How To Predict Purchases Before They Happen

(This is the transcript from our new video so it may not read as well as a normal blog post would)

Hi, Ben Norman here, and today I wanna talk to you about the art of predicting the purchase. And what do I mean by that? Well if we step it back a little bit, we look at the way that we look at a typical customer.

We’re normally aware of them when they come into our ecosystem. Say for an example, I’m gonna pretend that we sell blinds, which we obviously don’t, but we’re gonna pretend we sell blinds. Most of the time, we’re aware of a customer when they have a need for blinds and we understand that there are certain terms and things that people look for when they’re looking for blinds. Blind measuring guide, or how do I measure up for blinds, or buy blinds. Whatever those terms are, they’re very much blind-centric.

They’re very much to do with I know I need blinds, so what kind of process do I need to follow? That person has become aware that they need that product or you can apply it to any thing or service. Now when I say predictive purchase, what I mean is about takin’ that user journey and stretchin’ it back. Let’s not just look at the point in which the person becomes aware that they need a particular product or service.

Let’s take it back before that. What are the causes that cause somebody to need to buy blinds. Buying a brand new house. We all know, brand new houses don’t come with blinds. Renovated houses, the blind probably aren’t gonna be that much cop. If you’re moving into a new house, chances are you’re gonna wanna put your stamp on it, put new blinds in it. How do I fix a broken blind?

All of these kind of terms, searches, the psychology of it. People haven’t at that point when they’re movin’ house, they don’t have that realization, I need blinds. The first thing we needa do is we need to buy blinds. The person that’s searching for how to fix blinds is not thinking, I need to buy a new blind, he’s trying to fix the blind that he’s just broken.

Chances are he’s not gonna be able to. So his next thought process is, damn I’m gonna need to buy some new blinds. So instead of waiting for him to get to that stage, in his thought process, that stage in the user journey where the person becomes aware of their need for blinds, we step it back. And we look at all of the ways in which we can kind of, someone could come into that realization that they need to buy blinds and then we start creating content.

We start trying to target that person at those points. Somebody searchin’ for how do I fix my blinds? Why don’t we target ’em, say oh, unlucky, you know, 90% case you can’t fix your blinds, if that’s you, here’s a 10% discount on your blinds that you’re gonna need to buy.

That would be a lot cheaper to target. There’s gonna be a lot fewer people fighting over tryin’ to acquire that person at that point, it’s gonna be cheaper to acquire them at that point. If you’re creating content to try and engage with people up until the point. You could do, instead of doing what most blind companies do and create a guide on how to fit blinds, or how to measure your blinds, do a house moving guide.

You do a house moving guide, yes, it becomes about other things as well as blinds. But at that point, you’re able to go, you’re gonna need blinds. And by the way, here’s 10% off. You’re gettin’ in before everybody else. So with predictin’ the purchase, it’s about looking at the user journey, and then stretchin’ it back, and tryin’ to understand where they’ve come from and why they’ve arrived at this decision to buy this service, this product and all of the different routes that could them in, and how you could create content, how you can advertise to that person, how you can engage and be useful to that person before they get to the realization that they need to buy something. Because by the time that they get to that, you’re fighting with all of your competitors.

Whereas if you can get in before that point, you’ve got a much better chance of acquiring that customer before your competitors are even aware of it. Hope you found this useful. Hope it causes you to start lookin’ at your user journey, and instead at the point where you’re aware, you start lookin’ a little bit before the aware stage, tryin’ to work out how you can engage with them before that point and add value. So that you’re kind of front of mind when they come to the realization they actually need your product or services.

I’d love to know if this is something that you’re already lookin’ at. So hit me up in the comments below and let me know what you’re currently doin’ if you’re targeting, or if you found any clever tips, hacks, tricks to get in before that awareness stage.