What it takes to get paying users?
The underline principle of knowing customer journey from being unknown to being obsessed with the brand.
Hey everyone👋, welcome to the 42nd newsletter post.
Often times brands are obsessed with creating sales funnels, marketing campaigns or strategies without understanding how customers buy or prefer to buy their product.
Shifting from creating sales funnel to buying funnels can ensure the company reaches its goals faster and more efficiently. That’s because sales are more focused on the organisation first, while buying is focused on the customer journey and how they acquire products.
Just think about being customer-centric throughout the department - designing, marketing, content, etc. The more you are focused on customers, the better the product. Now, that doesn’t mean asking them about each new feature before releasing it. It’s simple but people like making it hard by creating long persona pages that they hardly visit again.
How you pay for a new product in the market
You don’t just buy that product because it’s in the market or built by someone you know.
Same way your users might be going through a lot of emotions, fears and questions before they become paying users. Because you are trying to change their habit, which most of us aren’t comfortable with. So, how you reduce the fear & help them get comfortable with your product is the first thing. You do it by educating them through content, sharing client stories, testimonies, etc. and sometimes giving them a trial or free plan.
You need to find and lead the customer by being involved with them at every step of the buying process and when they use the product. You want them to feel good about the experience so that they come back again and again.
When you know specific details about the buyer, you can’t just tell them your product will benefit them in any way. You need to build buying experience, understand the process of how they buy and then target them.
From the point, they get aware of your brand till they actively use it, buying experience for them is as important as designing the product itself.
If it’s easier for them to buy it and get comfortable using it, the higher the satisfaction and they’ll be actively using it and bragging about it. Just think about the most used app on your phone & why you use it (other than social media).
Even when you shop from a retail place where you are a premium member, you always go there because the experience makes you feel like “winning in life”. Not only do they give you priority but also quick shopping, several offers and discounts in the shortest time possible.
The reasons they buy and the experience they get is the major contributors to customer satisfaction from the first time they interact with your brand. If purchasing a product is difficult for them just imagine how bad they’ll feel. Even if you put high incentives, you’ll see a high churn rate.
The first is reducing their fears
Over the time period, companies have made product awareness accessible by offering educational and product-related content and generating demand. Now, buyers find the item, learn about it, try it, interact with it and then buy it.
Content marketing
Content marketing builds awareness around the problem and product. It is a primary strategy amazingly used by companies like HubSpot, Buffer, etc. to create automation, nurture the lead and communicate with the prospect until they are ready to buy.
In this creator economy, content is not limited to blogs only, but social media, videos, or short content are reaching faster to the users and increasing the demand. It’s a form of buying process that helps users understand the problem, evaluate with alternatives and create a short list of solutions before buying.
What you as a brand can do is create or think of several scenarios of why and how customers face the problem, try to look at the problem, look for solutions and what decisions they will make before purchasing. Based on this information create content.
Targeted ads
They work well when you have some establishment and proper understanding of customer behaviour or the purchase process. The core problem ads face is a lack of trust and prior brand awareness. They will only take it as an option if they’ve heard about the brand before or can emotionally link with it.
Offline reach
Perhaps, your audience lives offline. There’s no doubt that a lot of businesses revolve around offline marketing - phones, sms, printouts, etc.
There is research that says we are obsessed with our phones:
67% of mobile phone users find themselves constantly checking their phone for notifications, even if it hasn’t rung or vibrated
44% of phone owners have slept with their phone next to their bed to make sure they didn’t miss anything in the night
Around 90% of text messages open within the first three minutes
But the most difficult part of the phone or offline marketing is that you can’t put too much information in it - like landing pages, visuals, etc. Second, you have the time of a few seconds to catch their attention because they are bombarded by several other notifications.
But the best part is, it is associated with immediacy and urgency, where humans are likely to respond fast.
The essential piece to make users become buyers is to meet their emotional needs or desires. After the demand is generated, the product should be easily accessible to them along with a smooth process. But the customer journey doesn’t end here. In fact, the in-product experience will tell a lot about retention, growth, adoption and new acquisitions. After purchase, the framework changes to the customer lifecycle go-to-market strategy.
Also, read🗞:
The "User" Paradox: How to understand them better?
Why the Next Wave of Startups Will Be Community-Led?
How to create a balanced roadmap of product features?
Product strategy is more about people than your product
👋 PS: I’m Ritika founder, product marketer and advisor for early-stage startups, find more here or connect with her here. If you’re a first-time founder looking for curated resources, download here. If you enjoyed this post, read the past issues here. You can also promote your product in this newsletter.
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