Purchase Decision

Consumers (and corporate buyers) go through a mental process before finally deciding to buy something. This process is called the buying process aka buyer journey, buyer cycle or buyer funnel. To successfully perform their job of encouraging leads and customers to (eventually) buy their offering, marketers and sales people analyze their customer's current stage within this process. 

Knowing the market's current stage within the buying process, as well as the associated barriers to purchase, aka sales objections, allows marketers to strategically influence customers to advance further through the buying process. 

Uses

• Marketers use this knowledge when deciding on appropriate communication messaging through social media posts, product packaging design, your brand tone, the focus of the sales pipeline and so on. It is a matter of adaptation to avoid wasting time or losing the lead. Example(s).
• If a pre-launch survey discovers customers are at the 'evaluation of alternatives' stage but would need to know your brand better to feel more trusting of it, you will know that you must pay special attention to generating pre-launch product and brand reviews. 
• If a survey discovers that your market is in the 'information search' stage but perceives your products to be technical and hard to understand, you may focus on instructional  or demonstration content, perhaps using videos, labels, handbooks and so on in ways that your target market can understand. 
• Marketers use knowledge of the process to prepare a set of appropriate responses for each phase. That way, they enter into any sales situation well prepared.
• Marketers can use the knowledge to remove business friction. In this context, business friction refers to anything that prevents or dissuades prospects from buying or advancing naturally through the purchase funnel. Examples of friction include insufficient information, untrustworthy presentation, long wait times, products being out of stock. 
• Assuming that you have already figured the normal number of engagement touchpoints required to convert leads, you can predict customers' conversion time and plan accordingly, perhaps aligning them with tentpole events. BTW, As a rule of thumb, more expensive and B2C products require more touchpoints.

The consumer's stages of the purchase decision.

1. recognizes the problem / need
2. searches for information about solutions. 
3. Evaluates alternatives
4. Decides to buy
5. Evaluates the quality of the purchase decision after the purchase. 

Stage 1. Problem / Need Recognition (Awareness)

This stage relates to customer's recognition of the existence of a problem and their consequent need for a solution.

Some problems have clear triggers that force your target to recognize their problem. For instance, when someone becomes ill, the discomfort of their illness is a clear trigger that they need to resolve a health problem. They can be anything, like; emotional states (sadness, joy, jealousy, guilt and so on) which are 'internal triggers'; ad advertisement or other forms of marketing or 'external triggers'; a car breaking down; an acne breakout; plans to have a wedding, seeing the experiences of others that somehow peak one's interest and so on. Marketers often take advantage of predictable triggers. This is the essence of tentpole marketing like seasonal or other events that include back to school preparation, wedding anniversaries, Christmas and so on. In short, marketers should get to understand customer triggers.

However, sometimes, marketers can even generate needs in the minds of consumers. Marketers can encourage consumers to see their current product solution as inadequate by showing how a newer product can fill a gap of an unconsidered need. In other words, marketers create the need and trigger customers. Example(s)

A consumer who already has a pair of pants may be shown an advertisement in which a more modern style of pants feature strategically positioned pockets that add convenience and security in ways that the current product solution does not.

Skilled marketers do NOT consider their products as solutions for only functional problems / needs. Specifically, marketers often appeal to Maslow's hierarchy of human needs with very emotionally-triggering forms of marketing. For example, luxury products are commonly used to fabricate needs include of feelings of belonging to social groups, sense of actualization, respectability and success. Needless to say, triggering emotional needs are stirred with the use of techniques like the principles of influence and lifestyle marketing. While not necessarily the case, this is a likely approach for marketing products whose attributes alone are unlikely to make it strong in the market.

B2C Case(s)

• Brands like Coca Cola is a classic example of the use of emotional marketing because the focus of communication does not even relate to the drink. Marketing focuses instead on human emotional needs for connecting with others socially as a means of happiness. Read the full case study about Coca Cola's emotionally-triggering advertising.  

The same applies to B2B customers. In other words, know the business needs to which you can offer a unique value proposition (UVP) through your careful brand positioning. Spend time to study and create a profile to intimately understand your target market. To think of your offering to them narrowly in terms of products a and b may be as uncompetitive as discussing features rather than benefits to B2C customers. Since products are only means to an end, they have hardcore business needs like 'sales velocity' aka 'pipeline velocity' (Sales velocity relates to how quickly your products can move through the retailer's sales pipeline / process while generating revenue within a set sales cycle period (commonly 1 month). Its measurement involves 4 key variables, namely 1- number of qualified leads aka 'opportunities', 2- average value of sales, 3- the conversion rate of qualified leads and 4- the length of the actual sales cycle ). Wherever possible, offer retailers opportunities to enhance as many of the 4 elements of the equation to in turn enhance their overall sale velocity. Sales velocity relates to internal drivers. Most common external divers include technological changes in operational processes like online ordering and payments.

B2B Case(s):

• Wholesale buyers (retailers of your FMCG). They are unlikely to be passionately interested in your products. So do not focus on simply selling products. Rather, do several things; illustrate how your products are a good fit within their market; as part of your sales pitch to them, share market research on your product that suggests additional creative placements (aka 'increased sales opportunities, an element that improves sales velocity). For instance, 
• share with the retailer that female respondents to your market research reported an unexpected use for your product to remove makeup. You can then offer regular or, appropriate size for bundling with or placement next to a market leader's makeup (to increase opportunities of qualified leads). To do this effectively, seek out alternate placement opportunities by studying your customer's retail website catalog collections or brick & mortar planogram.   
• Perhaps several of your products can be volume bundled together or you can recommend cross selling options (to increase the average 'deal value')
• Perhaps you can create differently colored seasonal variants that, in addition to going in its usual boring aisle placement, it can make it to coveted end cap presentations, thereby increasing number of opportunities). 
• Offer an additional size for your consumer who has the pain point but with less frequency and not to the same degree as the target for whom the pain point is urgent and persistent (to increase the number of opportunities).
• Offer shelf talkers that communicate effectively, thereby freeing up time of the retailer's sales people. (This essentially reduces the retailer's sale cycle). 
• Offer your wholesale customers to use reviews from your research or earlier sales. They can display these on their websites and or as part of the POP display.
• Avoid stocking out your wholesale customers. Otherwise, the 0 sales will lower your overall sales velocity.

Your response:

• Find out your market's (internal and external) triggers. Find out your target's needs, not only as they relate to your specific product or service offering but also in terms of your 'extended offering'. For instance, after establishing all the decision-making roles within B2B customer organizations, find out the needs or pain points of each role. Specifically ask something like, 'What attribute(s) do you use for selecting suppliers of [__name of your product  or service]". In other words, you may be able to tip the scale in your favor in multiple ways. Similarly, also survey your B2C to also know how to improve their sales velocity.
• Perhaps Coca Cola asked consumers open-ended questions about the life events that encouraged them to buy soft drinks. They likely also asked about the positive benefit consumers got from those experiences. While everyone would have worded the benefits differently, Coca Cola's researcher likely saw lots of positivity, observed many faces turn to smiles as respondents reminisced and then concluded that the common thread could be summed up in one word; 'happiness'. I imagine that, at first, some non-marketing professionals not yet understanding the power of psychology in marketing scoffed at the idea, saying, 'but it's just a sugary drink!' Today, Coca Cola continues to be a global leader against the odds of strong trends towards a healthier diet. Their Christmas tentpole marketing is an example of how this brand 'increases opportunities of qualified leads' who are thinking of love and reunions with family and friends at that time of year. 
• If your target does not recognize its need, seek to inform your market of its existence. Needs are arguably the most important step because needs create the interest and will to act. (B2C & B2B)
• Address sales objections as a means to make sure the (perceived) need can stick. To this end, find out any biases your target may have (that may become sales objections) like being used to a specific brand, specification type and so on.
• Qualify leads (in a fully designed sales pipeline). If unsure, do not shy away from asking B2c and B2B leads directly about their greatest challenges. B2B are likely even more articulate than consumers. Remove non-qualifying leads as they will encourage you to waste time and lower your overall sales velocity.
• B2C case(s)
• Products announce their qualification criteria with statements like 'children from 5 to 12 years old'. 'sexually explicit content, viewer discretion advised' and so on.
• B2B case(s) 
• One of my B2B clients has a webpage contact form that asks consumers qualifying questions as a condition to initiating a live chat call or leaving any type of message.
• Introduce your brand with its clear UVP. This essentially qualifies or disqualifies you to leads.

2. Information Search (research)

After customers recognize their problem, they seek information. This often simply involves seeking out solutions. However, in some cases, a remedial approach also involves seeking deeper insight into the problem, especially if it is one that is technical. 

In either case, this research most commonly takes the form of internet searches and asking people within their circle (for details about their experiences and advice). Example(s) 

• If a customer's car broke down, he may learn more about his car to know what car part was problematic. He may also begin to learn that cars can be repaired with new car parts, replaced with new or second hand ones, public transport, car pooling, biking or  walking might be possible options.

Your response

• Create advertisements that provide enough information that peaks the interest of consumers. Also consider that the product benefit may not be the focus of the messaging but subconscious needs. The expectation is that leads are likely to then dig for deeper details in the next stage.
• Coca Cola provides information not about the product but of \happiness' and what it looks like when consuming the drink.
• A car manufacturer's advertisement may focus on showing how reliably their car functions, perhaps showcasing how owners of their cars are always on time for social events (social needs for belonging), work (self actualization and esteem needs) and so on according to the motivating needs of the market.
• Use search keywords in online communications (website, social media, advertisements and so on).
• Provide only relevant information. Extraneous information can be a distraction and turnoff. 

3. Evaluation of Alternatives (consideration)

At this stage, customers compare and contrast competing solutions on the basis of attributes they subjectively consider important. At some level, your target is engaging in product or brand positioning. (See how you business can engage in branding positioning very strategically).

Needless to say, a strong influence is the lead's attitude towards his or her 'level of mental involvement' into the evaluative process. Specifically, this relates to the time and effort spent comparing numerous products or brands versus evaluating only alternatives within one company or immediately in front of them.

• New ventures should showcase positive reviews whenever possible to build consumer trust.
• I think that it is wise to use POP displays that are as persuasive as possible for low involvement leads. Given the fact that they arrive at the store without much or any prior knowledge, they rely heavily on the in-store experience to complete this stage of evaluation.
• Cosmeceuticals. In my personal experience, consumers with lower levels of involvement are sometimes not among your most valued target market. For instance, if you sell acne products, low involvement persons includes those with 'normal' skin who experience the acne pain point only once in a while as a relatively mild form of acne. Furthermore, the breakout may even last for a shorter period than average. In such cases, their demand can be described as 'irregular' (ie only when they have a breakout or 'seasonal') or the demand may be 'negative' (in that there might be resistance as the perception of it is similar to that of medicine). Consequently, you must rely more heavily on product packaging, POP displays and maybe advertisements that keep your brand in people's minds during their 'off-season' periods. Communication must consider that such segments are likely to have not even established their own personal set of must-have attributes for comparison between brands, product or brand preferences and so on. They might either decide against worrying with getting a solution or, if they do not have a secondary pain point like price-sensitivity, would evaluate alternatives based on something like size because such consumers need a smaller size for the relatively short-term breakout. In short, findings like this may motivate you to provide variants in product sizes or advertisements.
• People going to buy soft drinks, especially in large volumes, usually do so for social gatherings. It is therefore a stroke of genius on the part of the Coca Cola branding managers to have fabricated a strong association between the drink and social connections as a doorway to happiness. Ultimately, at some subconscious level, shoppers may consider Coca Cola for fitting (than Pepsi) for making their party more enjoyable. Shoppers mentally replay scenes of the joyful events in advertisements but , at the point of purchase, inserting themselves and friends into the scenes.

Your response.

• Know the key product attributes on which customers compare and contrast brands. Also know where your competitive brand position. Stress that unique selling proposition / unique value proposition as the better option over your competitors.
• Reviews on home page and product pages.
• Community Q&A forums.
• When dealing with B2B customers, be proud of your premium prices. In fact. a good strategy is to offer the following 3 price tiers. If you present your brand as worthy, you may get the surprise premium sales.  
• low-cost level for the most basic offering
• the mid-level option that you think they are likely to accept and then 
• the premium option (that you are unsure whether they will take).

4. Purchase Decision (conversion)

This is the point of conversion, aka the point at which the prospect finally converts him or herself into a paying customer through a purchase.

Your response

• Make the transaction as easy as possible.
• Use selling tactics. For instance, use images of people whose eyes are visible, use editorial images of people enjoying the product and fulfilling even subconscious benefits ie versus images with white backgrounds. These techniques trigger emotions. Emotions are essential in enhancing conversion because they trigger action. (Emotionless transactions run the risk of indifference to the offering).
• You have a process for recapturing abandoned cart cases.
• Eliminate distractions. For instance, do not have links away from the checkout.
• Some sellers show reviews of the business' site and customer experience. There may be important assurances like of tracking services.
• Be as transparent as possible with the price and additional costs like shipping and taxes.

5. Post-purchase behavior / evaluation

This stage involves the post-purchase stage in which customers ask themselves, "Did I make the right buying decision?". Unfortunately, these doubts may lead to cognitive dissonance aka buyer's remorse, especially for high ticket items or anything that can have a considerable impact on the consumer's life. Cognitive dissonance is the state is psychological and mental discomfort because of some type of misalignment a customer's perceptions of what they would get and what they actually got. To resolve this discomfort, customers may return products, ask for refunds and give bad reviews.

A marketer's response:

• Reinforce the purchase decision, especially for high ticket items like a personalized 'thank you' card congratulating customers for having bought the product and reiterating the benefits. This is intended to minimize potential customers' cognitive dissonance.
• Request feedback from customers. They are more likely to actually give reviews if you ask.
• Include promotional items in order packages. Customers are highly likely to repurchase from the brand.

CONTENT RELATED TO THE PURCHASE DECISION

• Point of purchase (POP) displays should be informed by the consumer's buying decision.
• Tribal branding is the ultimate level of brand affinity that your customer can have with your brand. This type of branding ensures that your customers make favorable purchase decisions based on an emotional bond with your brand.
• Social media management
• Sales funnel 101.
• Sales objections
• Sales pipeline
• Map your customer lifetime journey




• B2B and B2C 'customer personality' traits that you should consider when selling.
• Social media 101 - Social media is the ultimate means for customer engagement
• Instagram 101
• Facebook Groups
• Unique selling proposition (USP)
• brand positioning
• Wholesale payment terms
• Customer relationship management
• B2B
• B2C
• Abovementioned case studies in other content
• Coca Cola
• Cosmeceuticals industry

Whatsapp Marketing with Whatsapp Business app

Whatsapp Business is ideal for small businesses or single departments because it can help to speed up the process of basic communication with customers. For instance, Whatsapp Business offers features like basic automation and shortcut responses. However, to be clear, although these features lighten work, working with Whatsapp Business is still largely manual which is unlikely to make it ideal for large businesses or otherwise complex operations.

Special Uses & Benefits

• Given the fact that people are near their telephones (even more so than their email accounts when they actually use email), Whatsapp marketing offers promise for successfully reaching a target market.
• You can set up a profile with more information than is possible with a personal-use Whatsapp account.
• Basic automated responses. For instance, you can set Whatsapp Business to greet first-time visitors with a special message or to tell mention a promotion to everyone or only certain persons.
• Shortcut responses allow you to send pre-drafted responses rather than having to type out the entire response every time you need to apply it. This feature is most useful for responding to frequently asked questions (FAQs), directing discussions.  
• Statistics. This allows you to get analytics information regarding the number of responses, messages read and so on.
• You can generate a WhatsApp 'Click to Chat' short link. This feature allows anyone with the link to begin chatting with the owner of an active WhatsApp account, without having that number in their phone's address book. When customers click the link, the chat will automatically open with the owner (on the caller's phone or computer). See how below.
• Broadcast messages. This works quite like the personal version of Whatsapp.
• Since Whatsapp Business requires its own telephone number, you can have personal and business Whatsapp apps with separate numbers on a single telephone.

SETUP WHATSAPP BUSINESS ON A DESKTOP COMPUTER

Unlike the case of a mobile phone which requires the download of WhatsApp Business software (from Google Play) and then associating a telephone number, using WhatsApp Business onto desktop computers only requires you to associate a mobile phone to a WhatsApp Business webpage via a QR code. In other words, you only need to load the WhatsApp Business webpage into your a browser window and then link scan that

1. (Optional) If another account was already setup in your current primary browser like Brave, you will need to log out of that account first. (If you want to have a second WhatsApp account on a single computer, assign that other WhatsApp Business account to a secondary browser like Firefox, Chrome, etc).
2. Have a mobile telephone already setup with WhatsApp Business.
3. In the browser of a desktop computer; load the WhatsApp Business webpage. This page will display a generic QR code.
4. Use your mobile phone to scan this QR code. To do this; do the following
1. Open WhatsApp Business on your mobile phone
2. Click the menu at the top right corner (with 3 vertically aligned dots) > Settings > Click the QR code icon to the right of your profile avatar. > 'Scan Code' tab (This will automatically turn on your camera to detect a QR code)
1. If you get a message asking for permissions to turn on your phone like "To add a contact via QR code, allow WhatsApp access to your camera. Tap Settings > Permissions, and turn Camera on.", follow the instructions.
2. (The camera will automatically come on with square brackets to scan the QR code on the screen.) 
3. Aim the camera at the computer screen > OK
5. Your chats, contacts and so on should appear on your desktop computer screen. 

DOs & DON'Ts

• Include the business logo and, for the sake of being easily remembered and recognized amidst the numerous other images associated with your customers' contacts, never change it.
• Complete ALL of the profile details. Example(s):
• Create a business description that also includes your business' unique value proposition. Without being pushy with an outright call-to-action (CTA), provide sufficient information that will allow make it easy for leads to convert to the next step through the sales funnel. For instance, if you mention that customers can buy online, state "(link below)" and include the links in the field for links.
• Links. Include the link for your online store(s), Facebook, etc. 
• Business Schedule. Setting this up is somewhat counter-intuitive in that the only way you can show any day open, you must first select 'always open' before then closing each individual day and or changing the hours.
• Create segments.
• Use labels for updating sales pipeline stages for each customer.
• (In the top right corner of your screen,) click the line of 3 vertical dots 
• Labels
• Click the 'add' icon (a green + symbol in the bottom right corner of the screen)
• Use special formatting like bold print as a form of call-to-action (CTA) on the highlighted text (like qualification questions). Formatting techniques include the following. NB these commands work ONLY if the symbol touches the start and end of the end of phrases to be affected. 
• BOLD: When typing a message, place asterisks [*] immediately before and after the text to be highlighted as follows. The asterisks will not appear in the final message. 

Hello, bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. *Please specify the type of product x that you need?* bla bla bla bla bla bla.

• STRIKETHROUGH: This may be useful for price reductions. Enter a tilde on either side of the text to be struck through.

The price was ~$20.00~. The current sale price is $15.00.

• ITALICS: Place underscores [_] directly before and after the text to be italicized.

*Read more about our _MAP_ pricing policy.*

Alternatively, 

• Type the entire message 
• select the text to be edited. (Options will appear, among which include three dots) 
• Click the '3 dots' icon. This will display a drop down menu of options that include bold, italics, etc. 
• select the editing option (bold, italics, etc)

• Consider using WhatsApp on your computer. Visit https://web.whatsapp.com/ from which point you will be required to scan a QR code with your telephone. This may be useful for team members using the same business account.  
• If your business involves meeting with new people in (public) places where they may become lost, consider using live location sharing with them.
• Within the regular speech bubble, click the attachment icon (an image of a paperclip)
• Click the 'location' icon. 
• Allow Whatsapp to access your device's location.
• Select the location, whether it is your precise ('send your current location' or a list of nearby locations that have already been placed on Google's map.
• Hold Whatsapp group calls (audio or video). This involves attendees including each new attendee at a time after the initial 2-person call has begun using a + icon within the call.
• Call the first person
• Click the 'add attendees' icon (a + sign over an image of people). 
• Search your address book for the new icon and select
• Create a customer message 'Click to Chat' shortcut link, ie pre-drafted messages from which customers can use for contacting you via their Whatsapp phone or computer. Place the links into campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, auto-signatures at the bottom of emails, etc. Messages have a fixed format that can allow you to create new messages from old ones. After your telephone number, the words are separated by a word-spacing code (%20). You can change the text according to your desired messaging. Alternatively, the link can generate a blank message.
• (In the top right corner of your screen,) click the line of 3 vertical dots 
• Short link
• For a pre-drafted message, adjust the slider in the 'create a default message' section. Otherwise, leave that section turned off to create a blank message.
• In the 'Default message' section, click the pencil icon to edit the message.
• Click 'OK'
• In the top section, copy and share the web address (URL) that appears in green in the top section of the screen.

Pre-drafted text message: https://wa.me/234567890?text=Please%20send%20your%20product%20linesheet.

Blank message: https://wa.me/234567890 

NB. Omit any international formatting elements like zeroes, brackets or dashes before the telephone number. Read more about this. https://wa.me/+001-(123)45678900 

https://wa.me/12345678900  (US telephone number) 

https://wa.me/50312345678  (non-US, 8-digit telephone number, imagining the country code is '503' before the 8-digit number)

 

Automated Response to First-Time Contact
Consider using this first-time response not only to say, thanks for making contact but to create a call-to-action in the form of a qualification question.

• (In the top right corner of your screen,) click the line of 3 vertical dots 
• Settings
• Business Settings
• (In the lower section of the screen labelled 'Messaging Tools',) select 'Greeting Message'
• In the section 'Send greeting message', move the slider to the right to activate this feature.
• In the section 'Greeting message', click the pencil icon to edit the default message or draft a new one. When done, click 'OK' (below the display of the draft of the message). Example(s).

Thank you for contacting [YOUR COMPANY NAME -- or --] [BRANDNAME, the newest brand by YOUR COMPANY NAME].Your telephone number has been automatically saved. Are you interested in 1) buying wholesale, 2) consuming our products and or 3) another matter? Please provide details.     Hover here to see default message

• In the section 'Recipients', click the screen and select among the options, in this case, 'everyone not in address book'. (Other options include everyone, everyone except and only send to...)
• Click 'Save' (in the top right corner of the screen).

Automated Away Message Response

'Away' messages are sent only when the phone has an active internet connection.

• (In the top right corner of your screen,) click the line of 3 vertical dots in the top right corner of your screen
• Settings
• Business Settings
• (In the lower section of the screen labelled 'Messaging Tools',) select 'Away Message'
• In the section 'Send away message', move the slider to the right to activate this feature.
• In the section 'Away message', click the pencil icon to edit the default message or draft a new one. When done, click 'OK' (below the display of the draft of the message). Example(s):

Thank you for your message. Apologies as we are unavailable right now, but will respond as soon as possible (usually within 6 business hours).

• In the section 'Schedule', click the screen and select among the options. Options include 'always send', 'custom schedule' (which allows you to set a range of time between 2 fixed times and dates) and 'outside of business hours'.
• In the section 'Recipients', click the screen and select among the options, in this case, 'everyone not in address book'. (Other options include everyone, everyone except and only send to...)
• Click 'Save' (in the top right corner of the screen).

Quick Replies in WhatsApp Business
Quick replies or shortcuts are time savers. They are commonly used pre-drafted messages that can be quickly inserted into dialog with the short process of finding the shortcut (like WhatsApp's pre-loaded default '/thanks' shortcut) and then selecting it during a conversation.

• (In the top right corner of your screen,) click the line of 3 vertical dots in the top right corner of your screen
• Settings
• Business Settings
• (In the lower section of the screen labelled 'Messaging Tools',) select 'Quick replies'
• (In the bottom right corner of the screen,) click the green '+' icon 
• (In the 'Message' section,) type the message that will appear to customers. An image icon exists next to the empty message field that also allows you to respond with an image. Example(s):

Hello, How can I help?

[product images, testimonial videos]

• In the section 'Shortcut', click the empty field and begin to type after the backslash (/). Example(s): If you use multiple languagey distinguish between the options with 'US' for US English and 'SP' for Spanish.

/hi_US

• In the section 'keyword', click the empty field and begin to type short keywords. 

hi_US

• Click 'Save' (in the top right corner of the screen).

Considerations for WhatsApp Business regarding Connectivity and Distance Between Devices

• WhatsApp Business for computers can work only if your telephone's internet connection remains uninterrupted. The phone and computer mirror each other even to the extent that your computer's version will show a notification when your phone's battery is running dangerously low. In order to (re)initialize the connection between your telephone and computer, your telephone must be connected.

• The distance between devices (telephone and computer) using the same account does not matter, as long as the internet connection of both remains uninterrupted.

CONTENT RELATED TO WHATSAPP BUSINESS (FOR SMALL BUSINESSES)

• WhatsApp Business can even be incorporated into your social media content management strategies.
• Whatsapp Business does not currently work in an entirely automated way. If you need a greater degree of automation, free of cost, consider tawk.to. That application can be offered more as a 24-hour solution.
• Social media 101
• Instagram 101
• Facebook Groups
• WhatsApp Business
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Chatbots
• Tawkto

Create a Facebook Group

How Facebook Groups differ from Facebook Pages

A Facebook group is a Facebook space in which users can join as members to engage with the brand and others frequently about common interests.

To illustrate the value of Facebook groups, I will discuss them with comparisons and contrasts with Facebook pages. Pages are more formal and always public. They can be likened to a slightly more interactive 'About us' profile page or, in more human interaction terms, to your home's front yard. Using the frontyard analogy, it is visible to the public, to anyone on the street. As the owner of the home, you are the only one hanging decoration for Christmas or a new baby on board and so on. You may likely have posted short public details like your house's lot number and name on the wall facing the road. In short, what you show the world from your front yard (FB Page) has a generic tone. It is focused on general news updates to the general public who may or may not share your interests (like your target market would).

  

Passersby may choose to react, to say 'I like that decoration', perhaps to take photos of your Christmas tree to share them with their friends to encourage them to visit this place with a beautiful tree. A passerby might even show a photo and say, 'look at my tree'. However, since this is afterall your frontyard, people won't normally think to call other passersby to start decorating for and discussing Boxing Day (a holiday celebrated in the British Commonwealth).

Conversely, Facebook groups can be likened to your backyard, ie a more informal and intimate space where you invite closer family and friends to relax and chat in family gatherings. Being a more intimate settings, your guests may raise the topic of Boxing Day or any other topic. Unlike general public, your group is an already very keen and engaged audience. They are in your sales funnel, you are in their buying / purchase funnel. You and your guests may have detailed discussions about Christmas, Boxing Day, etc that you only mentioned in passing in the frontyard. In otherwords, your backyard is designed for more intimate interaction among like-minded people.

Given the more intimate nature of your discussions, you must decide the extent to which the public can observe your backyard activities. You may select to leave your backyard within 'public' view, ie by not using barricades to prevent passersby on the main road from eavesdropping on your family activities. If you wish however, you may build a wall that completely blocks the ongoings of your backyard from view to make your activities 'private'. Allowing persons into your private space is a matter of knowing that they share your values. To this end, you might even ask them questions before allowing them in. In other cases, you might configure your backyard in such a way that it is so 'secret' that the passing public on the road does not even know of the existence of your backyard. They can only be invited by someone within your intimate group.

In summary, here are some key take away points about Facebook groups.

• Facebook groups are ideal for customer engagement and retention marketing in the sales funnel. They are a marketer's dream come true: they are a group of self qualified leads whose membership signals their engagement readiness. 
• Group members are more active than page visitors. Unlike page visitors that only react when brands post, group members are allowed the voice to initiate discussions.
• Brands can develop deeper insight into the target market's profile beyond just the product needs. This is because Facebook Groups encourage posts that are about anything. It is common for small business groups owners and members to ocassionally post about their children or pets. In reality, groups offer less demographic analytics than pages because pages are designed for advertising to the general public. However, the type of analytics provide such deep insight that they can help you to improve your connection. 
• By allowing group members to initiate discussions and the fact that they are truly interested, groups are sustainable (ie in contrast with FB pages that usually get responses only when the brand generates content). It is really just a matter of setting the stage for group members.
• Groups provide better organic reach (than pages). Since group members have used their membership to essentially opt in for notifications, they receive all of your notifications. In contrast however, Facebook relies on its algorithm only to determine whether to allow posts from pages to the public. Specifically, the public is likely to continually see your content only if they actively interacted with past posts. If not, your content simply disappears from their feed.

Depending on privacy settings, this communication is more personalized and intimate which may motivate even internet-shy group members to post. For instance, your leads can ask questions, current customers can respond and also showcase how they are receiving value from your product. In short, you can create a sense of community in which you can nurture leads more and for extended periods simply because your leads will continue to receive notifications for your new posts. Facebook group communities even allow greater company responsiveness as you can involve members in decisions.

Tips to boost group member / customer engagement & QUALITY of engagement

1. Make the group private and qualify entrants with questions. Facebook allows groups to ask 3 entry questions. Be selective! Do not worry about quanity but quality of membership as this will encourage active and meaningful engagement. (Some marketers collect email addresses as part of the 3 questions and then add the address to mailing lists as a means of ensuring they can always reach members).

2. Use the fact that your group is private with specific entry requirements to boast about membership being exclusive for the sake of guaranteeing quality experience.

3. If you have a faithful following on other social media platforms, incentivize them to also tune in to Facebook by making certain types of content exclusive to Facebook. Since they already know and like you on one platform, you are likely to also get high quality engagement from them on Facebook. You can also leverage the audiences of other publishers. For instance, provide quality content in the form of responses to other publications. Subtly encourage others to know what you do. You can also do collaborations with non-competing publishers whose target market is the same as yours. 

4. Establish a very clear and specific theme. For instance, if you target a certain niche in the market, let that me very clear.

5. Have an onboarding process (tailored for the role, new customers, employees, etc). This may include a welcome video. Be sure to with the core values, expectations, the benefit to members (like a UVP), instructions to configure notifications settings to receive all posts. Consider incentivizing actions like adjusting their notification settings.

6. Provide consistent content. Create schedules for live videos, stories, etc. This should include having a tentpole calender planned for the entire year in advance. 

7. Ensure all content has calls to action. Be sure to respond. Afterall, 2-way communication lets the Facebook algorithm rank your group highly. The section immediately below briefly discusses formats for content.

Facebook offers many of the same 'Story' features, including hashtags that I discussed otherwise for Instagram. 

Always pay special attention to super engaged people, ie people who respond with full sentences and developed thoughts versus single-word responses or emojis. In this section, I will discuss some engagement ideas. 

• Involve your group in your decision-making process. You can use polls for this type of close-ended question. The option allows checkbox or multiple choice settings. Example(s).
• Which version of this label do you prefer?
• Ask for opinions. You can use open-ended questions. Example(s).
• What other element(s) would you love to have in product x?
• See more comprehensive set of examples in my other discussion on Instagram stories. 

How to create a Facebook Group

-

• Log in to your Facebook account
• In the left column section named 'Groups', hover over the word groups. The word 'more' will appear. Click the 'more' link. You should be directed into a groups page (with different options like 'suggested groups', 'friends' groups', etc). 
• Click the green 'Create Group' button in the top right corner of the page
• In the dialog box (pictured below), enter details like the group name, privacy settings and so on. 
• Members: 
• You can add current friends
• Privacy:
• Public: anyone can see the group, join at will and post (once they have joined). Beware: public groups have a reputation of generating spam (ie unwanted commercial correspondence).
• Closed: anyone can find the group and its members but can not see the posts. This may be useful for groups that have paid services. These groups are more likely to generate content that is more personally valuable to members, especially if they are segmented. Furthermore, these groups give some level of comfort as it relates to privacy of discussions.
• Secret: only members can see the group, its members and post. Only invitees can become members and see the group. These groups are more likely to generate content that is more personally valuable to members, especially if they are segmented. Furthermore, these groups provide maximum privacy regarding discussions and even membership.

               

• In the top banner, select 'upload photo' to add an image. The image should be 800*200 px. Another option for uploading a photo is by selecting 'description' under the banner and then clicking 'add a photo'.
• Below the banner section, select 'description' to enter group description information
• Since you have admin person, you will see an option to 'add new members' the middle right section of the screen
• From this point, members will be able to add content to the timeline by selecting any of several options (write post, add photos/videos, create poll or add a file). Unlike a classic forum, Facebook pages are not very static once members post content. This is so because new content pushes older content down and, eventually, out of sight.   

• You will also be able to post events for the viewing of only group members. Events are useful for activities like webinars. (Read about the webinar sales funnel). To create an event;
• click 'events' in top menu below the banner
• click the 'create an event' link
• enter event details like an image, event name, start and end times and a description of the event

     

• You will also be able to upload documents (PDF, MS Word documents and so on) that can be shared among all members.
• DOs
• To get started and generate content, you may need to find and invite members of other groups that are frequent and valuable contributors. This is a necessary evil since most average members do not contribute at all or much, which increases your individual burden as the owner to generate all of the content.
• Use your Facebook group like a focus group. For instance, seek feedback on (new) products, ideas and so on from members.
• Use your Facebook group to nurture members with free resources with the use of the document upload feature.
• Facebook groups can get out of hand if not set up and managed correctly. For instance, people may enter the group and start spamming. Plan the group well based on a clear unique value proposition. The unique value proposition will inform many things like who is allowed to become a member, participation rules and so on.

CONTENT RELATED TO CREATING A NEW FACEBOOK GROUP

• Retention marketing & the hour glass sales funnel
• Third party video instructions for creating a new Facebook group
• Facebook pages are not obsolete. They may work well in conjunction with Facebook groups in that they are useful for the earlier (stages of the) sales funnel
• Enhance the success of your Facebook group by basing its plan on a clear unique value proposition
• Facebook advertising setup
• Social media 101
• Instagram 101
• Facebook Groups
• WhatsApp Business
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Chatbots
• Tawkto

eSales Funnel Marketing Strategy 101

A marketing sales funnel is a visual representation of the process of converting the public into leads, then sales prospects and ultimately into buying (and repeat) customers through the following 4 ordered stages and corresponding strategies. The process is called a funnel because the number of people converted to each subsequent stage is always less than at previous stages. It therefore represents the marketer's job of nurturing and converting as many leads into customers as possible, thereby widening the bottom.

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1. Lead AWARENESS of you and your product - Top of the Funnel
   
   


2. ENGAGEMENT (INTEREST & DESIRE) for your product (previously, this was considered 2 steps, Interest and then Desire)  - Middle of the Funnel
   
   


3. Sales prospects is most likely to take ACTION to buy your product  - Bottom of the Funnel
   
   


4. Customer satisfaction that motivates a RELATIONSHIP of repeated sales. For instance, the first funnel may be a 'break even funnel' that uses 'splinter' or other less expensive introductory 'tripwire' products to hopefully graduate customers to enter subsequent sales funnels for main products. Ideally, several sales funnels work in conjunction with each other at converting leads. For instance, the webinar sales funnel is typically designed for re-targeting leads (ie potential customers) that earlier sales funnels did not convert. Another noteworthy example is the hour Glass Sales Funnel in Retention Marketing. It is a matter of 'not leaving money on the table'.

1. AWARENESS

Your lead:

• is completely unaware of you or your product

You aim to:

• get the lead's attention. That's it! (Do not aim to get immediate sales, especially of your main product. Your lead is unlikely to be ready for that step.)
  
  
• research consumers

Your response is to:

• use advertisements to be informative as a means of introducing you and your product. Examples: free infomercial gifts, blog posts or write as a guest on the blogs of social media influencers
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• collect email addresses for mailing lists (often with the use of pop-up windows)
  
  


• use interruptive advertisements to psychographic target market via Google Search, Facebook pages, etc. Interruptive ads refer to ads that appear while your potential customer was doing something else, like looking at a YouTube video, looking at photos on Facebook, reading a blog post, etc 
  
  


• use Search Engine Optimization / SEO techniques
  
  


• provide Twitter hashtags. For instance, you may encourage user-generated content using hashtags through order confirmation emails to your paid customers.
  
  


• do cold calls
  
  


• do publicity stunts
  
  


• Landing pages that answer common questions that eventually lead visitors towards the buying decision. For instance, if the product is a new or bit technical, you can introduce information that explains how the product is a customer solution. Also use an effective squeeze page as the landing page for this stage. As with any squeeze page, this page serves a clear and single purpose. In this case, that purpose is to get contact details of your potential customers in exchange for some freebie.  
  
  
• Generate social proof that validates you as a current and respected authority. Use elements like a compelling Facebook page.

have a compelling 'About Us' page. The website is the key platform for this stage of the funnel.


• take it easy! Do not try to sell your main product to this crowd of people as yet ... as this may prove a costly exercise with marginal benefit because conversion at this stage has a very low rate. Do not expect to generate high or any profit at this early stage. Examples: fire sale priced products.  
  
  
• test your strategies to see which single element must be kept or dropped
  
  
• Other events include tradeshows

2. ENGAGEMENT (INTEREST & DESIRE) - GROOM CUSTOMERS

Only some leads from the earlier stage will return. This is to be expected. The fact that potential customers responded in some way (like offering their contact information) is a primary conversion from the general public into 'leads', ie people in the early stage of demand generation (or even at the further, sales-ready level). To cultivate sufficient interest and desire for your product, you must essentially nurture / groom your leads. Consequently, this stage is likely to require several interactions to convert potential customers further.

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Your lead / prospect (ie potential customer)

• has some knowledge of you and your product
• is already interested
• may invest in your business but only to a limited extent, especially if your core product is a high ticket item that involves much prior consideration called 'involvement' in Marketing
  
  
  
  

You aim to

• arouse interest and desire
• emotionally arouse leads
• arouse interest to buy something
• engage with the consumer's buying process by providing the information he / she needs.
• groom leads
• focus on the needs and interests of your audience in all of your touches. For instance, the appointment of your new CEO adds not value to the experience of your leads.
• prevent your leads from forgetting you. For instance, do not generate a lead and then fail to make subsequent contact until several months afterwards by which time they may have completely forgotten who you are.

Your response is to:

• Deliver at least 5 'nurturing touches' (ie forms of contact with your leads). Research suggests that conversion occurs after at least 5 touches. Prepare at least 6 instances of the following 'touches'. Use Social media (like Instagram 101 and Facebook Groups) to nurture your leads.


• Have compelling store reviews or product reviews. The growth of this stock may be encouraged through various marketing strategies like email marketing. Example include order confirmations that seek reviews from already converted customers as a means of instilling trust and desire in newer leads.

• sell smaller versions of your core product.
  
  
• Automated or manual email sequences. You may use automated emails or dedicate a specific after-hours time to manually nurture leads through emails.
  
  
  
• Ebooks
  
  
• Guides
  
  
• Follow up calls
  
  
• Product demo videos
  
  
• YouTube 'how-to' videos

• Suggest the next step of your lead. Without being pushy, this may simply involve a message like 'for more information, please contact us via ....'


• test your strategies to see which single element must be kept or dropped
  
  

3. ACTION

Your sales prospect  (ie qualified potential customer)

• signals an interest in buying. Example: he asks about prices and other terms.
  
  
• is more likely to buy (than at stage 1) because he already has awareness and desire
  
  

You aim to

• make most of your profit
  
  
• invite the potential customer to buy your core product (or take some other action that will eventually lead him to that action)
  
  

Your response is to

• have compelling sales pages as landing pages for potential customers at this stage of the funnel. A sales page is a single page with an unambiguous call to action, ie a call to buy a single product.
  
  
• make it as easy and quick as possible for customers to find precisely what they need. There are several website design features that facilitate this. Among these features include allowing your prospect to use multiple simultaneous filters. See how to set up multiple filters in Shopify.


• send sales letters, preferably in video format


• make person-to-person contact with live chat that efficiently targets leads at the buying intent stage of the sales funnel
  
  
• extend engagement with trouble tickets

• give your prospect achievable expectations in anticipation for the next step, ie repeated sales. This involves providing as much reliable product as possible on your sales page
  
  
• prepare the means for customer service that will at least meet the expectations of your niche
  
  
• convert customers into advocates by encouraging them to provide reviews, post about products and other forms of consumer generated content on social media. 


• test your strategies to see which single element must be kept or dropped

CONTENT RELATED TO SALES FUNNELS

• Tentpoling within the sales funnel
• Autoresponder Email Marketing
• Webinar Sales Funnel
• Hour Glass Funnel for Retention Marketing. Do not leave money on the table after customers get to the bottom of the sales funnel.
• Facebook groups, a great retention marketing tool in the hour glass sales funnel
• Live Chat for the buying intent stage of the sales funnel
• Facebook pages can be used in the Product Awareness stage of your sales funnel (see above). You can have a different Facebook page for each of several hobby or other somehow related interest that your target market has.
• Buyer / Purchase funnel
• Understand the difference between leads and sales prospects
• Sales funnels may be consulted by anyone in an organization to get a quick insight into conversion rates of leads and prospects. However, sales pipelines are more hands on task-centric tool for the sales team.
• Social media 101 - the means for engagement
• Instagram 101
• Facebook Groups