Ever wonder about the steps local consumers take before they find, call, visit, schedule an appointment or make a purchase from your business?

Today, we’re going to talk about the consumer buying journey and how we keep your business in front of local consumers through each stage of their purchase process.

This is how the buying journey works.

A recent study found that there are five main activities consumers complete before they make a purchase:

1. Using a search engine
2. Using digital maps
3. Visiting a business’s website
4. Visiting other businesses’ websites
5. Visiting a store or location

While they may complete these steps in a different order or complete one or two steps multiple times before making a choice, these are the steps consumers take to make a purchase decision.

Steps 1 and 2: Using a Search Engine and Digital Maps

Here’s how this looks in action. The consumer realizes he/she needs a product or service. In this case, we’ll say they’re looking for a car dealership.

So, the consumer takes out their phone and searches Google. They find a few different local car dealers to choose from. That’s when they see how your dealership compares to others.

Steps 3 and 4: Visiting Your Website and Other Businesses’ Websites

They’ll look at your listing, visit your website and thoroughly research your business before either choosing you or doing more research.

The consumer might then do some more research and check out the other businesses that showed up in the search, looking at their websites, reviews, photos, videos, social media pages and any other information they can find about these businesses online.

Step 5: Visiting a Business Location

When the time comes to make a choice, he/she will typically choose the business with the most positive reviews and a nice, mobile-friendly website, and as you can see in the list of steps above, the final step is typically visiting a business location. That one is pretty straightforward.

But, remember, they won’t visit you if they can’t find you online.

Because the buying journey is so complicated, it’s important to keep your business in front of the consumer through the entire process. That’s where we come in.

How We Put You in Front of Consumers Through the Buying Journey

If you’re a RevLocal client, we make sure your business shows up in searches by creating, claiming and constantly optimizing your business’s information in searches. That way you’re right in front of the consumer when they complete that first search.

We also make sure your website is local and mobile-friendly so that it looks good on every device and gives consumers all the information they need to choose your business. We make that first impression count.

And, Renown, our review marketing plan, helps you get more positive reviews across the most popular review websites. Our goal is to make you the best, most attractive choice for those local consumers. Since 97 percent of people read online reviews, this step is extremely important.

What about that stage when the consumer is researching other businesses? Well, if you have a paid advertising plan with us, we use retargeting ads to keep your business fresh in the consumer’s mind. Your retargeting ads can show up on social media, in Google search results and even on other websites to keep the consumer coming back to you.

And, finally, our social media plan comes with profile optimization so that your social pages look good and feature correct, complete business information. We also post regularly with custom text and graphics across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you’re a RevLocal client and you want more info on the buying journey, contact your strategist. If not, take a look at our plans on our website to see what we can do for you.