Creating the Moment of Truth
In today’s ever connected world, there are thousands of touchpoints at which a consumer can discover, engage with, and evaluate brands, products, and ideas. Everything from traditional media to influencers, to the social feeds of friends and family all present opportunities to connect with a product at a multitude of levels.
From a marketer’s perspective, these touchpoints make up the path to decisioning known as the customer’s journey. The most common representation of a customer journey groups these touchpoints into Awareness, Consideration, and Decisioning. Some models will also add Feedback as a stop along the way. All of the possible touchpoints are important, since no two journeys will be exactly alike and a variety of different combinations of touchpoints can all lead to a conversion. However, within this wide variety of journeys sit key touchpoints and transitions that dictate how a consumer views and engages with a brand. These are called moments of truth.
What is the Moment of Truth?
Coined by Proctor and Gamble’s A.G. Lafley, moments of truth refer to key decisions consumers make during their customer journey, generally triggered by events that leave a lasting impression of the product or brand on the consumer. These can be an ad which makes a consumer aware of the product, a visit to the product site that educates them and creates desire for the product, and even a specialized experience that converts them from a shopper to a customer.
These seem relatively straight forward, right? Create an attractive experience to lead the customer further down the path to purchase. So why are moments of truth so important? The truth is, many brands miss the opportunity to consistently create and optimize these moments of truth. Targeted advertising is designed to relate to a specific audience, and can often be leveraged in creating these moments, but what comes next? How often do brands rely on simply getting the product in front of someone and hopefully getting them to the site to drive a conversion? Consumers are hit with thousands of messages per minute from countless voices trying to create their own moment of truth. What can you do to make yours stand out? How do you create that lasting impression?
One Note Doesn’t Make Music
There is more than one moment of truth in the journey from discovery to purchase. Brands cannot rely on one noteworthy interaction to drive conversions. The moment of truth that connects a potential buyer’s attention to a product must convert to additional touchpoints that create moments of truth for consideration, exploration, and purchase. If a buyer lands on a product page but does not find an experience that engages and informs them of the value add that a product will bring them, the add to cart moment is unlikely to happen. Similarly, if the experience is lacking compared to similar products, the experience can actually facilitate the moment of truth for a competitor.
“Sell the benefits, not the features”
This quote from marketing expert, Neil Patel, may seem odd to some, “why wouldn’t you talk about your product’s features?”, but his point is that you build interest with features but convert the sale with benefits. Two moments of truth, not one. The first moment as we mentioned, is grabbing the consumer’s attention and facilitating the “I am interested” decision, but the second decision, and possibly the rest of the decisions down the path to purchase, need to be driven by the benefits the buyer receives. One of the best examples of this theory is Apple’s marketing of the iPod. Mp3 players were well established in the market by the time the iPod launched, and while it’s sleek appearance and distinct button functionality grabbed attention, Apple drove buyer desire by highlighting the benefit of “1,000 songs in your pocket.”
No matter what you are selling or where you are selling it, the buyer needs to see and be convinced of the benefits they gain by using your product. Brands can accomplish this by delivering value at each of their consumer touch points, and providing the push that moves a buyer from one moment of truth to the next.
Driving More Conversions with 3D for eCommerce
3D visualization and configuration are often thought of in terms of showcasing a product’s features, a purpose at which they are very good at, but their value is also bolstered by the desire and confidence that they create during the buyer’s journey. If features grab the attention, then showcasing those features in the best possible way is an important step for brands, particularly when the buyer is not able to experience the product in person. Products are not two dimensional in store, so why would you limit your online buyers to a 2D experience? With 3D commerce, buyers are able to see exactly what their options are, how they will look, and how they can tailor the product to their needs. Creating the “I want this” moment of truth? Check.
In terms of selling the benefits, product configurators deliver value that is two fold. Not only can the benefits of a product be more effectively conveyed through a visual experience, but the act of being able to design a product as the buyer sees fit, whether that is choosing a color or selecting the specific options that they will get the most benefit from, becomes a benefit in itself.
If you are a boat company, the features of the boat are the motor, the size, the types of seating, all things that may be chosen in a product configuration experience, but the benefit that the buyer receives is time on the water in a boat that they feel represents them. Product configuration on your site gives them digital confidence and visual confirmation that moves them from “I want a boat” to “I want THIS boat.”
Your Brand’s Moment of Truth
There is a lot of time and effort that goes into building a brand, and even more in maintaining a solid brand appearance and reputation. The ways that a buyer can experience your brand are numerous, and the order in which those touch points become moments of truth may shift, but value that you deliver to a customer must be consistent. Don’t let the buyer’s moment of truth change from “I like it” to “this isn’t for me.”
Let’s get started on your moment of truth.
This post originally appeared on ATLATL.com
