Page 95 - Decoding Decisions ~ Making sense of the messy middle

6

Inhabiting the

messy middle

Before we part ways, why don’t we take a last walk along internet street? Over
the course of this report we’ve seen how the growth of the web has brought
with it abundant choice and limitless information, transforming consumer
behaviour in the process.

While examining this transformation, we’ve identified a new model for
how people make decisions online. In our model, the sum total of a
shopper’s experiences and impressions creates a backdrop of exposure,
encompassing brands, products, and more. Against this backdrop, purchase
triggers prompt consumers to enter a cycle of exploration and evaluation,
gathering information and then narrowing it down. If the first cycle doesn’t
yield a definite choice, they loop back, repeating as many times as necessary.
Finally, all options evaluated, they make a purchase. Or they don’t. Either way,

the whole experience feeds back into their background exposure.

The messy middle is a complex space for

marketers, where customers are won

or lost but, from the consumer perspective,

people are doing what they’ve always done.