It is assumed that — regardless of whether B2B or B2C — customers have, on average, already made 70% of their purchase decision before they come into contact with a salesperson, digitally or in person. McKinsey’s consumer decision journey assumes that customers proceed directly to purchase after active evaluation. In the context of our projects, however, we were able to identify two further phases that need to be observed: the confirmation phase and the re-confirmation phase. These need to be taken into account especially with extensive purchase decisions, which are usually associated with high involvement due to uncertainty, a higher purchase amount, or the prestige connected with the purchase. They are thus characteristic of most B2B purchase decisions and of extensive and limited purchase decisions in B2C industries. That’s why we developed the Customer Purchase Process, which addresses the time directly before and after the purchase even more specifically.
When customers can inform themselves ever better in their personal network and online, they need the provider’s POS less and less for the decision. So more and more decisions when buying trips, electronics, insurance, etc. are made without visiting a manufacturer’s touchpoint. After a decision is made — e.g. on a comparison portal, in a conversation with friends, or due to a test report — customers tend to confirm their decision at the touchpoints and, above all, at the organisation’s POS. This leads to a fundamentally changed perspective on customers’ purchasing process. The Customer Purchase Process addresses this point and allows a deeper insight into the remaining possibilities for companies.
The salesperson takes on a new role. In the past, most customers had only limited knowledge, and the possibilities of informing themselves were limited. This does not mean that customers today objectively have better information, but that they have the subjective feeling of needing less support with the purchase decision from salespeople. Another effect is the systematic cost-saving in almost all industries in the area of personal selling, which puts this professional group under ever greater pressure. Salespeople receive less training, are more easily frustrated, and change jobs more often. As a result, customers increasingly have the feeling of being ‘better’ informed than the salesperson.
After the evaluation, we were able to identify a new phase. The confirmation phase is a process stage within the Customer Purchase Process that builds on the subjectively perceived high certainty of the purchase decisions, but is undertaken in order to dispel last doubts.
Customers increasingly seek out a POS in order to confirm their decision. With some purchase decisions, however, this also means that a POS is visited in order to confirm that this brand is not an option for the customer. As a result, the question arises for every organisation: can we convince customers who are already 70% sure not to buy our brand of the opposite, and is this task financially worthwhile for the organisation? No blanket statement can be made here, because the purchase decision always depends on a multitude of factors. But it is not easy.
In the context of the Customer Purchase Process, companies and their salespeople therefore have the central task of finding out as early as possible whether the customer wants to confirm their purchase decision positively or negatively.
A further phase that needs to be taken into account follows the purchase decision. After the purchase, customers visit the company’s touchpoints once more in order to re-confirm their decision. With larger purchases, waiting times often have to be reckoned with until the goods are delivered or can be used. Online shopping, too, leads to customers having to wait for the goods. They use this time to confirm their decision once more and to be pleased about the purchase decision. For companies, there is the possibility here of dissolving possible cognitive dissonances, or of strengthening the joy about the purchase.
The re-confirmation phase is a stage within the Customer Purchase Process that describes the waiting for the offering and is characterised by customers confirming their purchase once more at the different touchpoints, although the purchase has already been made.
Within the re-confirmation phase, a further subdivision is possible. With B2B and extensive as well as limited B2C purchase decisions, customers are, from the moment of owning a good, in an emotionally positive phase for a certain time. This is comparable to a honeymoon. After the acquisition, the customer is, hopefully, happy about the new acquisition and enjoys using it. Problems usually only emerge later.
Honeymoon denotes the phase within the re-confirmation and usage-experience phase shortly after the purchase, in which customers have a high attentiveness towards the organisation.
This phase has a high importance for two reasons. For one thing, through further customer-relationship activities, the positive experience at handover, or shortly after ownership, can be increased even further. So, in the B2B context, unexpected value-added services can be offered free of charge. For end customers, trial offers can be enclosed. In this phase, customers are particularly attentive towards the organisation. Additional messages can be sent that, if optimally aligned to the customer, can lead to them reaching more or less immediately for the same brand on the next purchase. For another, in this phase it can be assumed that customers are considerably more willing to refer, and also refer considerably more often.
Companies are therefore well advised to integrate these three phases (confirmation, re-confirmation and honeymoon phase) into their considerations and to align the customer-relationship activities optimally to them. The Customer Purchase Process thus serves as a basis for structuring sales and marketing.
