Discover TikTok’s influence on consumers’ purchasing journey

In the last TikTok Path-to-Purchase report, the new purchasing journey for potential customers was presented to companies that use the platform.

According to the application, users are developing new ways of contacting brands and the path taken is more complex.

So, today I'm going to tell you everything that was discovered and how it can influence your marketing strategies.

Want to know more about the subject? Follow the article and stay up to date with all the news!

Developing the purchasing journey

Firstly, the purchasing journey of consumers from numerous sectors is made up of several stages. However, to understand how the path followed by a customer works, different formats were proposed.

The most common one currently used is the sales funnel that establishes steps for classifying a potential customer.

• Top of the funnel: we can find visitors and leads;
• Middle of funnel: where the most promising opportunities are allocated;
• Bottom of the funnel: here we can find the customer.

However, studies to identify new paths taken by visitors, leads and customers began a long time ago.

Mainly when we think about non-traditional sales formats, that is, those that explore new approaches and ways of nurturing a lead, for example.

In 1948, Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet published The People's Choice , a study of the United States presidential election in 1940. They found a communication flow in two stages, namely:

• From media sources to opinion leaders;
• From opinion leaders to their followers.

Already in a search carried out in December 2020, by the Google insights team in the United Kingdom, it was discovered that the customer goes through a loop, approaching stages of evaluation and consideration of the options available in the market.

In other words, the new shopping journey formats established by TikTok for the platform are the result of a study that lasts around 80 years.

TikTok as an influence for sales

Indeed, TikTok's report is enlightening, both for the numbers revealed and for the new tactics that can be developed based on the platform's findings.

Users tend to share light-hearted content about big-ticket items like vacations and new cars, which ultimately drives action among other consumers.

Among the main highlights of the research are:

Positive impact on the purchasing journey

Actually 50% of users report that they are more likely to feel happy, excited or happy with the products they discovered through the platform.

Word of mouth marketing

TikTok ends up being a word-of-mouth marketplace driven by post-purchase actions. Users turn to brands, creators, and trending topics to discover new products.

• 58% of TikTok users discover new brands and products on the platform;
• E 44% They discovered something that they immediately went out to buy.

Search Stimulator

It is important to highlight that one of the most interesting points is that what happens on TikTok does not just stay on the platform.

In other words, the application also encourages searches for brands, products and services on other social networks and online search engines.

This because, 56% of users are more likely to research new brands on the platform and this is even better when we see that it is not just reserved for small purchases.

Furthermore, we can note that:

• 65% of users are conducting more searches online.
• 57% of users seek more details about where to buy products.
• 54% of users also conduct searches in person.

Shopping journey in an infinite loop

As we saw previously, the platform has great potential to increase your marketing results, right?

But, do you know how the loop shopping journey works? Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything to you!

According to the short video platform, when listening to the community, it was realized that the purchasing journey can start at any stage and also has no end.

Therefore, the customer can come and go at all times, enter and leave the path taken and continue shopping after “completing” the journey.

Thus, there are 4 stages that can be revisited and can also be considered starting points of this new path. Being them:

• Discovery;
• Consideration;
• To review;
• And participate.

In this way, making the customer experience more fluid and adapted to the user's personality.

Did you like the topic and want to know more about the digital marketing market? Access our blog and learn everything about the subject!