“When people make decisions, what they truly desire is to make a confident decision. Regret, and the anticipation of regret, shadows our decisions and undercuts confidence.”
Dr Nick Southgate
I envy those who can walk into a shop, see something they like, buy it then and there without too much second guessing. Like many others, I need to be sure I am making the best possible choice, which for me often involves going round in circles, or stood in the middle of a shopping centre contemplating my options.
There are a myriad of factors that go into buying decisions, and the path to purchase is rarely linear. At Tapestry, we have extensive experience with consumer journeys across all categories, and something we see consistently is that 65%-75% of the time people buy the brand they preferred from the very start.
The difficulty for brands is getting consumers’ attention in the first place, and this is matched by a growing number of methods that attempt to influence them.
We helped Spotify to understand the consumer decision journey. We embarked on a comprehensive, multi-market study to unpick the key purchase needs across the different stages of the journey and the role audio (and Spotify) play along the way.
This consumer decision journey surveyed nearly 20,000 audio listeners and found that compared with other forms of media, audio offers a distinctive experience. It’s a more intimate medium that engages the imagination, and more crucially, creates a more receptive mindset. More specifically, audio creates an exploratory, relaxed and dream like mindset which lends itself well to branded communications.
We uncovered that Spotify has a constant presence in listeners’ lives, it has the power to capture people in both ‘dream-like’ lean-back moments, and the more lean-forward occasions, meaning it is well-placed to let people know about the right product in the right moment – which is crucial given that even when it comes to the purchase itself, 65% of consumers are still battling between multiple brands.
Regardless of the purchase type or the journey, the most important aspect is a brand’s ability to align with consumers needs and stick with consumers throughout their journey, enabling consumers to absorb the brand’s essence whilst going about their lives.
If you want to understand more about the unique needs and influences at each stage of the purchase journey, head over to Spotify: The Consumer Decision Journey Report | Spotify Ads
Edit January 2024: We’re absolutely thrilled to learn that this study has been shortlisted at this year’s Adwanted Media Research Awards!