Supercharge your campaigns with a 5-step decision model
Does anyone remember the Smoke-Free Class of 2000 campaign? Jump in your time machine and roll back to 1988. This is the year the class of 2000 entered first grade. Maybe you were in that class.
In tens of thousands of schools across the country, these children were inundated with t-shirts, buttons, music, videos, and school events, all designed to build awareness that cigarette smoking was terrible for their health. The hope was that awareness of the health risks would keep kids from ever starting.
Did it work? Yes and no. In 1988, 28 percent of the adult population smoked cigarettes. Today, that number is just under 14 percent. However, the largest incidence of smoking today is among the very age groups targeted by Smoke-Free 2000.
I want to be clear that I am not critical of the Smoke-Free 2000 campaign. However, if awareness of smoking’s perils is enough, why does anyone in the class of 2000 smoke today, let alone nearly 17 percent?
That gets to my point: Campaigns – whether communication, education, or marketing – that don’t evolve beyond awareness are not likely to succeed. And, if you don’t measure the ongoing transformation of your target audience, your campaign will become increasingly irrelevant.
Decision-making – such as a choice to buy something or engage in positive behavior – is a process. It begins with awareness, but includes four other steps.
Good market research will help you know where your audience segments are in this process. And that allows you to target campaigns with just the right message for that stage.
The stages include:
- Awareness or Knowledge
- Consideration and Persuasion
- Making a Decision
- Confirmation
- So, let’s discuss each stage:
1. Awareness or Knowledge
In the case of a brand or product, the first question is whether you ever heard of it? Odds are, you’re aware of automotive brands such as Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, and Honda. But, are you aware of the Indian brand Mahindra?
My awareness of the big U.S., Japanese and Korean brands is high. I’ve not only heard of them, but have some knowledge – or opinions – about them. I’ve seen their ads and either driven the brand or know someone who has. But, as a consumer, I’m entirely unaware of the Mahindra brand.
Google it, and you’ll find Mahindra is a massive company with a sizable U.S. presence. However, if they were to begin selling automobiles in the U.S., Their need to build consumer awareness is considerably different than Ford or Toyota.
2. Consideration and Persuasion
This is the stage where your consumer or audience begins to actively consider whether they have a problem that requires a solution and whether your product or service effectively solves their problem – at a price they’re willing to pay. And don’t be fooled; even a free service comes at the cost of time and personal engagement. Just as you have many things competing for your hard-earned money, your life is full of things demanding your time and attention.
3. Making a Decision
Once I’m fully familiar with my problem and how your product or service solves it, I can make one of four choices. Each can be measured via market research.
- No Sale: I can decide not to purchase the product or service from anyone. It is something I simply don’t need.
- Buy from someone Else: I can reject your product in favor of another that I believe better meets my needs and ability to pay.
- Buy from You: I can purchase or begin using your product or service.
- Indecision: I can put off making a decision. I may recognize a need, but am simply not compelled to take action. I don’t want to say “no,” but can’t bring myself to say “yes.” Failure to make a decision is, in fact, a decision. It is a “no.” However, there is an opportunity here. A solid research-based understanding of this consumer group can help you move them to “yes.”
4. Implementing the Decision
So, you’ve decided to buy that new car or give your time and commitment to using the financial well-being services offered by your employer or retirement plan.
In the case of a new car, no test drive can replicate three weeks of driving it or struggling through a few heavy snowfalls.
In the case of accessing financial education services, implementing a decision will include a few weeks or months of using online tools or meeting with a financial counselor.
It takes time and commitment to develop new financial routines based on what you’ve learned. In contrast, that shiny new car in your driveway takes only the commitment of 60 on-time payments, plus some gas and maintenance.
In either case, this implementation stage is when you continually bump the benefits you imagined in the decision stage against the reality of your experience. It is a time when you can experience growing happiness with your choice or increasing discontent.
In the case of Smoke-Free 2000, I have no trouble believing the vast majority of fifth graders in 1992 were committed non-smokers. But, clearly, circumstances in their implementation stage – likely their adolescent years – changed sufficiently to prompt some to begin smoking.
And that’s a great reminder that this decision-making process is not always linear and is constantly subject to audiences changing their minds. That leads us to the confirmation stage.
5. Confirmation
There will come a time in each purchasing decision when a choice is subject to review and reconsideration. Years ago, I drove a Toyota Prius. I loved it. But then I bought a small sailboat with a trailer. It was more than the Prius could handle, so I purchased a Jeep Liberty with four-wheel drive and a trailer hitch. If I sell the sailboat and Jeep, you can bet a Prius will be on my shortlist of cars to consider.
In other cases, some of your audience or consumers may be disappointed in their decision. Perhaps their choice didn’t solve their problem as expected. Or, maybe they could not muster the commitment needed to stick with new financial routines learned in your participant education programs.
It is important to measure and understand where your audience, plan participants, or customers are within this confirmation stage – and why – before they choose to leave you or disengage.
And that gets us back to Smoke-Free 2000. The U.S. Center for Disease Control reports that 68 percent of adult smokers said they wanted to quit smoking. While a fifth-grader committed to non-smoking in 1992 may have started smoking in 2000, their 40-year-old self is not committed to this choice.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if 68 percent of your target audience or consumers wanted your help – today? Do you know what that number is for your product or service?
