The differences between online and offline customer behaviors
We will investigate the distinctions between online and offline customer behaviors. We'll also go over how audience segmentation can help you decide where to focus your digital efforts when making the switch to the web.
What are the primary distinctions between a physical store customer and an online customer?
Assume you've recently set a personal goal to improve your fitness and now require new running shoes. In the real world, your journey might look something like this:
You go from store to store in the local shopping center. Finally, you make a choice based on price, quality, return policy, staff friendliness, and stock availability. You process all of that information before returning to the store with the shoes you want to buy.
When it comes to online shopping, you're most likely to go through four distinct stages. These principles are described in the "See, Think, Do, Care" framework, and they provide a useful way for a business to determine where it should invest effort in connecting with customers. Let's look at our shoe shopping example again, this time emphasizing these four stages:
SEE stage
You notice that some of your friends have started running and are sharing maps of their favorite routes on social media. This motivates you to start running.
THINK stage,
You take out your phone and search for "best running shoes for beginners." This exposes you to a plethora of online content, ranging from blog articles to targeted advertisements, providing you with more information on which to base your decision.
Do stage,
You'll look up "where to buy the best running shoes for beginners." You eventually make your purchase.
Care stage
Consider sharing a photo on social media. This final step of sharing your purchase is included in the CARE stage.
Keep in mind that customers do not always go through all four stages; your journey may start at the THINK stage and end at the DO stage.
Let us now combine offline and online activities. Assume you're in a sports store, having just tried on some new running shoes. You take out your phone and look for them online, perhaps to see if they are cheaper elsewhere. You might buy it online after visiting a physical store, a practice known as "showrooming.'"
Understanding the distinctions and similarities between online and offline shopping can assist you in providing a more balanced online customer experience.
So, how do you know where to direct your online efforts? Find out who you're talking to, when you should talk to them, and what you should talk about before you choose the right channels. This is known as audience segmentation.
Customers can be segmented in a variety of ways, ranging from basic demographics like age and gender to specific interests. For example, if certain products are only available for shipping to specific areas, segmenting customers by location may benefit an e-commerce store. Online advertising can benefit from segmentation as well, because most channels allow you to target paid advertising to specific audiences based on information such as what an audience likes or dislikes. You can also limit your ads to people within a certain radius of your shop or business, which is useful when offering promotions to local customers.
To summarize, when it comes to expanding a business online, consider the customers and put yourself in their shoes: which channels do they prefer? How do you interact with them differently online and offline?
Focus points
Understanding how customers browse the web is an important factor in ensuring your online efforts are rewarded when taking a business online. In this article, we will look at:
-
Customer online behaviors and how they intersect with offline behaviors
-
How to use the "See, Think, Do, Care" framework to better understand the online customer journey
-
How to use audience segmentation to group your audiences
Read more about: How to create a successful social media campaign
