E-Marketing and the Consumer Buying Decision Process

To figure out how these two things are connected, you first have to know what the consumer buying decision process is.  There are many different definitions of what the process involves, but according to ehow.com, the process involves 5 steps.

Step 1: Problem Recognition
In this step, consumers figure out what their problem or need is.  This triggers the consumer to want to buy something that would involve fixing the problem or satisfying the need.

Step 2: Information Search
The consumer then takes the problem/need and starts searching for ways to fix/satisfy it.  They either go to friends for help, remember what they used the last time to fix/satisfy their problem/need, search the internet, or go off of TV commercials.

Step 3: Alternative Evaluation
The consumer then sees all the choices that are available to fix/satisfy the problem/need and starts to figure out which product would be right for him/her.  At this step, the consumer needs to evaluate the alternatives based on the qualities that are important to them.

Step 4: Purchase Decision
The consumer takes all the knowledge that was learned in the other steps and now makes a decision about which product to choose.  Once the consumer has chosen which product then they have to choose where to buy the product.  It could be a store that they go to all the time or just simply which store has the product for the cheapest amount of money.

Step 5: Post-Purchase Behavior
The consumer has now bought the product and used it.  This is the point where the consumer determines how they feel about the product and the brand sometimes.  The consumer determines if the product has done its job of fixing/satisfying the problem/need.  The consumer determines if they are satisfied or unsatisfied about the product and whether or not they would recommend the product to their friends.  To me, the post-purchase behavior is one of the most important steps when it comes to gaining or losing business.

Now that each step is explained, I can talk about how e-marketing comes into and is involved with each step.  I mean, what is involved with a consumer needing some product?  Marketing is the one thing that influences the consumer to want or need a product by showing them what the product is and how it can be used and make the life of the consumer easier or more enjoyable.  In my opinion, the key to marketing is exposure.  It seems like the more you expose consumers to a product or brand name, the more it sticks in their head so when they are at the store they want your brand or product.  E-marketing is all about exposing consumers to goods or services in a very convenient way for the consumer.  E-marketing is all over every website there is.  Sometimes its as simple as a link at the bottom or its as complex as a video commercial on a webpage.  This subliminally exposes the consumer to all of these different brands so that subconsciously the consumer learns the brand or product name and chooses it when they go to buy an item.

When a consumer goes to do research for step 2, they normally look online to get the most information in the shortest amount of time possible.  When the consumer goes to a search engine, they type in what they are looking for and then hit the search button.  When the searches show up, they start from the top and go down, so normally they use the first couple links that are available.  Well, the order of the links is all a part of e-marketing.  The companies usually put in keywords in order to be able to have their link come up in a search.  The closer your search comes to the keywords, the higher up the link is in the search.  Also, while your looking at one webpage, you see a link that is relevant and click on it and all of a sudden your at a products webpage learning more information about one brand's product.  All of the ads on the side of the website are all a part of e-marketing.  This all goes back to my point that e-marketing is most concerned with exposure.

How does a consumer normally get information about the alternatives is all in a search online.  If the product is made by a small company, the consumer normally does not find it unless a store happens to have the product on the shelves by the other alternatives.  This is starting to show how step 3 has e-marketing involved.  For example, when I looked to buy a new camera, I used cnet.com, which gives products reviews and prices.  If they don't like a product after they have given it through their series of tests, then I won't buy it.  This is a part of e-marketing.  Cnet.com is saying which products are best to use, which is a very good or bad thing for companies because they don't have to pay for the advertising, but instead they get free publicity for their product.  It is good for companies who make and sell products that are of good quality that pass the tests that cnet.com puts their products through.  On the other hand, the companies that don't have products that measure up, they get very bad publicity for their products and have a hard time making up the difference because it is way harder to overcome a bad review than it is to overcome a demeaning ad.

E-marketing just goes on from there because to choose a product you are going off of what you find out about it and what you have seen about the product.  Whether you see ads for it on social media networks or off of other websites, you still have to get the information some way and it usually is from the internet.  Even when you go off of a friend/family members recommendation for a product, you don't know how they got their information to begin with.  Whether they did a lot of research to figure out the best product or if they went from just seeing the product in different situations.

Any way you look at the buying decision process, you will see that e-marketing is involved in every step of the process.  I do have to say this one little disclaimer, when using the internet for information about a product you should always make sure its from a trusted website and not just from one persons opinion.  It is always better to get multiple opinions about a product before making a decision.



Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5438201_consumer-buying-decision-process.html
http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/Internet_Marketing_Strategy.htm
http://www.cnet.com/