Discussion Question 03

Analyze and describe how social media could influence each stage of the Customer Decision Journey for a customer deciding where to go for a special night out (may include dinner, a special activity, etc.). Please be specific and cover each stage. Use the modified customer decision journey not the traditional journey. Note that this is for social media not other forms of internet sites.

Grading Criteria :

Provides an excellent discussion post, which provides clear evidence of application and relevance to the course content. The information is original or has provided references and citations.

Notes from Book for reference: Below is the information on the Modified Customer Decision Journey. Please use this as reference for discussion answer.

Trigger

Prior to an initial purchase, an event will trigger the Customer Decision Journey to begin. Triggers can be internal, such as a change in roles like moving from being a student to a working professional. Triggers can also be external, such as a neighbor buying a new car, a story on the radio about a new film, or chatter about a new company in a customer's social media circle. A trigger is anything that a customer experiences that influences the desire to purchase something. Importantly, triggers do not end after the first information-gathering step. Triggers can occur throughout the Customer Decision Journey, as illustrated in Section 7.2. Those triggers can then influence which brands are being considered at each phase of the journey.

Information Gathering

In this stage, the customer obtains information either actively or passively. An active approach involves the customer pulling information from various sources while a passive approach occurs when companies or their advocates reach customers with information those customers have not necessarily sought out. This stage has been called the zero moment of truth. Exposure at this stage increases the chances a company will make it into the customer's consideration set. As Jim Lecinski of Google describes, the zero moment of truth “is that moment when you grab your laptop, mobile phone or some other wired device and start learning about a product or service (or potential boyfriend) you're thinking about trying or buying.”3 For example, Google Consumer Services reports that 66 percent of smartphone users turn to their phones to learn more about something they saw in a TV commercial.4

Consideration Set

After the customer receives information, she considers an initial set of brands. If she feels confident and informed in her choices, or if the purchase is time sensitive, she will move onto the next step. If the customer feels she still needs more information, she will stay in the information-gathering stage.

This continual information gathering can be thought of as a learning loop. In this mode, the customer is adding and subtracting brands to his or her consideration set based on the information processed. The loop can occur several times if the customer continues to gather information and revise her consideration set. It can also happen during the preference formation and purchase stages as the customer browses options she had not considered. Companies in a customer's consideration set want to discourage more information gathering lest the customer find a better alternative! As a result, they take steps to preempt search, such as offering same day discounts for purchasing.

Preference

After creating a consideration set from information gathering, the preference stage occurs. Here the customer undertakes a final review of her short list and whittles it down to a smaller number and ultimately, a final decision. Preference is internal to the customer and not yet acted upon. If enough time passes or circumstances change before the customer acts on her preference, she could move backward and make a different choice and/or resume active search for new information.

Purchase

In this phase, one brand is ultimately selected as the best option based on the information gathered. This phase is also known as the first moment of truth, the key moment when shoppers are converted to users. It is important that all aspects of the offering—whether it is on the web, in a showroom, in a sales pitch, or in a supermarket—fit the brand promise. If not, purchase is unlikely and more information gathering will commence.

Post-purchase

In the post-purchase phase, customers experience and engage with the brand they purchased. This is also known as the second moment of truth because it reflects the customer's assessment of whether the promised value proposition has been delivered. If a customer has a positive experience, a relationship with the brand can begin. A positive preference for the brand is maintained and the customer is likely to repurchase it the next time the need for the purchase is triggered. This creates a loyalty loop between positive experiences and the customer's purchase. While in this loop, the customer is less likely to search and will likely shun competitive companies' attempts to gain his or her attention in the marketplace. This virtuous cycle is the brass ring for business. A satisfied customer can also become an advocate for the brand. This can occur through reviews, word-of-mouth, and other social media. Not all satisfied customers advocate and companies can take steps to encourage this important behavior in order to trigger new customer searches and to feed the information-gathering activities of customers actively searching for solutions.

A customer who is dissatisfied or neutral will not enter the loyalty loop. Instead, she will reconsider her choice the next time a similar product or service is needed, this time including post-purchase knowledge. A particularly dissatisfied customer will not consider the brand next time, and may even actively complain about the brand.