The New Consumer Decision Journey, by Microsoft

Microsoft Advertising says marketers aren't spending their ad dollars the right way to meet the new consumer purchase decision journey. Natasha Hritzuk, global director of insights and analytics at Microsoft Advertising thus advocates for a Consumer Decision Journey vs. Purchase Funnel terminology in marketing going forward. Why? Because not only has "purchase funnel" become a cliche, the Usage/Crowd-sourced driven stage of product evaluation has become so powerfully driven by social media (and digital strategy). Problem? Yes. Why? Microsoft says marketers spend 94% of their dollars on the Trigger and Pre-Trigger phases, leaving little to nothing to the newly-emerging most important Product Usage/Feedback/Evaluation Phase. 

• Awareness Phase: A consumer may hear through word-of-mouth or a magazine article about some new shampoo that keeps hair slick and shiny despite humid weather
• Pre-Trigger to Trigger Phases: That pre-trigger stage gets the consumer thinking about whether they’re happy with their current shampoo and moves them into the trigger stage where they begin to look out for other brands or products. (Microsoft says brands spend 94% of their ad dollars here). 
• Pre-Shopping Phase: They advance to the pre-shopping phase and research specific brands and products. 
• Product/Purchase Decision Phase: The next step is deciding on a product and making a purchase. 
• Usage Phase/Crowd-sourced Feedback Phase: After that point the consumer hits the final stage, usage, when they try out the product and hear from friends whether it’s working or not. (Microsoft says brands should dramatically increase their ad dollars here, given the effects of social media). 

The Usage Phase/Feedback Phase is thus where consumer brands can have a dramatic effect on building effective digital strategy technologies so that negative reviews can be easily funneled back to the brand directly (and rewarded, e.g. Starbucks) and positive reviews can be easily propagated to other consumers to influence their purchase (e.g. their Pre-Trigger/Trigger Phase).