of their buying decision, when their recollections of the process are still fresh. Record the interviews with their permissions. Transcribe and analyze them to find buyer persona insights.
To learn more about buyer persona techniques, read my review on Adele Revella’s book Buyer Personas.
Buyer personas reveal twists, turns and surprises along the way
Here are 5 kinds of insights clients gain from buyer persona research:
Who are the decision makers? A company marketed to the 5 apparent decision-makers on a buying team. But buyer persona research showed that only 2 of the 5 were in on key decisions. This insight freed up 60% of marketing resources, enabling the company to focus everything on the 2 actual decision-makers.
Which information sources do buyers use? A financial company learned that third-party reviews from repeat customers and Better Business Bureau rankings were pivotal – more important than any other information buyers found.
How important is price? An industrial company believed that price was a key component of buying decisions. Buyer persona research showed that when an application involves life-or-death safety risks, engineers focus on their fear of failure and don’t care about price.
Does the brand matter? A company thought that its distributors chose products based on brand. But buyer persona research showed that what matters to distributors is a good fit for the application, immediate availability, ease of transaction, and price. Which brand? They couldn’t care less.
Why don’t business owners consult peers? Small business owners may need a loan, but they’re too embarrassed to ask local peers for advice. Why? They grew up with the idea that needing a loan is a sign of weakness, a source of embarrassment. Buyer persona research showed a financial company how it can reassure reluctant borrowers when they take out their first business loans.
The intriguing details you need about buyers to know happen offstage
To gain juicy insights about what happens offstage during your buyer’s journey, get your backstage pass with buyer persona research. Buyer persona insights give you a great way to get ahead of competitors.
Enough said!