[eBook] How to Influence Your Prospective Customers

At each stage of the buyer's journey

In recent years, changes in consumer behavior have caused a paradigm shift in the buyer’s journey, adding complexity to the approach marketers must take to reach prospects.

Historically, customers relied largely on brands
 to provide them with answers to their problems. Today, buyers are becoming increasingly independent when it comes to understanding their pain points and finding solutions.

These days, once you’ve been contacted by a new customer, they’re well-informed and often they’ve already made a decision. They may have questions about logistics, but they’re not looking for recommendations. It’s sometimes even too late in the process to change their mind.

This shift from depending on human touchpoints to sell products, to relying on digital touchpoints to influence purchase decisions, makes it increasingly challenging for brands.

How can you throw your hat into the ring earlier?

Like many industries, the financial services industry is seeing more customers move away from requesting assistance from a financial advisor or banker (the human touch), to finding it on their own (self-guided).

The inherent risk of the new pathway is that your relationship with potential customers often begins (and sometimes ends) before you even have a chance to make a case for your brand or product. That’s because they have already formed opinions of what they need and who is best suited to provide it to them.

So how can you get prospective customers to consider doing business with your company when they’re not reaching out to you?

By mapping the customer journey and making sure your company is in a position to nurture prospects along the way with relevant content, you are able to reach every prospective customer, no matter where they are in the funnel.

Convert prospects to customers at each stage in the buyer’s journey

There are multiple journeys a potential customer can take, depending on the individual’s needs, demographic and behavioral characteristics.

The only way to determine the journey your customer will take is by figuring out who your customers are, and creating personas for them.

Want to keep reading? Learn how to reach the right prospects and lift conversions with better personas. Download the full Guide to mapping your buyer's journey! Our guide will take you through the process of developing customer personas and mapping the buyer's journey specific to the persona.