Before you engage in any communication with visitors to your website, it is essential to know in which stage of the buying process your potential customer currently is.
Customer Decision Process
Despite its diversity, the decision-making process for customers can be divided into five categories:
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Recognition of Needs - an individual faces a problem of an unmet need that triggers discomfort or tension.
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Pre-Purchase Research - an individual realizes that the need can be satisfied by purchasing a specific item.
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Evaluating Alternatives - when an individual identifies what they need and gathers all the necessary information, they engage in evaluating alternatives.
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Purchase Behavior - the individual decides to make a purchase at a certain point.
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Post-Purchase Decision - if the individual is satisfied with the purchase, there is a high probability that they will buy from the same brand again.
Now that we better understand that not all visitors to your online store can be treated the same, it is also more understandable why it is so crucial to adapt our communication to the customer, depending on where they are in the decision-making process at the moment of visiting our website.
The fact is that many owners of online stores communicate with their potential customers as if they are all in the purchasing phase, but the reality is different. When we become aware that visitors are in different decision-making processes and actively implement this through all communication channels within marketing tools every day, the conversion rate quickly increases. This way, we can pay much more attention to other visitors to the online store who have not yet decided to make a purchase.
Frequently asked questions
Price and perceived value, trust in the seller (reviews, certificates, return policy), quality of photos and descriptions, ease of purchase, and social proof (what others have bought). Each factor adds a piece to the decision puzzle.
Strongly - buyers trust other buyers' opinions more than ads. Reviews, star ratings, units sold, UGC photos, and testimonials are among the most powerful persuasion tools in an online store, but only if they are genuine.
FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is the feeling that you will miss a benefit. Time-limited offers, stock counters ("Only 3 left"), displaying the number of current viewers, and "Popular" or "Bestseller" labels are effective FOMO techniques, but only if the data is true; fake urgency or fake viewer counts are a misleading commercial practice.
With a clear product structure, limiting the number of options (less is more), product comparison, and a clear answer to the question "Which one is right for me?". Too much choice paralyzes decision-making.
Surprisingly low prices raise doubts about quality. A higher price with clear value argumentation is often more persuasive. Whether a price ending in .99 helps depends on the market and the item, so test it.
My name is Anže, I am a certified Magento solution expert and the maker of several award-winning online stores. I am the architect of all Degriz projects.
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