The Buying Cycle: What Is It, and What Are Its Stages?

Do you know the cycle a person follows when they want to purchase a service or product? We often think buyers just see something and, if they need it, buy it, but that isn't always true. They also follow a series of steps to find out whether the offer is the best one or whether there might be a better one.

Here we'll tell you what buying cycle customers follow and the stages they go through before making a decision. 

What Is the Buying Cycle?

The buying cycle, or sales cycle, is the process consumers go through before making a purchase. The buying cycle lets companies know what type of content to create to close sales, for both new and repeat consumers.

The Importance of Understanding Your Customers' Buying Cycle

Understanding how your customers buy and aligning your marketing efforts accordingly lets you improve your strategies. Look at it this way: you're a consumer too, and you don't always buy just for the sake of buying. You need a series of prior steps before making a final decision to make sure the product or service you're interested in is the right one and the one that suits you best.

5 Stages of the Buying Cycle

1. Awareness

When a consumer realizes they have a problem or a situation they want to solve. This can vary in terms of goals, needs or wants.

2. Consideration

The second stage of a customer's buying cycle is consideration, which happens when the buyer already knows what their problem is and begins to consider the options they have and the type of companies or brands that could help them.

3. Intent

Intent opens the door for a direct salesperson to earn the trust of the consumer who is searching for options to solve their problem. If a salesperson hasn't stepped in yet, customer reviews on the website can be a good tactic to show the consumer they are looking in the right place.

4. Decision

The decision, or purchase, is one of the most important stages in the customer's buying cycle because, although the customer may be ready to make a final decision and purchase a product or service, a mistake or oversight on the part of the company or brand could make them change their mind or never buy a product or service from that brand or company again.

5. Renewal

This is the final stage of the customer's buying cycle, and it happens when a person who has already purchased a product or service from a company needs to buy it again or consider complementary alternatives.

According to Philip Kotler, the purchase decision process unfolds in 5 stages:

1. Recognizing the need. The person recognizes the need, identifies their dissatisfaction and looks for what they want to obtain. These needs are stimulated through advertisements, store windows, point-of-sale advertising, etc.
2. Searching for information. The consumer tends to look for information. They can do so passively, simply receiving the information from the advertisement, or actively, searching for information online, on interactive screens or on tablets at the point of sale.
3. Evaluating the alternatives. Based on all this information, the consumer weighs the benefits of consuming the product.
4. Purchase decision. This assessment will be very important in the purchase decision, but other factors will also come into play, such as the opinions of influential people or the desire to please someone else. Therefore, the purchase decision process cannot be 100% controlled, but it can be guided through communication channels that make room for opinions that can be managed in a controlled way.
5. Post-purchase behavior. Once the product has been purchased, satisfaction or dissatisfaction will determine whether the purchase is repeated or whether, on the contrary, the consumer won't buy it again and may not even recommend it to others.

Conclusion

The purchase decision process is neither simple nor as sequential as one might initially assume; rather, it involves the future buyer moving through different stages without necessarily being aware of it. From a marketing standpoint, and particularly from a strategic perspective, it is essential to study consumer behavior throughout the process to determine which strategies need to be implemented. 

Likewise, this process doesn't end with the purchase of the product or service. After buying, consumers tend to stay alert to any information that confirms their decision. As a result, they may experience dissonance due to some of the product's features or because of favorable comments about other brands.