Ad Messaging for Each Customer Journey Stage

Getting the right message to the right audience makes or breaks ad performance. Your advertisers may come to you with general campaign goals but not have expertise on the customer journey. When building campaigns, you’ll want to align ad messaging with the relevant stage.

First, you’ll want to use the appropriate tactics for the customer journey phase. Then, help them develop ad copy, CTAs (calls to action) and creative. With a strong strategy behind the campaign, engagement and conversions can improve.

A high CTR (click-through rate) usually indicates strong campaign performance. Your advertisers would be happy to see all the impressions leading to clicks. If that were the end of the story, it would have the happiest ending, but it’s not. Sometimes CTR can be high, but conversions are low.

So, why does this happen, and how can you provide insights to advertisers to boost conversions?

What Is the Customer Journey?

The customer journey encompasses all the interactions and experiences a customer has with a business to achieve an objective (i.e., solve their problem or need). There are three stages:

Awareness: A customer has a need and begins researching possible solutions, including your advertiser.
Consideration: A customer identifies their problem and considers options to fix it. One solution is the advertiser.
Decision: The customer further evaluates and is ready to buy.

Different ad tactics and messaging work best to reach people in each stage.

Ad Types and Messaging by Stage

Awareness

An awareness campaign focuses on introducing a brand to an audience. Typically, these campaigns optimize for impressions, clicks and click-through rate (CTR).

The Best Awareness Tactics to Use and Why

Display: Define the geography, demographics or interests of potential customers.
Geofencing, video geofencing and geofencing retargeting: Serve display or video ads by fencing your store, competitors, or other areas where potential audiences gather. With retargeting, you can serve ads to people after they leave the fence.
OTT/CTV: Give a targeted audience a glimpse of what a brand offers. If using OTT, include a link to a product or landing page.
Video display ads and YouTube pre-roll: Showcase what’s new with engaging content.
Radio: Ensure maximum reach with linear spots.
Streaming audio: Mix in audio advertising that’s targetable.
Social media ads: Position ads to people based on their interests, demographics and location on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and LinkedIn.

Messaging Ideas for Awareness

Video overviews of services or products that have a narrative feel
How-to videos that capture common questions
Checklist content that helps buyers understand how to assess options
Virtual or live event promotions that offer people the chance to learn
Stat callouts that hook audiences because they are compelling and relevant
Ratings, awards and thought leadership PR to highlight industry credibility

Consideration

At this stage, buyers are aware of the brand and need more information or convincing. The metrics that matter here are impressions, clicks, CTR and website traffic.

The Best Consideration Tactics to Use and Why

Display: Create a target profile and ad content that delivers the value of the product or service.
Email marketing: Start a conversation in the inbox with practical information.
Geofencing and video geofencing: Fence a location where ideal customers may be to serve static or video in-app ads.
OTT/CTV: Leverage a non-skippable ad format where consumers spend time.
Retargeting (display and video): Drive people back to your website who left without converting.
Geofencing retargeting (display and video): Serve ads to audiences after they leave a fenced area.
Search engine marketing (SEM): Launch paid search ads for solution-based terms.
Social media ads: Experiment with case study social media ads that demonstrate results.
Video: Focus on specific details that demonstrate a product’s differentiators.

Messaging Ideas for Consideration

Short-form video clips of a product’s unique features
Highlighting new menu items, in-store products or services
Content that focuses on things that matter to buyers, like safety, security and effectiveness
Customer testimonials and stories
First-purchase promotions
Loyalty programs

Decision

The consumer is ready to convert after evaluation. Conversions can be buying signals, not just online or offline sales. The key performance indicators (KPIs) for this stage are revenue, form fills, phone calls and sign-ups.

The Best Decision Tactics to Use and Why

Display: Compare your product to your competitors with a promo code.
Email marketing: Land in the inbox with an appealing offer to potential new customers who fit an ideal customer profile.
Geofencing: Fence competitors with a hot offer or the location’s area with time-limited promos (e.g., “Get 15% off today only”).
Radio: Use this trusted medium to remind listeners of deals; this strategy has been proven to increase foot traffic.
SEM: Use “buying” language in ad copy to find those ready-to-purchase consumers.
Social media: Create conversion-focused ads with a coupon code for new customers.
Video: Provide demo videos of how a product works.

To earn these conversions at the end of the customer journey, your advertiser will need some foundational marketing pieces in place, including:

Specific landing pages that correlate with the offer and include a form
Optimized product pages for e-commerce and a low-friction checkout process
A fast-loading, mobile-friendly website
Engagement activities to help the customer keep learning (e.g., online quizzes, contests or surveys)
A plug-in for taking appointments or registrations

Messaging Ideas for Decision

Ads that demonstrate the company’s ability to immediately solve the problem (e.g., “Get your sink working today with our certified plumbers”)
Illustrated comparisons between brands or products
Urgency language that gets people to make a decision fast (e.g., “Reserve your table today before we sell out”)
“Buy now” CTAs that lead directly to a purchasing page with an incentive
Offers for free demos, consultations or estimates
Free trials for products or services
Content that always begins with a strong verb (e.g., join, compare, buy, shop, upgrade)

More Thoughts on the Customer Journey

Your clients know the result they want but need guidance on the customer journey and alignment of tactics and messaging. Use your expertise to build campaigns that perform. Keep in mind that they can have multiple campaigns running that cover the entire cycle, tailored by targeting.