Pre-Purchase Touchpoints: Predictable Encounters, Unknowable Results
Pre-Purchase Touchpoints: Predictable Encounters, Unknowable Results
In this three-part post, we explore the stages of the customer-supplier experience and touch on the most significant determinants of Brand success. For a full report of the pre-purchase, product-usage and post-purchase customer experience, check out our latest report, Enhancing the Customer Experience: Insights and Life Science Supplier Rankings.
In our increasingly interconnected economy, companies have been forced to confront the challenge of 24/7 marketing. Never before has the customer been able to research, rate, and review the products and services of a company at any time of day from any place in the world. The quantity of pre-purchase touchpoints has not only increased over the past decade, it has exploded at an unprecedented rate. With this flood of opportunity, the question of “How do I make contact with my target audience?” has transformed into “How do I control the contact I make with my target audience?” Identifying these touchpoints—and taking advantage of the most profitable ones—has redefined Brand-driven marketing.
The fundamental strategy for scientific marketing is identical with that of any other industry. To survive, a company must do two things:
Attract new customers: The age-old game of alerting potential customers that your Brand exists and convincing them that your Brand is distinguished among your peers. Simply putting the company logo on leaflets isn’t enough; customers need to know what makes you superior to competitors.
Retain current customers: The customer bought the product or service and employed it in their work, but the supplier’s role is far from complete. The customer needs to be reminded of the relevance and quality of the Brand, which goes far beyond the quality of the product. The modern consumer is constantly evaluating their purchase decision and could, at any time, choose the competitor.
In essence marketing appears quite simple, but in reality it requires an offensive and multifaceted stratagem in order to obtain true success. However, this is no reason for alarm. While Brand perception has never been more difficult to manage than it is today, the opportunities for perfecting it have likewise never been so abundant.
