Definition of a Buying Cycle

Written by Nick Stamoulis

A buying cycle is what customers typically pass through on their way to making a purchase. You are likely familiar with the experience even if you weren’t aware of the term. The buying cycle consists of the following stages:

Awareness: During the awareness stage of the buying cycle, a potential customer realizes they are in need of something, usually a product or a service. They see what you have to offer and think of it as a possibility. Your company did a good job at doing market research and promoting what you have to offer and got the potential customer interested.

Consideration: During the consideration stage of the buying cycle, a potential customer evaluates all the options available to them. If you are able to get across to a potential buyer how the product or service you are selling will benefit them, the chances of them buying from you are greatly improved. Advertising and public relations are a large part of your role in the consideration stage of the buying cycle.

Intent: During the intent stage, a potential buyer will be serious about making a purchase and begin to shop around to compare what other sellers have to offer and weight them against yours. They will consider what is being sold as well as how much they are selling it for. It is your job at this time to convince the potential customer that yours is the service or product they should choose.

Purchase: During the purchase stage of the buying cycle, a potential buyer has decided which service or product would suit their needs and price point. If you have been successful in getting across to them that your offer is the best for them and you can offer it at the right price, you have earned yourself a customer. To continue the buyer/seller relationship with your new customer, you will want to collect their contact information to stay in touch.

Repurchase: During the repurchase stage, the customer will reflect on if their decision to buy from you was a good one. They may ask themselves if it solved their problem, if it was worth the price, and whether they would buy from you again.

Now that you have a better understanding of the stages in the buying cycle, you might wonder what you can do to improve your ongoing success with buyers. Following up after a sale is always a good idea. You can offer your support, inquire about how they are doing with the product or service, ask if they have questions or concerns, and generally show customer care. Customers will look back on these moments when deciding to make future purchases.

In the long run, a buying cycle is very important to anyone who makes a living selling products or services. Successful companies manage to convert only a small percentage of potential buyers. The ones who have not yet purchased remain in the other stages of the buying cycle until they make the decision to buy or not.

 

Buying Cycle Definition Sources:

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