Any business looking to succeed in the digital era needs to understand the consumer's purchase journey, as consumers have endless options and channels for shopping. iPROM collaborates with Valicon to conduct market research and can use data analysis and interpretation to improve the customer experience and increase competitiveness in the market. This research focuses on the Slovenian consumers’ purchase journeys across various product categories, monitoring changes in their purchase behaviour over time.

Advanced analytical solutions enable the monitoring of the consumer’s purchase path, allowing you to track and connect consumer buying journeys through individual interactions at the level of your company or brand.

Your data fuels analytics

Quality data is essential for successful consumer purchase journey analysis. First-party data is often referred to as the new oil, yet in analytics, it can be considered more akin to kerosene.

User interactions are connected through two identification models: probabilistic and deterministic. The probabilistic model uses first-party data to identify your customer, while the deterministic model assigns an identifier to your user upon registration, allowing you to track their buying behaviour within your media ecosystem.

You can use advanced analytics solutions to combine data from various sources into unified customer profiles. Depending on your chosen solution, you can gain real-time insights into your customers’ needs, preferences, and interests. This approach not only allows you to analyse and understand customer decisions based on historical data but also enables you to personalize the customer experience in real time.

Use dynamic content to reach customers more effectively

Effectively tracking the customer’s decision journey benefits more than just your website or app. It also allows you to create advertising content and targeting parameters based on user interactions and decision stages. This ensures that you reach the right audience. The goal of this approach is to sustain user interest and provide added value at the appropriate time to foster loyalty.

When combined with independent advertising technology solutions, such as iPROM Programmatic Platform and a segmented database, this approach can also be used to create personalised advertising campaigns.

This approach is especially important at the beginning and end of the purchasing journey, particularly for online purchases, where users may need additional motivation or could be susceptible to switching to a competitor.

Aligning the different points of contact is the key to a seamless shopping experience

Connecting the customer journey across various touchpoints and channels is crucial for delivering consistent and personalised experiences. Users frequently move between the digital and physical realms, particularly during the research phase when they rely on offline touchpoints such as visiting a point of sale or contacting customer service. By using identifiers that are also present in the real world, you can integrate such data to create a comprehensive picture.

With a well-thought-out data strategy and effective implementation of tools, companies can track these paths and adapt communication and content to match actual customer behaviour. This facilitates improved coordination of marketing activities and a deeper understanding of customer needs.

An example from practice demonstrated how a company effectively tracks a customer’s purchase journey in the automotive industry where the decision timeframe takes 120 days as shown by iPROM and Valicon research. This can be achieved through the use of configurators and configuration codes, which enable monitoring of digital touchpoints and point-of-sale interactions. These can be used to monitor each customer’s purchase preferences and enable the sales staff in the car showroom to provide comprehensive and efficient service.

Real-time analytics for agile marketing

Continuously measuring the effectiveness of marketing approaches and customer responses in a specific market situation is crucial for improving the sales process and managing repurchase behaviour. Analytical tools allow companies to monitor and measure the effectiveness of their approaches in real time and quickly adjust their strategies. This allows for a more agile approach to marketing, which is essential for success in today’s fast-changing environment.

For companies with limited product customization options, loyalty programmes can be a more familiar approach. Almost all retailers offer these programmes to provide customers with a range of benefits that can be effectively personalized by the individual retailer at the level of the customer or the segment to which the customer belongs. For instance, if a customer frequently buys specific products within a particular time frame but then stops, the retailer can send a personalised promotional offer via SMS, e-mail, or traditional mail. They can also use digital advertisements to encourage them to buy again. Likewise, in a particular market scenario, a retailer can target a specific customer group with a selection of discounted products or a tailored offer.

The importance of independent analytical solutions for evaluating advanced consumer journeys for a brand or product

Understanding and connecting the consumer purchase journey in a comprehensive manner is pivotal for brands or businesses. Selected analytics solutions allow companies to gain objective insight into customer behaviour, regardless of where and how consumers interact with a brand or product. They can quickly study the purchasing journey for specific customer segments, improving the buying experience, increasing customer loyalty and revenue, and providing real-time data for informed business decisions. It is imperative that companies acknowledge the importance of analytics, integrate it into their business improvement strategies, and treat it as a long-term investment that leads to improved competitiveness.