The principle of decision stages

The four stages of purchasing decisions

What are the stages consumers take when making a purchase? Most go through the following four:

1. Consider one’s options
2. Assess the options
3. Make the selection
4. Reflect on the purchase

There’s some variation in this decision process, though. When buying a pack of gum, for instance, you may skip stages 1 and 2 or run through them in seconds. You may also skip stage 4.

Consider, though, a far more important decision—choosing a school. In this case, the buyer will normally go through a far more involved and exhaustive process. Since most parents take their children’s education very seriously, they’ll invest far more time in each stage, especially stage 2.

1. A mother recognizes her 15-year-old daughter’s current school isn’t working academically or socially, and that she needs a new one. She looks at a list of independent schools and considers sending her daughter to one.
2. The mother thinks about her options and does plenty of research. She reflects on her priorities, speaks to people, and does some online exploration. She arrives at the following verdict: her daughter’s best-suited to an all-girls school with a student-focused curriculum and a warm and close-knit culture. She also wants a school that’s not too far from their home or too expensive.
3. After weighing the pros and cons of some schools, she selects a school that meets her most important criteria.
4. After a few months, she concludes her daughter is doing much better academically and socially. Though she’ll re-evaluate at the end of the year, she plans to leave her in the school until the end of Grade 12.

The four stages of the decision process

Source: David Court (Director, PSP Investment), Dave Elzinga (Partner, McKinsey Chicago), Susan Mulder (Board of Directors, The Kraft Heinz Company), and Ole Jørgen Vetvik (Senior Partner, McKinsey Bangkok)

What this implies for private school marketers

Almost every purchase decision goes through four stages: 1. Consider one’s options, 2. Assess them, 3. Make a selection, and 4. Reflect on the process. And within each stage certain buyers will engage in certain activities: i.e., stage 1 → awareness and recognition, stage 2 → research and analysis, stage 3 → choose, and stage 4 → reflection.

It’s critical that you have a clear understanding of these stages and the activities buyers go through during each of them. You’ll also need to think abou how much time and effort your target market invests in each stage. Though all stages can be an important part of choosing a school, stage 2 seems especially vital. Most parents spend the bulk of their time considering and assessing their options (the active research stage), and this has the biggest impact on their final decision.

Sometimes school marketers forget this during their planning process, and this limits the potential for them to grow their school enrolment and strengthen their brand . For instance, they might spend too much time on stage 1, initial consideration (awareness and recognition) and not enough time on stage 2, assessing one’s options (the active research stage).

Sometimes school marketers forget this during their planning process, and this limits the potential for them to grow their school enrolment and strengthen their brand . For instance, they might spend too much time on stage 1, initial consideration (awareness and recognition) and not enough time on stage 2, assessing one’s options (the active research stage).

In short, just making a parent aware about you (stage 1) doesn’t imply they’ll select you (stage 3). And even if they’re already aware of you, they’ll almost certainly want to learn more about you before they make their decision. This means you’ll need to prioritize stage 2, assessing one’s options, by ensuring parents have enough and the right kinds of information to make their selection.

To learn more, read our article on how research effort positively correlates with the decision value of a purchase.

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