Engaging the Consumer at Multiple Touch Points

The article "The consumer decision journey" published in the McKinsey Quarterly presents the consumer decision making process as a circular journey rather than the traditional funnel approach. The consumer decision journey approach focuses attention on reaching the consumer at key moments or touch points, when marketing can most effectively influence the consumer's decision and choice. The traditional funnel approach uses push marketing to ensure that the marketer's brand is included in the initial set of brands under consideration, then continue to market to the consumer until the final choice is made.

The implication of this change is that the marketer must understand their own industry and which touch points provide the best opportunity to influence the consumer. Since two-thirds of touch points are now initiated by consumers when they "pull" information, the marketers need to make sure that they are available to interact with their consumers and provide the necessary product and marketing information whenever the consumers initiate the contact. The ability to influence the consumer purchase decision at each touch point varies greatly by industry. For example, for skin care and consumer electronics, the decision is often postponed until the consumer walks into the store. The consumer can still be influenced at this stage by the sales pitch, packaging or product characteristic, despite the research and evaluation already done ahead of time. On the other hand, for automobiles, the battle is waged at the initial-consideration stage and post-purchase phase rather than during the active-evaluation and moment-of-purchase phases.

Marketers must now engage the consumers at the right place and time, and tailor their communication message to each consumer based on the information they requested through consumer initiated touch points. This together with traditional brand building and post-purchase support help win new customers and build loyal buyers.

For internet marketing and e-commerce, the consumer decision journey approach provides the perfect convergence of consumer needs with the technology available through the internet in order to track and engage the consumer. The internet provides the means for marketer to know when the consumer is ready to purchase and actively engage and influence them at this critical decision point. On the other hand, traditional marketing and brand building can increase exposure to the product and brand, but provide more limited and lagging information as to when the consumer is ready to make a purchase. Customer's search, browsing, purchase and inquiry history can all be tracked and monitored so that targeted marketing and advertising can be pushed at the right moment. Information and technical expertise can also be provided at the right time when the consumer initiates a consumer-driven marketing activity. Through the internet, consumer recommendations and product evaluations are cheaper and easier for the marketers to gather and analyze, and used to better understand their customers and their preferences.