The AIDA model describes step by step how brands are supposed to proceed till the customer ends up making a purchase decision.
It has four basic steps which are Attention or Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. As per Kotler, whenever we draft any communication, must contain these four elements make the campaign successful and to stand a chance to yield actual sales.
Attention
The first step is to attract attention and create awareness. Brands need to advertise and create interesting content to ensure that potential customers listen.
This step is very critical and is also one of the easiest of the 4 steps, since there are so many ways to catch people’s attention, to cite a few instances: Humour, Drama, Action, Music, etc.
But what one must be really careful about though, is that the message has to be in line with the objective and the overall brand personality. It has to create the awareness about the category and be in line with the core message of the brand.
Interest
The second step or function of the AIDA model is to generate interest in the product. After gaining a customer’s attention, the focus is then directed to the product, its benefits and how it fits into one’s lifestyle. This is the sales pitch where you fit the product in the minds of the people, where you register the concept.
Desire
This is the stage where the customers receive information about why they should buy the product, how they would look or feel using it. This is more about personalizing it and appealing to the individual’s imagination. Emotional reasons play a major role in this stage. You create a desire for the product in the mind of the consumer by associating the features with the individual’s personal needs.
Action
All communication should end with a call to action. Once the customer has developed the desire to buy, the salesman needs to guide the way to purchase, or take him to the next action that will lead to a purchase.
Example
E-Commerce is a greatly suited example to explain the AIDA model. You will see below, how each step is defined.
Attention: You need to grab the attention of the user who is searching on the internet with good search engine indexing, great key words and in many cases, by creating ads which will likely bring customers to the E-commerce site.
Interest: Having a great and well planned landing page or home page potentially puts focus on the offerings and the possibilities on the site. Of course, many sites prefer going the easy way of putting up coupons or discounts in the face of the customer to increase interest. But ideally, any brand must focus on presenting its USP and features first. You have to generate that genuine interest by having unique and clear offering.
Desire: E-commerce sites with great visually appealing demos in the form of images and videos are the best examples of creating desire in the minds of the customers. The customer is now able to visualize how he or she would use it or look while using it (especially in terms of apparels and accessories).
Action: Once the customer has selected the products, there must be clear and easy directions to check out. The payment process should be uncomplicated and fast. A lot of businesses lose customers at this stage due to cumbersome registration and payment processes.