In marketing, we continually analyze the phases or cycles that customers go through in order to adapt our strategies to them and offer them what they need.
But, not all cycles are the same. Some products go through long decision processes with multiple stakeholders, while for others, the purchase is shorter.
In this article, we are going to talk about the short sales cycle.
The sales cycle is the process a consumer goes through from the moment a need arises until it is resolved by acquiring a specific product or service. In general, the consumer goes through the phases of awareness (identifying the need), consideration (researching different ways to solve this need), decision (choosing a product or service), and purchase (the final conversion).
But the big difference between short and long sales cycles is in the length of the process. In short product cycles, the evaluation and decision processes are faster. In general, we are talking about products with a lower cost and impact on the consumer's life, for example, shoes. On the contrary, in long purchase cycles, the process is extended due to the impact of the decision, for example, purchasing a computer or B2B software for a company.
The length of the buying cycle can also be affected by the degree of consumer loyalty. If it is a repeat customer, the buying cycle is likely to be shorter than if it is the first time a user is purchasing a product from a brand.
In general, we can divide short purchase cycles into five major phases:
Return on investment and restart the cycle. The company or brand recovers the money invested. You have two options from here. One, keep the net profits and redistribute profits among the partners, or two, reinvest to continue growing.
This structure is similar to that of the longer purchase cycles, but the difference lies in the duration of each phase.
For companies, short purchasing cycles offer multiple advantages:
On the other hand, we also have to take into account the disadvantages of short purchase cycles:
Brand awareness actions are focused on making the brand known among the public.
It is based on creating a unique identity for your brand, making it easily recognizable. Once this work is done, you can go further with content marketing, SEO, promotions, events, social media marketing, and more.
Once users have interacted with your brand awareness campaigns, you can perform remarketing actions to continue interacting with them and guide them through the conversion funnel. Depending on the stage of the conversion funnel they are in, you can segment them in different ways:
Social media ads can be adapted to multiple strategies and objectives. In this case, the most interesting campaigns are those focused on conversion goals and generating sales from a catalog.
Finally, once you have managed to generate conversions, you must implement a series of actions aimed at getting customers to repeat their purchases. Loyalty campaigns can include email marketing, customer-oriented remarketing, after-sales actions, loyalty programs, and more.