Buying Journey Stages And How To Prepare Your Prospect For Each
The buyer's journey is the process that buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. It also involves an active research process that a person goes through before purchasing.
Keep in mind that people do not always go through all the stages of the buying process. For example, if a customer has been using your product for years, they typically do not start with awareness, but are in the use or retention phase by default.
However, it's essential to know the different stages of this process because it lets you know where to focus your efforts. You would approach someone weighing their options differently than someone ready to buy immediately.
Let us take a look at each step.
Awareness
It is important to note that the customer has not yet decided. So they may not yet know that your product or service is the solution to their problem.
At this stage, customers recognize that they have a problem. They may also not be aware of their problem yet and want to find out what exactly the problem is first. After the customer realizes a problem, they will research and look for answers. That’s why this stage is crucial because your content needs to show up in search results during this phase and you need a strong SEO strategy to do that.
You should consider creating content such as educational blog posts, research articles, and guides to provide helpful information to your potential customers.
It's simple: If they find something that helps them, they move on to the next step. If not, they'll probably keep searching and gathering information until they find something worth pursuing or move on to another task.
Consideration
At this stage, the customer knows they have a problem and is now actively considering possible solutions. The buyer has moved from awareness to interest and is now trying to figure out which solution is right for him. They want to understand all available options or approaches and make sure they are making the right choice—not just for today but for the long term.
Written by
Gladys Torzar
Explore a website growth scenario
Change the assumptions to see how traffic and inquiries affect the estimated lifetime revenue of customers acquired in one month. The starting values are examples. This calculator does not measure lost revenue or predict what a redesign will achieve.
Use the same monthly period for visitors and leads.
Use distinct inquiries attributable to those visitors.
Your own estimate of the share that fits your business.
Use your observed rate or label it as an assumption.
Revenue across the customer relationship, before costs.
A scenario you choose, not a prediction from Stoute.
For example, adding 1 point changes a 2% conversion rate to 3%.
One month’s acquired customers
- Customers under current assumptions
- 3.0
- Customers in your scenario
- 3.0
- Current cohort’s estimated lifetime revenue
- $3,000
- Scenario cohort’s estimated lifetime revenue
- $3,000
- Difference across those customers’ lifetimes
- $0
Visitor-to-lead rate: 2.0% → 2.0%. Scenario conversion is limited to 0–100%. Fractional customers represent an average, not a literal customer count.
These amounts are gross lifetime revenue, not monthly cash flow, profit, or return on investment. The model holds qualification, close rate, and customer value constant. It excludes project costs, advertising, delivery costs, and payment timing.
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