A customer’s journey to buying a product or service was relatively simpler and shorter, which could be described with the 4A process: Aware, Attitude, Act, and Act Again.
echnology is not only revolutionizing the way industry players in ASEAN conduct business, it is also changing the pattern of its customers’ decision-making process. In the pre-connectivity era, a customer’s journey to buying a product or service was relatively simpler and shorter, which could be described with the 4A process: Aware, Attitude, Act, and Act Again.
This funnel-shaped process demarcates the various points in customer journey, as he becomes aware of a brand, develop an attitude towards it – of like or dislike, based on which they decide to purchase it and also consider if it’s worth a repeat purchase.
The funnel shape is on account of the fact that the number of customers keep on declining as they move from one stage to another – people who like the brand would naturally be aware of it, those who buy like it and those who buy again would have already purchased once.
Also, the 4A customer path is personal. The main influence being cast on customers’ decisionmaking as they move along the path is from companies’ touch points, for e.g. TV advertisements at ‘Aware’ phase, salespersons at ‘Act’ phase, or service centers at ‘Act Again’ phase. The customer journey is seemingly well within companies’ control. From 4A to 5A Today, in the era of connectivity, the customer journey is no longer a straightforward funnellike process, and it is not personal. The changes brought about by the technology-driven connected world call for redefining of the customer path. In today’s new connected world, the customer path has transformed into a 5A process: Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocate.
In the ‘Aware’ phase, customers are passively exposed to a long-list of brands from prior experience, marketing communications, and/or recommendation from others.
Traditionally, brands would launch massive advertising campaigns, which were considered generally effective in building awareness in a short span of time. But digital connectivity enables brands to effectively accomplish that on much lower spending budgets.
For example, Xiaomi, a privately-owned Chinese electronics company that manufactures high-quality affordable smartphones, has succeeded in building sizeable awareness in some ASEAN countries—especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore—by capitalizing on recommendations from its customers.
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