i3 - March/April 2016 - 47

Business

BY STEVE KOENIG

56%

M A R K E T B E AT
CONSUMERS' JOURNEY
TO PURCHASE:
A LONG AND WINDING ROAD?

More than half
of consumer
technology
purchasers
share info about
their purchases.

M

anufacturers and retailers alike
need to know where, when and
how to connect with consumers
along their purchase journey; however,
winning the sale is not the final destination.
Understanding post-purchase behaviors is equally
critical for the industry as these steps ultimately lead
the consumer to return to the path to purchase.

AndreaAstes/Thinkstock

Smartphones present a convenient example of the cyclical
nature of technology consumption. We research, buy a device,
use it and ultimately dispose
of and/or replace it with a new
one. But while each product
purchase journey follows this
trajectory, the steps can vary
greatly.
The Path to Purchase
A trio of Consumers' Journey
to Purchase reports from the
Consumer Technology Association (CTA) defines the steps to
purchase for audio, health and
fitness, and mobile devices. The
research reveals five basic buyer
waypoints intrinsic to the sale of
consumer technologies, beginning with 1) requirements. Most
purchase journeys commence
with assessing requirements.
Repeat purchases (i.e., smartphones) may skip the requirements step, for example.
Like hop-scotch, the next
steps of 2) conducting research
and 3) assessing product
options often occur together,
but can modulate between
online and physical stores.
From here, consumers 4)
decide where to buy and 5)
C TA . t e c h / i 3

make the purchase-either
online or from a physical store.
CTA's research identifies
influence factors that act like
roadside billboards as consumers move toward the register.
Major influencers include:
friends/family, salespeople,
a store display and online
reviews. Across the audio,
health and fitness and mobile
device purchase journeys CTA
examined, a friend or family
member had the largest impact
on influencing the purchase.
Following the Sale
After the sale is made, behavioral paths diverge and some
journeys, unhappily, run
aground in a return or refund.
CTA's recent Consumer Technology Post Purchase Report
is the epilogue of the buying
experience, exploring: purchase satisfaction, product registration, return activities and
resolutions, warranty claims,
device replacement/disposal
and future use intent.
The research found postpurchase satisfaction is high (94
percent) across the more than
three-dozen product categories
surveyed, with audio (98 per-

cent) and health and fitness (97
percent) purchasers exhibiting
the highest satisfaction.
More than half of consumers
registered their product with
the manufacturer, either at the
time of purchase or afterward.
Registration is the most common action taken at the time
of purchase (34 percent), while
post-purchase, consumers are
eager to share about their new
technology as more than half
(56 percent ) either write an
online review, tell a friend or
family member, or post pictures
or videos to social media. Here's
evidence why these actions are
so influential to consumers on
the path to purchase.
Few consumer technology
purchasers buy installation/
setup service after the sale.
Among those who do find they
need help with installation
after getting their tech product
home, the biggest factors are
time involved in the install (39
percent), needing more than
one person to complete the

install (26 percent), and the
install was more difficult than
anticipated (18 percent). This
is why retailers need to talk to
customers about install services on the sales floor before
they realize they need it.
On the warranty front, 40
percent of consumers say they
buy extended warranties. And
only a handful of consumers
filed a warranty claim within
the first year of ownership;
but those who did reported
satisfaction with the outcome.
More good news is the percentage of consumers returning
a product was also very low.
The most common reasons for
returns are the product did not
work as expected (32 percent),
purchased similar/multiple
products and decided not to
keep that one (32 percent ),
and the product not working
out of the box (30 percent).
Service after the sale is vital to
building loyalty and essential to
putting customers back on the
purchase path.

When it's time to dispose of tech products, recycling
(24 percent), putting into storage (24 percent) and giving away (22 percent) are the most common consumer
tech disposal methods. Notably, the percentage of consumers either putting their old technology into storage
or throwing it away is relatively high, which may indicate consumers are unsure how to properly dispose of
tech items. Retailers who offer recycling services can
use this to generate foot traffic.

MARCH/APRIL 2016

47


http://www.CTA.tech/research http://www.CTA.tech/research http://www.CTA.tech/research http://www.CTA.tech/research http://www.CTA.tech/i3

i3 - March/April 2016

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