Some time ago, I read an interesting Google study based on analysis in the United States, but easily applicable here, which reported the following:
40% of people buying baby products live in households without children!
We have probably been part of that 40% when buying a gift to celebrate the birth 👶 of a new human being 🤪
It is important to understand who the participants in the customer journey are, so we know whom to address and what to communicate.
At the extreme, the purchase decision-maker, buyer and user are 3 different people.
When choosing a gift, my wife is the decision-maker, I make the purchase and the user is the little one receiving it.
But other participants can come into play too.
For example, the other day I was with my brother, who told me that cyclists 🚴 today no longer use pumps to inflate tyres, but small air compressors.
I knew nothing about these devices, but the idea intrigued me, so I searched online, read bloggers and watched videos explaining the best products and how to use them.
Before long, I had bought my compressor!🤪
In this case, my brother was the "initiator", the trigger that supplied the idea and set my buying process in motion, while online content creators did their job as "influencers”.
So we have up to 5 different participants:
- initiator
- influencers
- decision-maker
- buyer
- user
In marketing, we can act on each of them, not only the end user, or use a marketing tool to fulfil the first two roles.
