This report mainly explores the purchasing decision process of American consumers, as well as how brands can optimize marketing strategies to achieve efficient conversion from “planting the seed” to purchase.
1. Key Points
- Complex decision process: Most American consumers discover new products every week, but before purchasing, they need to interact with different channels and brands at least three times. Brands need to develop full-chain integrated marketing strategies.
- Multi-channel marketing attribution is difficult: Consumers obtain product information online but often make purchases in physical stores. Traditional attribution models cannot accurately capture this, so precise attribution is crucial.
- Channel effectiveness paradox: Although Amazon is the main search platform, product discovery and search channels are becoming increasingly diverse, so marketers need to differentiate their layouts.
- Demographic differences: Consumers of different ages and incomes behave differently. High-income consumers search more before purchasing, and consumers aged 44 - 59 are more likely to explore complex products. Brands should segment their strategies.
2. Consumer Purchase Journey
- Product discovery: Most consumers discover at least one new product every week, and the discovery channels are diverse, including e-commerce platforms, search engines, social media, etc. Consumers aged 44 - 59 are more active in product discovery, and both habitual and experimental consumers are willing to explore new products.
- Pre-purchase consideration: Before purchasing, consumers conduct in-depth research on products through multiple channels, relying on credible information sources such as online reviews. Consumers of different incomes and ages have different research behaviors and preferences. Product price affects the depth of research, so brands need to optimize content and channel strategies.
- Purchase stage: Price and quality dominate purchase decisions. High-income consumers value quality, while low-income consumers value price. Consumers use a variety of purchasing channels, so brands need to build full-chain marketing strategies and optimize the mobile experience.
- Marketing attribution challenges: Consumers’ purchase paths are complex and difficult to attribute accurately. Brands can build a digital marketing ecosystem, adopt multi-touch attribution models, integrate data, and improve marketing effectiveness.
3. Recommendations: Brands should interact with consumers across multiple channels, customize marketing plans for different consumers, provide a consistent shopping experience and clear information, and optimize the mobile experience to adapt to changes in consumer behavior and drive business growth.
