“The Messy Middle” may sound like the name of a 2000s sitcom! but it’s actually one of the best ways for marketers to understand the buying journey of today’s consumers and how they decide whether or not to buy.
Traditionally! the “Messy Middle” diagram! as described by Google! looks a bit like an infinite loop with two exit points: trigger and buy .
Here is an image that! in our opinion! efficiently embodies the concept we have just discussed.
Of course! every brand would like all its potential customers to enter this flow through a “trigger” and exit the circuit in a linear way by making a purchase: the fact is that the decision-making path that customers take is never so linear and the Messy Middle explains it perfectly.
In this article we want to consider not only purchases ! but also almost any B2C or B2B conversion that is not e-commerce sales (for example! phone calls or emails)! because in our experience this “tortuous path” also occurs in decision-making processes relating to services.
Let’s try to understand something more!
What is Messy Middle and how does it work?
The exposure or exposure of the Messy Middle
First! let’s look at upper-funnel activity! which is when a prospect is “exposed” to the possibility of making a purchase and enters the cycle .
Google has discovered that this pivotal bc data america moment is almost always generated by a combination of triggers ! from word of mouth to online advertising! from a change in lifestyle to particular socio-cultural conditions.
Therefore! being first in the minds and hearts of potential customers is even more crucial than previously estimated! much more than a strategy aimed solely at selling.
A recognizable! present and attentive brand that creates awareness will benefit from these precautions in the long term! while a brand that focuses entirely on sales may have a good return in the short term ! but in the long run it will slip out of the minds of customers and will no longer be able to overcome the “noise” that potential customers experience when they enter a purchasing cycle (word of mouth! previous the ability to develop community-building strategies experiences! personal prejudices! advertising! …).
Exploration & evaluation! that is exploration and evaluation: the moment of thinking
Once users are channeled into the search process! they enter an exploration and evaluation phase .
Sometimes the path from trigger to purchase is short and accomplished by skipping the research phase altogether.
A loop that does not always lead to the exit! that is! the purchase !
It is immediately clear that understanding how customers make purchasing decisions is not such a trivial thing! on the contrary.
Google data comes to our aid: statistics on european leads online searches carried out by users show that today’s potential customers are more actively searching for options! multi-tabbing and/or weighing up offers from multiple retailers at once .
Price is almost always the least important component and customers want more information before making a decision.
Marketing strategies that try to force the customer’s journey by making a laborious leap from the moment of exposure to that of purchase are short-lived! because they do not help the user to gather information and navigate the complex decision-making process.
