A person searches for a new laptop online. It has selected a couple of brands that he likes, but continues undecided and does not know which to stay with.

The search engine marketing strategy of the first brand is to appear in the search results of generic terms related to the word “laptop” through sponsored links, which direct you to the company website.

Once there, they offer a complete technical information of the products, accompanied by numerous images and videos. All this, classifying information by brands and models.

In the commercial establishment, the brand presents the fundamental technical characteristics of their laptops such as RAM capacity, GB storage, processor speed, The graphics card? On small labels that appear next to each model. It also provides a QR code, which when scanned, leads to a mobile version of the website of the brand, where all the technical information of the model in question.

The search marketing strategy of the second brand, on the other hand, starts from the premise that the first thing is to understand the intention of the client, to adjust as much as possible to the stage of the purchasing decision process in which he is . Why do you want a laptop? Are you starting to look, or are you ready to buy? The brand guides those in the early stages of research into third-party review sites where their products are well considered and directs those who are willing to buy, To its own website, where each reference has a set of customer reviews grouped according to the utility that you want to give the laptop.

In commercial establishments, this second brand, highlights the technical characteristics in non-technical terms. Instead of listing an endless list of technical attributes, highlight only the top five and briefly outline comparative examples of the usefulness of each. An augmented reality code brings the consumer to an application that accentuates the main differentiating element of the notebook: the ability of its processor and RAM to run a large number of tasks in parallel without depleting the battery life.

The high level of detail reached by the information of the first brand in each stage of the purchase decision process, although it can help the potential buyer to know in depth each and every one of the technical characteristics of their laptops, is very little Useful to facilitate its decision. The second brand, on the other hand, simplifies the purchasing decision process by offering trusted information sources tailored to the individual needs of each consumer, helping them to decide quickly and confidently.

Almost certainly choose the second brand.

This is the conclusion reached by a study of CEB , which involved more than 7,000 consumers and 200 British and US marketing managers, Which emphasizes the importance for the competitiveness of brands, to help the customer to simplify their purchasing decision process , because for most people, the incessant increase in the volume of messages received daily from brands, Is overwhelming. Far from attracting them, they distance them.

With the aim of attracting potential customers, there are brands that have begun to restructure their online communication strategies following three key processes: facilitating navigation, building trust and offering tools that allow easy comparison of options.

Facilitate navigation

When demanding more attention from people saturated with advertising messages, many brands, what they achieve is to blur and slow their decision processes. Facilitate navigation, Means minimizing the number of points of contact that potential customers have to go through to acquire a product or service . The brands that best do it, personalize the way using the new possibilities offered by Big Data to work with huge volumes of information of very different variety and at a speed close to the real time.

In addition, the increasingly sophisticated tools for online analysis and monitoring of media and social networks, along with the mechanisms for measuring advertising effectiveness, clickstream analysis, A / B tests and conventional qualitative research techniques, are resulting in great Help to identify patterns in consumer buying decision processes, With which to estimate in which part of the process they are and thus be able to guide them towards the points of contact most suited to their needs.

Build Trust

In the context of simplifying the consumer buying decision process, trust does not refer to trusting the brand, but to the veracity of the information collected . It is often customary for marketing departments to misunderstand this and commit a not inconsiderable part of their online marketing resources to seek out and pay for alleged influencers? Which focus on the technical characteristics and benefits of the product, leaving aside information about the decision and use criteria of the treated product or service. In addition, Some brands are too aware that they have paid for the “influencer” Turn them on . It is not a matter of not paying to speak well of our brand, to do it in a transparent way is totally legitimate, but of course, to do it surreptitiously, sings a lot and throws away the reputation of the brand.

Offer tools that allow you to compare options easily.

Except when it comes to purchases of low economic value, people spend too much time learning about the products and services that we are going to acquire, and then we focus on comparing options, offers, brands … which is generally quite unsatisfactory .

The goal of marketers is to help the customer feel safe and comforted with their choice . The mere fact of providing indigestible amounts of information is not very helpful. Instead, marketing departments need to provide tools to their customers with which they can identify and compare the most relevant features to them. A classic example is the use of the? Of the De Beers group (cut, color, clarity and carat in English) to frame the complex and often irritating process of comparing diamonds. The 4 Ces simplify the purchase decision process, giving customers the assurance that they are considering the essential characteristics of the diamonds and thus making a properly informed decision.

The easier we make the decision to buy our customers, the more opportunities we will have to buy from us.